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Investigating the Explosion/Crash of the B-47 Stratojet [1958]
Breaching National Security or Cover Up?
c April 2005 Linda Munro
Two weeks ago, I received a request to once again visit the explosion/crash of a B-47 Bomber in Langford, NY. Langford is a tiny, rural hamlet located in Southern Erie County. The biggest thing that happens here is the annual tractor pull and jamboree, which draws in a crowd of 5,000 people. The only other thing to ever really occur in Langford was an explosion/crash of a B-47 Stratojet in April of 1958. It is also the one subject that has never left the minds of local residents.
I had first reported on this issue [via the Internet] in July of 2002, in an article concerning the cancer rate of the hamlet of Collins Center, situated just six miles south west of the hamlet of Langford. At that time, I included a pictorial supplement [Photos taken by: Frank Dickey; Hamburg, NY] as well as newspaper articles from across the United States and a report from the New York State Cancer Surveillance Team. I highly recommend that anyone interested in this issue, familiarize themselves with reports from the time period, as well as the cancer surveillance report.
Two years ago, for the forty fifth anniversary of the crash, due to my extensive research on the 1958 incident, I was asked to write an indeptht article. For the first time ever, I added a human element to my twenty years of research. I must admit, I was amazed. Rather than reiterate on the article, I suggest you read the updated article that was placed on the Internet last week. I am sure that most of you will find my research to be much more interesting than the information twenty years of work has turned up.
I was just over two years old during this incident, so I have no real recollection of what occurred; over the years the topic of the explosion/crash was rehashed not only at my home, but also at bars, events, etc. I had heard so many renditions of the crash that it seemed natural when I received a request to research the topic.
I had been researching for quite sometime by the time I was handed the explosion/crash. This was, of course, before the days when you could log onto the Internet and find information [even if it is incorrect] on nearly any subject you can think of. These were the days when started at a library, going through rolls and rolls of microfilm, obtaining every piece of information you could. From there, you would sit at a typewriter [or word processor] nicely type out your request and mail it off. While you were waiting for weeks for your request to be answered, or denied, you returned to the library and continued going through more rolls and rolls of microfilm. In other words, I actually put my heart and soul into the research.
I would like to say that all went well, I received the information I had requested, read it and life went on. I would really like to say that, but that is not exactly how things worked. I started by locating newspaper articles concerning the incident. According to news reports, investigators from Niagara Falls AFB were at the scene; the B-47 had left from Lockbourne AFB near Columbus, Ohio; they were schedule to rendezvous KC-97 Tanker which had left from an AFB in Maine. After making copies of the every newspaper article I could locate, I returned home to begin the tedious process of telephone calls to local Air Force Base Personnel in an attempt to decipher which bases were still in operation, which, if any of the personnel involved in the 1958 investigation and where the incident report would be located; easier said than done.
There was a great deal of time spent waiting for responses, the idea was to fill the void by interviewing local people about their recollections of that day. I heard many interesting stories, some sickening, but I found that the event seemed extremely clear to everyone I interviewed.
Unfortunately, the military was not quite as clear as the general population; in fact, it took almost a year just to track down the files. Once I located the files and paid the fee, I waited and waited, finally receiving a very thin package from the military. The unclassified file appeared to be lacking most of its pages! If that wasn’t bad enough, huge portions of several pages had been blacked out before I received them.
Contacting the military I would learn that the file may have been declassified, but there were specific portions of the file that could not be made public. It appears that military personnel would not want to participate in investigations of they felt that their testimony would be made public at a later date [you know 30 – 40 years later]. With the minute amount of paperwork, I would learn the names and ranks of the four persons killed in the explosion/crash, the weather conditions, as provided by the Meteorology Service, and what was not wrong with the aircraft.
After requesting information using the Freedom of Information Act I began reading and rereading the documentation. According to press releases provided by the U.S. Air Force, the aircraft was not carrying any nuclear materials. According to the file, the aircraft was mechanically sound and human error did not play a part in the explosion/crash. The question remained: what did cause the explosion and the Freedom of Information Act request was denied. I appealed the decision and continued questioning local witnesses.
The appeal was also denied, the reason stated: the remaining information would breach national security [over 30 years after the fact]. Refusing to quit, I continued to request the remaining documentation, at one point I received a letter basically stating that I was to drop the issue “or else.” Or else? Or else what; or else they would send someone to recover a page that probably should not have been released to me? A page of documentation indicating that crypto material being carried on the aircraft had been lost and not recovered. The same page indicated that subjugating documentation was also lost.
What exactly was the crypto material? I suppose I will never learn. I know that the word was not available in any of my up to date dictionaries, I had to dig out one of those huge ten pound dictionaries that schools had in the early 60’s. According to that dictionary crypto meant:
2. Of, relating to, or employing cryptography
If this is not enough to make you wonder, tune in next week when I explain the details of our local cancer rate including what the New York State Cancer Surveillance Team had to say about the cancer rate.
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