“Unraveling the Mysteries: How Fire, Ice, and Plutonium Could Redefine Our Understanding of the Universe”
Meanwhile, over the following nineteen hours helicopters from the 54th Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron flew nine sorties over North Star Bay to survey the crash site. Debris was strewn over an area of nearly seventy-five square kilometres, while smoke from the burning jet fuel had blackened an area of ice stretching one kilometre downwind of the impact area, heavily contaminating it with jet fuel and pulverized plutonium and uranium from the hydrogen bombs. Spotting none of the larger pieces which usually survive plane crashes – such as the tail and wingtips – observers initially reported that the aircraft had broken through the ice and sunk to the bottom of the bay.
Within hours of the crash, the incident was reported to civilian and military authorities in the United States and officially declared a Broken Arrow – U.S. military terminology for a major incident involving nuclear weapons but which carries no risk of triggering a nuclear war. Other related terms include Bent Spear – a minor incident involving nuclear weapons or materials; Empty Quiver – the loss or theft of a functional nuclear weapon; Nucflash – the accidental, unauthorized, or unexplained deployment or detonation of a nuclear weapon; and Dull Sword – a minor incident which impairs the function or deployment of nuclear weapons. But apart from the loss of one airman and four nuclear weapons and the massive environmental hazard posed by the toxic and radioactive materials scattered across the ice, the Thule crash was also a major diplomatic disaster. Since 1957, Denmark had maintained a nuclear-free policy outlawing nuclear weapons on all Danish territory – including Greenland. However, the United States Air Force concluded internally that the Chrome Dome overflights were permitted under the 1951 U.S.-Danish defence agreement, even though this agreement did not mention nuclear weapons. And while the Danes were not informed of the Greenland overflight and Thule Monitor missions, they were aware that the U.S. Air Force operated nuclear-armed bombers in the general area. Indeed, in the years leading up to the 1968 crash, several Chrome Dome B-52s had made forced landings at Thule, though given the emergency nature of these events they were not considered violations of Denmark’s nuclear-free policy. The timing of the Thule crash was particularly unfortunate, coming only 48 hours before a Danish national election. Wishing to avoid an international scandal, the U.S. Embassy in Denmark urged the Air Force:
