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Events on Monday 17 January 1966 1
1966Palomares nuclear weapons accidentUS bomber collides with a tanker, scattering nuclear bombs over SpainA US Air Force B-52 bomber collided with a refueling tanker over Palomares, Spain, on 17 January 1966, killing seven crew and dropping four hydrogen bombs. Two bombs' conventional explosives detonated on impact, contaminating farmland with plutonium, though no nuclear explosion occurred.