August
5, 1950
B-29
Crash at Travis Air Force Base
A bomb-laden B-29 Superfortress crashed into a residential
area near the Fairfield-Suisun Air Base in California, killing 17 people and
injuring 68. Brigadier General Robert T. Travis was one of the fatalities.
Although the aircraft was carrying a Mark 4 nuclear
weapon, the bomb's plutonium pit was carried aboard another
aircraft, rendering a nuclear explosion impossible. However, the 5000 lbs.
of high explosives in the weapon exploded about twenty minutes after the crash.
The
base was officially renamed Travis Air Force Base on 20 April 1951.
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