1965 Philippine Sea A-4 incident
Nuclear weapon loss incident
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The 1965 Philippine Sea A-4 crash was a Broken Arrow incident in which a United States Navy Douglas A-4E Skyhawk attack aircraft carrying a nuclear weapon fell into the sea off Japan from the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga.[3][4] The aircraft, pilot and weapon were never recovered.[5]
A MK43 free-fall nuclear weapon on a handling dolly | |
| Incident | |
|---|---|
| Date | December 5, 1965 |
| Summary | Pre-flight human error |
| Site | |
 | |
| Aircraft type | Douglas A-4E Skyhawk |
| Operator | .jpg){kind=small} Attack Squadron VA-56[1]Carrier Air Wing Five |
| Registration | BuNo 151022[1] |
| Fatalities | 1 Pilot (LTJG Douglas M. Webster)[2] |
The accident
On 5 December 1965, 31 days after Ticonderoga's departure from U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay in the Philippines,[3] the attack jet was pushed backwards over the side, off the number 2 elevator during a training exercise while being rolled from the number 2 hangar bay to the elevator.[2] The pilot, Lieutenant (junior grade) Douglas M. Webster; the aircraft, Douglas A-4E BuNo 151022 of VA-56; and the B43 nuclear bomb were never recovered[6] from the 16,000 ft (4,900 m) depth.[citation needed] The accident was said to occur 68 miles (59 nmi; 109 km) from Kikai Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan.[7]
Ticonderoga had aboard Carrier Air Wing Five during this cruise, with two squadrons of Skyhawks. The lost aircraft was part of Attack Squadron 56 (VA-56); VA-144 was the other.[8]
Number of weapons
Though most sources state that a single weapon was involved, a document from Los Alamos National Lab indicates that two weapons were involved.[9]
Revelation
It was not until 1989 that the United States Department of Defense revealed the proximity of the lost one-megaton H-bomb to Japanese territory.[10] The revelation inspired a diplomatic inquiry from Japan requesting details.[11]