ARMED FORCES: Mars Bluff

Drooping, knife-edge wings raised to flight, black exhaust streaming from six jet engines, the Strategic Air Command's B-47 No. 876 hurtled into the air from the runway at Hunter Air Force Base at Savannah one afternoon last week. Along with most of SAC's 308th Bomb Wing, No. 876 was headed off on a highly classified flight—Operation Snow Flurry—to one of the four SAC fields in North Africa.

As the plane climbed toward 15,000 feet, Captain Earl Koehler, 36, the plane commander, saw a light flash on his instrument panel. This was a warning and an urgent one: the electrical bomb-locking system...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!