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Broken Arrow

How the U.S. Navy Lost a Nuclear Bomb

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About this listen

Douglas Webster was a young pilot from Ohio, newly married and with 17 combat missions under his belt. On December 5, 1965 he strapped into an A-4 Skyhawk bomber for a routine weapons loading drill and simulated mission. After mishandling the maneuver, the plane and its pilot sunk to the bottom of the South China Sea, along with a live B43 one-megaton thermonuclear bomb.

A cover-up mission began. The crew was ordered to stay quiet, rumors circulate of sabotage, a damaged weapon, and a troublesome pilot who needed "disposing of". The incident, a "Broken Arrow" in the parlance of the Pentagon, was kept under wraps until 25 years later. The details that emerged caused a diplomatic incident, revealing that the US had violated agreements not to bring nuclear weapons into Japan. Family members and the public only learned the truth when researchers discovered archived documents that disclosed the true location of the carrier, hundreds of miles closer to land than admitted.

For the first time, through previously classified documents and the recollections of those who were there, the story of carrier aviation's only "Broken Arrow" is told in full.

©2019 Jim Winchester (P)2020 Tantor 20th Century Armed Forces Military Modern Naval Forces Aviation Air Force US Air Force Nuclear Weapons
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As another reviewer has said most of the book has nothing to do with broken arrow……too much padding and not enough substance. Don’t get unless you are prepared to listen chapter after chapter about the American navy

Not what I was hoping for

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The whole book revolves around one incident, and the lives of the pilot and crew that were there at the time. Plus the book diverts away into different parts of history and people to help build the bigger picture.
Interesting read!
Kudos also to the publishers for not mangling the English language, or implying that no one else in the world has had a Navy!... As American authored books are sometimes want to do.

Pretty interesting!

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I think its fair to say, regardless of the accidents with Atomic Weapons, the men charged with looking after them did a great job.

Wether conventional or atomic, there's bound to be incidents / accidents, it's in the nature of things. This story covers one accident and mentions more. We're just so lucky none of them ended in utter disaster!

Good narration and good writing make this a book you can't stop listening to. Enjoy.

Disasters Not Far Away.

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I'm a little bit confused by this book. I have a huge interest in Nuclear Weapons, so this was right up my straight. However, it took 3/4 of the book for it to get to the broken arrow incident. The first 3/4 were interesting as I am ex-Navy, but was a personnel injury report and just general ship's and airwing operation data and stories. I think you could skip most of this book if you are only interested in the Broken Arrow incident.

Not Sure

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