Post by larryc1 on Aug 10, 2020 16:36:10 GMT
BOMARC (Boeing Michigan Aero Research Centre) was a nuclear armed rocket/ramjet powered surface to air missile intended to destroy Soviet conventional bombers. It was deployed at two Canadian and eight American bases in 1959. The system was retired in 1972 as the Soviet threat shifted to ICBM's.
McGuire Air Force Base became the first operational unit with 56 launchers. On June 7, a year after it opened, the base experienced a fire in of the missiles situated on pad 204. A fuel tank failure allowed two hypergolic fuels to mix, resulting in an explosive and intense blaze.
The fire was controlled after some time but by then the warhead had partially melted, resulting in plutonium and uranium contamination of the area. (It is reassuring that the safety mechanisms on the war head were effective).
In the clean-up procedure tonnes of soil was removed, the area was covered in concrete and then painted. These measures limited the amount of Alpha radiation although the area is still above background levels.
The time slider clearly shows the radiation abatement efforts. It is interesting to observe vegetation reclaiming the pad!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOMARC_missile_accident_site
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIM-10_Bomarc
BOMARC Missile Site Fire..kmz (1.53 KB)
McGuire Air Force Base became the first operational unit with 56 launchers. On June 7, a year after it opened, the base experienced a fire in of the missiles situated on pad 204. A fuel tank failure allowed two hypergolic fuels to mix, resulting in an explosive and intense blaze.
The fire was controlled after some time but by then the warhead had partially melted, resulting in plutonium and uranium contamination of the area. (It is reassuring that the safety mechanisms on the war head were effective).
In the clean-up procedure tonnes of soil was removed, the area was covered in concrete and then painted. These measures limited the amount of Alpha radiation although the area is still above background levels.
The time slider clearly shows the radiation abatement efforts. It is interesting to observe vegetation reclaiming the pad!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOMARC_missile_accident_site
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIM-10_Bomarc
BOMARC Missile Site Fire..kmz (1.53 KB)