Operation Chrome Dome
Operation Chrome Dome was a United States Air Force Cold War-era mission from 1961 to 1968 in which B-52 strategic bomber aircraft armed with thermonuclear weapons remained on continuous airborne alert, flying routes that put them in positions to attack targets in the Soviet Union if they were ordered to do so. The exact routes varied by year, but in general there were routes that went to positions over the Canadian arctic, Alaska, Greenland, and the Mediterranean Sea. Many American Air Force Bases in the 1960s allocated at least one bomber crew to "Chrome Dome" duty on a regular basis, and many other bases, including foreign bases, were involved in the refueling operations. Over the years the mission involved overflights of American, Canadian, Danish (Greenland), and Spanish territory, among others. The goal of "Chrome Dome" was to keep a number of nuclear-armed aircraft in a position to help guaranteed nuclear retaliation against the Soviet Union in the event that the latter was somehow able to destroy the majority of US nuclear weapons still on the ground, while also ensuring that Strategic Air Command bomber crews had experience with airborne alert procedures so that, in the event of heightened concern, the number of patrolling bombers could be increased dramatically. Several high-profile nuclear accidents were associated with the "Chrome Dome" program, including the accidental release of nuclear weapons on foreign territory, and it was shut down in the wake of one such accident in 1968.[1]
Cuban Missile Crisis[edit]
On 22 October 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the airborne alert was immediately increased 1/8th level under an order by General Power for the first and only time. This involved using existing "Chrome Dome" procedures, including those designed to enable the scaling up of forces dramatically and quickly, as well as the existing "Chrome Dome" flight routes. The greatest increase in traffic during this period was on the southern route because of refueling limitations at the Eielson AFB in Alaska. The increase meant that initially 66 B-52s launched daily (28 on the northern route, 36 on the southern route, with still only 2 monitoring Thule). Such was the priority in increasing the number of flights that on 24 October, SAC authorized that B-52s could still run their "sorties" even if one of their engines was shut down. By 5 November the total number of daily B-52s launches was increased to 75 (42 planes on the northern route, 31 on the southern route, 2 on Thule duty). This level of alert was maintained until 21 November, almost 30 days, at which point the alert level was reduced to the previous "indoctrination" level. During that month, 2,088 B-52 aircraft were launched, all carrying multiple thermonuclear bombs, and they logged 41,168 flying hours. At peak strength, approximately 65 planes were "target effective" at any given time. President John F. Kennedy presented Power with a flight safety award in December 1962 as a result of the fact that no accidents of significance were reported during this period.[8]
Primary mission[edit]
The missions in 1964 involved a B-52D that left Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, and flew across the United States to New England and headed out to the Atlantic Ocean. The aircraft refueled over the Atlantic heading north to and around Newfoundland. The bomber changed course and flew northwesterly over Baffin Bay towards Thule Air Base, Greenland. It then flew west across Queen Elizabeth Islands of Canada. Continuing to Alaska, it refueled over the Pacific Ocean, again heading southeast, and returned to Sheppard AFB.[9]
By 1966, three separate missions were being flown: one east over the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, another north to Baffin Bay, and a third over Alaska.
The following military units were involved:
The program and its antecedents was involved in the following nuclear-weapons accidents: