Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 21, 2013

On January 21, 1968, an accident occurred near Thule Air Base in the Danish-administered territory of Greenland involving a United States Air Force (USAF) B-52 bomber. The aircraft was carrying four B28 nuclear bombs (examples pictured) on a Cold War "Chrome Dome" alert mission over Baffin Bay when a cabin fire forced the crew to abandon the aircraft before they could carry out an emergency landing at Thule Air Base. Six crew members ejected safely, but one who did not have an ejection seat was killed while trying to bail out. The bomber crashed onto sea ice in North Star Bay causing the nuclear payload to rupture and disperse, which resulted in localised radioactive contamination. The United States and Denmark launched an intensive clean-up and recovery operation. USAF Strategic Air Command "Chrome Dome" operations were discontinued immediately after the incident, safety procedures were reviewed and more stable explosives were developed for use in nuclear weapons. Workers involved in the clean-up program have been campaigning for compensation for radiation-related illnesses they subsequently experienced. (Full article...)