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, Greenland, 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. In March 2009, Time
identified the accident as one of the world's worst nuclear disasters.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Thule_Air_Base_B-52_crash>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1525:
The Anabaptist Movement was born when founders Conrad Grebel,
Felix Manz, and George Blaurock re-baptized each other and other
followers in Zürich, Switzerland, believing that the Christian
religious practice of infant baptism is invalid because a child cannot
commit to a religious faith.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabaptist>
1789:
The Power of Sympathy by William Hill Brown, widely considered
to be the first American novel, was published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_Sympathy>
1972:
Tripura, part of the former independent Twipra Kingdom, became
a full-fledged state in India.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripura>
1976:
The Concorde supersonic transports began scheduled commercial
flights to London, Paris, Bahrain, and Rio de Janeiro.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde>
2011:
A protest in Tirana to protest the alleged corruption of the
Albanian government, led to the killings of three demonstrators by the
Republican Guard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Albanian_opposition_demonstrations>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
palinspastic:
(geology, of a map) Showing the previous location of geological
features, correcting for any intervening crustal movements.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/palinspastic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We know our time on this Earth is fleeting. We know that we will each
have our share of pleasure and pain, that even after we chase after some
earthly goal, whether it's wealth or power or fame or just simple
comfort, we will, in some fashion, fall short of what we had hoped. We
know that, no matter how good our intentions, we'll all stumble
sometimes in some way. We'll make mistakes, we'll experience
hardships and even when we're trying to do the right thing, we know
that much of our time will be spent groping through the darkness, so
often unable to discern God's heavenly plans. There's only one thing
we can be sure of, and that is the love that we have for our children,
for our families, for each other. The warmth of a small child's
embrace, that is true.
--Barack Obama
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barack_Obama>
_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org