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Hello,

My name is Hardy, I am 58 years old and I live in Berlin/Germany.

I have a very specific question about the flights of B-52 bombers occurred under U.S. Strategic Air Command's Airborne Alert program during the late-1950s and 1960s ("Operation Chrome Dome").

In a report on the crash of the B-52H bomber (call sign: "Keep 19") carrying two Mark 39 nuclear hydrogen bombs on January 24, 1961, near Faro, North Carolina, I read the following sentence:

"The aircrew, in two physically separate positions in the aircraft, had to perform at least 19 steps from their checklist before nuclear weapons could be pre-armed and dropped."

Can any of you help me go into more detail about the crew's checklist and more detail about each of the individual 19 steps? I am interested in what individual steps the crew had to perform and in what order each step had to be performed.

Perhaps a retired former crew member of a B-52H bomber can provide info on this.

I intend to eventually publish an article about the above "Broken Arrow" accident in a flight magazine. The article should serve to disprove the myth of an alleged near explosion of one of the two hydrogen bombs.

I would be very pleased if you could help me further.

Best Regards,
Hardy