The plane veered off the runway during the fourth and slammed into a storage igloo containing Mark 6 atomic bombs. A SAC officer described the accident to LeMay in a classified telegram: The B-47 tore apart the igloo and knocked about 3 Mark Sixes. A/C [aircraft] then exploded showering burning fuel overall. Crew perished. Most of A/C wreckage pivoted on igloo and came to rest with A/C nose just beyond igloo bank which kept main fuel fire outside smashed igloo. Preliminary exam by bomb disposal officer says a miracle that one Mark Six with exposed detonators sheared didn’t go. Fire fighters
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