The Forgotten 1958 Nuclear Accident in Morocco
Most people don’t know that a serious U.S. nuclear weapons accident happened in Morocco during the Cold War.
On January 31, 1958, a U.S. Air Force B-47 bomber carrying a nuclear weapon crashed during takeoff at Sidi Slimane Air Base in Morocco.
The aircraft caught fire after the crash, causing a massive explosion and contamination scare. Fortunately, the nuclear core did not detonate, otherwise it could have become one of the worst nuclear disasters of the era.
This type of event is officially classified as a “Broken Arrow” incident, the U.S. military term for accidents involving nuclear weapons.
At the time, Morocco hosted several strategic American military bases as part of Cold War operations.
What’s fascinating is how little this event is discussed today despite involving:
a live nuclear weapon,
a military crash,
radioactive contamination,
and Cold War secrecy inside Morocco.