Not at posted coordinates! Be sure to check the logbook for the bonus codes!
The airborne alert trials (Operation Head Start) at Loring and Fairchild proved the concept. Training, resources and crews were beefed-up to accept the increased load of airborne alert, and in July 1961, Operation Chrome Dome was directed. Chrome Dome was airborne alert with three set routes: up the eastern coast and around Canada, over Greenland and to Alaska. The second route was along the west coast, and the third traveled along the eastern seaboard to near the Mediterranean Sea. Aerial refueling was crucial to keep bombers aloft for 24 hours at a time—the tankers were stationed in Alaska, two bases in Spain, and northeastern US bases. Chrome Dome alerts involved 12 BUFFs at a time (the SAC Dirty Dozen), orbiting on routes that would keep them near the borders of the Soviet Union as dictated by their flight plans for an attack sortie if the go code ever was received. The go code was the coded message through the National Command Authorities from the President of the US authorizing a nuclear strike. If received, the bomber would fly its route to the target. The code was never received, but thousands of flight hours annually meant the bombers were ready to do so, if the President ordered.
The assumption of Chrome Dome missions at SAC wings came at a very opportune time—the experiments and trials to evaluate the concept and national leadership’s attitude towards it made it possible. Unbeknownst to the world, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev had secretly been building facilities for nuclear intermediate and medium range ballistic missiles and medium bombers 90 miles from Florida—in Cuba, right at America’s doorstep, if you will. On 14 October 1962, a US U-2 spy plane obtained evidence of startling military developments in Cuba. A tense political standoff ensued between America and the Soviets, putting the two superpowers on the brink of a full-scale nuclear war, closer than ever before or since. President Kennedy notified the world of the so-called Cuban Missile Crisis and what Cuba and the Soviets were up to on 22 October. SAC then surged to the highest level of airborne and ground alert possible. A naval blockade to Cuba as well an average 70 nuclear armed BUFFs patrolled the skies on their routes ready to strike if the President directed. The surge airborne alert lasted 30 days, from 22 October to 21 November 1962. The final Cuban Missile Crisis-related Chrome Dome sortie was a B-52H from 379th Bomb Wing at Wurtsmith AFB, Michigan. Only when the Soviets agreed to remove the missiles and bombers from Cuba did SAC remove its finger from the hair trigger and resumed peacetime operations. To sustain the 30-day alert with about an eighth of the BUFF force consumed a staggering 70 MILLION gallons of fuel!
Airborne alert under Chrome Dome meant many wings committing bombers to the sorties, gruelingly long sorties for the crews, multiple tanker hook-ups (which in themselves were complex, delicate maneuvers), and the risk of accidents was high. Any error in judgement or performance could doom a sortie when accidents happened. The most well-known was on 17 January 1966, when a B-52G (58-0256, from Seymour-Johnson AFB, NC) collided with its tanker, a KC-135, and broke up over Palomares, Spain. In the accident, the four Mark 28 thermonuclear bombs were released unarmed; the high explosive in two bombs detonated on impact, scattering nuclear material, but producing no nuclear yield and one was lost in the sea. One bomb was recovered intact, with minor damage. The accident led to many acres of farm fields contaminated by plutonium. The last bomb was found, but difficulties in recovering it led to it being submerged for some 80-plus days. 1400 tons of contaminated soil and vegetation was collected, shipped to the US for disposal, and a lengthy cleanup was required. The accident was very embarrassing for the US.
The final nail in the airborne alert coffin occurred on 21 January 1968. Another G-model, (58-0188, from Plattsburgh AFB, NY) experienced a cockpit fire, and the crew bailed out over the Greenland ice near Thule AFB. The aircraft was lost in the crash, and the four Mark 28 bombs in the bays were destroyed in the impact with the ice. Project Crested Ice, the codename for the subzero temperature cleanup (nicknamed Dr. Freezelove) involved 200,000 cubic feet of ice, snow, water plus wreckage that was collected and shipped back to the US. Chrome Dome itself was directed to stand down the very next day; airborne alert was over.
To find this cache, calculate the coordinates from the information in this listing.
N 48° 19.ABC W 101° 14.DEF
A= July of what year Operation Chrome Dome was directed, July XXNX, A=(N-0)
B= Quantity of SAC bombers airborne during Chrome Dome missions, NN aircraft, B=(NNx0)
C= Distance in miles from Florida the Soviets deployed nuclear missiles in 1962, XN miles, C=(N/1)
D= Bomb wing for final Cuban Missile Crisis-related Chrome Dome sortie, XNX BW, D=(N+1)
E= B-52G involved in tragic Palomares crash on 17 January 1966, 58-XXXN, E=(N/3)
F= Amount of contaminated material during 1968 Dr. Freezelove cleanup, XNX,XXX cubic feet, F=(N/1)
Dorr, R. & Peacock, L. (1995). Boeing’s Cold War Warrior: B-52 Stratofortress. London, UK; Osprey Aerospace.
Lake, J. (2004). B-52 Stratofortress Units in Combat: 1955-1973. Osprey: University Park, IL.
Moran, B. (2009). The Day We Lost the H-Bomb: Cold War, Hot Nukes, and the Worst Nuclear Weapons Disaster in History. Presidio Press.
Remak, J. (2016). Boeing B-52 Stratofortress: Warrior Queen of the USAF. Fonthill: Croyden, United Kingdom.
https://www.airforcemag.com/article/0811dome/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Thule_Air_Base_B-52_crash