The Quiet Archive
Random

Strategic Air Command (USAF)

Project Crested Ice: The Thule Nuclear Accident, Vol. 1 (SAC Historical Study #113, 1969)

Official history · written 23 April 1969 · released 19 January 2026

Why this matters

Strategic Air Command's official history of the January 1968 crash of a B-52 carrying four hydrogen bombs near Thule Air Base, Greenland, and of the cleanup of contaminated sea ice in the Arctic winter. The accident ended airborne nuclear alert flights. Released in full through FOIA in January 2026.

Read the original

Open official source Internet Archive (all snapshots) Save a fresh snapshot

https://www.governmentattic.org/61docs/USAFprojCrestedIceThuleNukeAccident1969.pdf

Hosted by Government Attic

Tags

Part of a collection · step 9 of 15

The Nuclear Paper Trail

A B-52, four bombs and the Greenland ice.

Cite

Strategic Air Command (USAF). "Project Crested Ice: The Thule Nuclear Accident, Vol. 1 (SAC Historical Study #113, 1969)." 23 April 1969. Released 19 January 2026. https://www.governmentattic.org/61docs/USAFprojCrestedIceThuleNukeAccident1969.pdf (accessed via The Quiet Archive, QA-0128).

Shelved nearby

  1. 1956 QA-0052
    SAC · Briefing book

    Strategic Air Command declassifies nuclear target list from the 1950s

    SAC's 'Atomic Weapons Requirements Study for 1959', the most detailed list of Cold War nuclear targets ever declassified: more than a thousand airfields and industrial sites across the Soviet bloc and China, with 'population' itself listed as a target in cities such as Moscow, Leningrad and East Berlin.

    Written Jun 1956 Released 22 Dec 2015 Declassified United States Live