1965 Philippine Sea A-4 incident

The 1965 Philippine Sea A-4 crash was a Broken Arrow incident in which a United States Navy Douglas A-4E Skyhawk attack aircraft carrying a nuclear weapon fell into the sea off Japan from the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga.^[3][4] The aircraft, pilot and weapon were never recovered.^[5]

1965 Philippine Sea A-4 incident

A MK43 free-fall nuclear weapon on a handling dolly
Incident
Date	December 5, 1965
Summary	Pre-flight human error
Site	Philippine Sea[citation needed] 27°33.2′N 131°19.3′E[citation needed]
Aircraft type	Douglas A-4E Skyhawk
Operator	Attack Squadron VA-56[1] Carrier Air Wing Five
Registration	BuNo 151022[1]
Fatalities	1 Pilot (LTJG Douglas M. Webster)[2]

The accident

On 5 December 1965, 31 days after Ticonderoga's departure from U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay in the Philippines,^[3] the attack jet was pushed backwards over the side, off the number 2 elevator during a training exercise while being rolled from the number 2 hangar bay to the elevator.^[2] The pilot, Lieutenant (junior grade) Douglas M. Webster; the aircraft, Douglas A-4E BuNo 151022 of VA-56; and the B43 nuclear bomb were never recovered^[6] from the 16,000 ft (4,900 m) depth.^{[citation needed]} The accident was said to occur 68 miles (59 nmi; 109 km) from Kikai Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan.^[7]

Ticonderoga had aboard Carrier Air Wing Five during this cruise, with two squadrons of Skyhawks. The lost aircraft was part of Attack Squadron 56 (VA-56); VA-144 was the other.^[8]

Number of weapons

Though most sources state that a single weapon was involved, a document from Los Alamos National Lab indicates that two weapons were involved.^[9]

Revelation

It was not until 1989 that the United States Department of Defense revealed the proximity of the lost one-megaton H-bomb to Japanese territory.^[10] The revelation inspired a diplomatic inquiry from Japan requesting details.^[11]

See also

• Broken Arrow (nuclear)
• List of military nuclear accidents