The Damascus Titan missile explosion refers to an incident where the fuel in a nuclear armed missile exploded at a missile launch facility in Damascus, Arkansas, on September 18–19, 1980. The facility was part of the 374th Strategic Missile Squadron at the time of the explosion.
Incident[]
On the evening of the 18th, at about 6:30 p.m., an airman conducting maintenance on a USAF Titan-II missile at Little Rock Air Force Base's Launch Complex 374-7 in Southside (Van Buren County) just north of town, dropped a socket from a socket wrench, which fell about 80 feet (24 m) before hitting and piercing the skin on the rocket's first-stage fuel tank, causing it to leak. The area was evacuated. This socket wrench was approximately 3 feet long and around 25 lbs. The socket was about 6 pounds.
At about 3:00 a.m. on September 19, 1980, the hypergolic fuel exploded. The W53 warhead landed about 100 feet (30 m) from the launch complex's entry gate; its safety features operated correctly and prevented any loss of radioactive material. One Air Force airman, SrA David Livingston was killed, others seriously injured and the launch complex was destroyed.[1] The former launch complex was decommissioned, disassembled, and now stands on private land.[2]
Popular culture[]
A 1988 television movie, Disaster at Silo 7, is based on this event.[3]
In September 2013, Eric Schlosser published Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety.[4] It focused on the explosion, as well as other Broken Arrow incidents during the Cold War.[5][6] The New Yorker''s Louis Menand called it "excellent" and "hair-raising" and said that "Command and Control is how nonfiction should be written."[7] The book was also praised by science historian Steven Shapin in London Review of Books.[citation needed] It was a finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for History.[8]
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ "Titan Missile Explosion". The Encyclopedia of Arkansas. http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2543.
- ↑ Schlosser, Eric (2013). Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety. Penguin Press. p. 484. ISBN 978-1-59420-227-8.
- ↑ Disaster At Silo 7 (1988) IMDB Page
- ↑ Greta Johnsen. "Five Books To Read This Fall". http://wcqs.org/post/five-books-read-fall.
- ↑ Walter Russell Mead (2013-09-12). "Atomic Gaffes: Command and Control by Eric Schlosser". http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/books/review/command-and-control-by-eric-schlosser.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
- ↑ McKinley, James (2012-10-05). "Fast Food Nation Author Will Return With Book on Nuclear Weapons". http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/fast-food-nation-author-will-return-with-book-on-nuclear-weapons/. Retrieved 2012-10-06.
- ↑ "Nukes of Hazard". http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2013/09/30/130930crbo_books_menand.
- ↑ "The Pulitzer Prizes | Citation". Pulitzer.org. http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2014-History. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
Coordinates: 35°24′51″N 92°23′50″W / 35.4141°N 92.3972°W
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