Qualla: 1980 Damascus Titan Missile Explosion https://qualla.com/1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:06 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/y/q/3/1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: 1980 Damascus Titan Missile Explosion https://qualla.com/1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion 1980 Damascus Titan Missile Explosion: Introduction https://qualla.com/1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion/ Photo credit Public domain. It started with the wrong wrench. On the evening of September 18, 1980, Airman David Powell descended into a Titan II missile silo in the farmland of Van Buren County, Arkansas, to check the pressure on an oxidizer tank. He had brought a ratchet wrench instead of the newly mandated torque wrench. He was already suited up and below ground when he realized the mistake, and rather than climb back out, he continued. What followed over the next several hours was a cascading disaster that ejected a nine-megaton nuclear warhead from its silo, killed one airman, injured 21 others, and became one of the most terrifying "Broken Arrow" incidents of the Cold War.

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]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/y/q/3/1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion-wp/9yq2-1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full 1980 Damascus Titan Missile Explosion: The Silo in the Pasture https://qualla.com/1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion/ Photo credit Bwmoll3, CC BY-SA 3.0. Launch Complex 374-7 sat in Bradley Township, just northeast of the tiny community of Damascus, Arkansas, and roughly north of Little Rock. It was one of eighteen Titan II silos operated by the 308th Strategic Missile Wing out of Little Rock Air Force Base, part of the Strategic ...

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]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/y/q/3/1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion-wp/9yq2-1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion-the-silo-in-the-pasture.mp3 0:06 2 full 1980 Damascus Titan Missile Explosion: Eighteen Hours of Dread https://qualla.com/1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion/ Photo credit Bwmoll3, CC BY-SA 3.0. The fuel leak began around evening on September 18 when the ratchet wrench -- heavy and unwieldy -- made contact with the missile in a way the procedure had not anticipated. Highly toxic Aerozine 50 fuel began venting from the first-stage tank. The on-site command team evacuated....

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]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/y/q/3/1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion-wp/9yq2-1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion-eighteen-hours-of-dread.mp3 0:06 3 full 1980 Damascus Titan Missile Explosion: The Explosion https://qualla.com/1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion/ Photo credit Bwmoll3, CC BY-SA 3.0. Devlin and Hukle were relieved by David Lee Livingston and Jeff Kennedy. Their vapor detectors immediately registered an explosive atmosphere, and they were ordered to evacuate. Then came a fateful reversal: the team was ordered to reenter and turn on an exhaust fan. Livingston w...

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]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/y/q/3/1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion-wp/9yq2-1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion-the-explosion.mp3 0:06 4 full 1980 Damascus Titan Missile Explosion: The Aftermath and the Reckoning https://qualla.com/1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion/ Photo credit Bwmoll3, CC BY-SA 3.0. President Jimmy Carter went on television to reassure the people of Arkansas. Governor Bill Clinton reported that Air Force officials had told him no nuclear explosion could have occurred inside the silo. At daybreak, the Air Force retrieved the warhead and returned it to the Pan...

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]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/y/q/3/1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion-wp/9yq2-1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion-the-aftermath-and-the-reckoning.mp3 0:06 5 full 1980 Damascus Titan Missile Explosion: Command and Control https://qualla.com/1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion/ Photo credit Bwmoll3, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Damascus incident faded from public memory for decades until journalist Eric Schlosser published Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety in 2013. The book examined this explosion alongside other Broken Arrow incidents during the...

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]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/y/q/3/1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion-wp/9yq2-1980-damascus-titan-missile-explosion-command-and-control.mp3 0:06 6 full