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Hardinsburg air disaster

15 Oct 1959 · Hardinsburg

United States Air Force Boeing B-52 Stratofortress and United States Air Force Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker · Aircraft collision

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Event

Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
Event fatalities
8 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Unknown
Survivors
Unknown
InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
4
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Military

Aircraft 1 · Boeing B-52 Stratofortress

Aircraft type
Boeing B-52
Category
Airplane · from aircraft type
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
4
Route
From ColumbusTo not recorded

Aircraft 2 · Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker

Aircraft type
Boeing KC-135
Category
Airplane · from aircraft type
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
4
Route
From ColumbusTo not recorded

Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.

From the Wikipedia article

Hardinsburg disaster – a mid-air collision of an American aircraft carrying two atomic bombs with an American aerial tanker, as a result of which 8 people died.

Translated into English with AI assistance from the Polish Wikipedia article “Katastrofa lotnicza nad Hardinsburgiem” (revision 74866487, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article

Sources

Polish Wikipedia article: Katastrofa lotnicza nad Hardinsburgiem
Article
Katastrofa lotnicza nad Hardinsburgiem
Translation
Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
Revision
74866487 · 2024-09-30 · retrieved 2026-09-19
Wikidata
Q11737193
Licence
Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
Record
pl Wikipedia article "Katastrofa lotnicza nad Hardinsburgiem" (page 128346, revision 74866487), translated into English with AI assistance
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site; country from Wikidata (P17)
Map position
Wikipedia article coordinates
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
Fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Summary
Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the Polish Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.