There’s a 10,000 pound nuclear bomb that was lost by the US military in BC that’s never been found.
It happened in 1950 when a military plane was flying over northern BC and caught fire. It was actually the first of many nuclear bombs that they lost, if you can believe it.
Bomber 075 was on its way to Texas from Alaska with a Mark V nuclear bomb on board, but the plane caught fire and the crew ended up having to evacuate it, and put it on autopilot until it crashed into the mountains.
Before they bailed out they dropped the nuclear bomb into the inside passage.
A replica of the lost nuke on display at the Western Canada Aviation Museum | Courtesy Dano Mukluk
It was never recovered, and the plane was only found four years later, deep in the mountains, completely by mistake. A crew came across it while they were searching for another lost airplane, completely unrelated.
Initially they didn’t do a search because they thought that the plane’s autopilot system had taken it out into the ocean.
But after they found out it was sitting on top of one of our mountains, the US military came in quick, took possession of a bunch of things that were onboard, and before they left they blew most of it up.
The wreck is still up there though. It’s protected by the BC Heritage Act, and it’s only accessible by helicopter because it’s way out there.
This story first appeared in Issue 1 of my Now You Know BC Almanac, printed in Vancouver and released in an edition of 5,000 copies.
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