For the Cumberland Times-News
GRANTSVILLE — A B-52 bomber with a crew of five and two thermonuclear bombs crashed in a snow storm on Big Savage Mountain, near Grantsville, Garrett County, on January 13, 1964.
The result was a massive search for the location of the plane, and for the crew, four of whom had ejected from the plane.
The military was heavily involved in the search and rescue, but the people of Garrett and Allegany Counties in Maryland and Somerset County, Pennsylvania joined in to walk through deep snow looking for parachutes, plough the roads for the search personnel to travel more easily, run telephone line and feed the large number of people participating.
A collection of news stories is now online at digital.whilbr.org, the history website of Western Maryland Regional Library.
There are stories published at the time by the Cumberland newspapers, the Cumberland Evening Times, Cumberland News, Cumberland Sunday Times and later the Cumberland Times-News, together with The Republican from Oakland, Garrett County.
Both towns also reported on all commemorative events. In addition there are several in-depth articles about the events, bringing the perspective of time to the story.
The website allows one to see how the events of that very cold and eventful January were reported at the time, with the concern for human lives but also the initial fear of the potential nuclear threat that the bombs posed. One can read the stories chronologically, using the browse feature or search for an individual.
The crash of the B-52 will be commemorated Saturday, July 12, 2014 in Grantsville.
The stories are available at http://digital.whilbr.org or from the Allegany County Library System’s website http://www.alleganycountylibrary.info <http://www.relib.net> under “Research.”
The Whilbr website features images of original source documents from the collections of the public libraries, historical societies, and individuals in Western Maryland. Its purpose is to display Western Maryland-related historical documents, images, audio, and video.
Western Maryland Regional Library provides support and materials for the continued enhancement of resources available through the Allegany County Library System, the Ruth Enlow Library of Garrett County, and the Washington County Free Library System.
