Hi all

I'm doing research for a Danish film production about the B52 crash near the Thule AFB back in 1968, more specific the radio and ship's internal coms for use in an audio montage to be included in the film. My hope is that someone here will be knowledgeable about how a B52 captain/crew would interact with each other and the outside world, so I can present the director with a script for the montage that is credible and as close to the truth as possible. I haven't been able to find any debrief or CVR transcript from the crew, so unless someone knows where to dig that up, a credible "remake" is the way to go.

The montage is going to be around 20 secs long, so the various snippets of chatter won't be in real time, but rather compressed together to make the viewer understand that the plane needs to be bailed out of.

Some questions to home in on what I need:

In case of an in-flight emergency, like the fire from the navigators compartment in this case, is it to be expected that the captain would get in touch with SAC and inform of the problem? Additionally, due to their proximity to Thule AFB, would they have contacted the tower to inform them of their emergency?

What emergency procedures are followed in the case of an in-flight fire in a B52 and what coms would be mandatory/expected between the crew? In 1968 with 4 thermonuclear munition in the bomb bay?

Is the ejection controlled individually, or done in groups/all at the same time?

Any help is enormously appreciated

I'm pretty sure ejection was done individually. That's about all I've got.

Lot of info online if you know where to look.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Thule_Air_Base_B-52_crash

There is a section about this crash and the fallout that it caused (both literally and figuratively) in Command and Control.

http://www.amazon.com/Command-Control-Er...and+and+control

I've been meaning to get that book ever since I heard a radio interview with the author last Fall. Thanks for the remind.

Thanks guys!

I've already been around all the easy to find info sites like wikipedia and such, but none of them contained what I describe looking for above. The book looks interesting, though.

Have you tried to contact the USAF for any declass information on the incident?

Watch "Doctor Strangelove" for some good interaction inside a B-52. It may have been a comedy (Although a black one) but I thought that those parts were very realistic.

Until Slim Pickens rode the H-bomb down, of course.

I haven't, but now that you mention it, it makes sense to give it a go. You have any idea how you would go about such a thing?

Pooch: lol, love that movie!

You can contact the Air Force Public Affairs Agency at www.afpaa.af.mil/ with your request for the declass information that they can provide you with. Good luck because with standard US military, god only knows what is declass.

It's a good book, my only two complains are:

1. They make it look like the US just didn't care about safety.
2. Because the Soviet nukes were so secret, he brushes over them and almost implies their political structure precluded as much risk as ours.

It's scary to know the Titan II was able to launch from one user and no PAL codes.

I got this book for my birthday and have now seen it covered on 60 Minutes and here.. I guess that's a sign I should start reading it. Just about to finish Viper Pilot by Dan Hampton. It's fantastic. Doesn't seem like he holds back when it comes to opinions of the French, Iranian and Iraqi fighting effectiveness at all. And some of some military brass for that matter. Digging it though.