Douglas M. Webster

Douglas M. Webster, a lieutenant junior grade and a U.S. Navy aviator, was the sole victim of a 1965 Broken Arrow in the Pacific Ocean, that went unacknowledged by the Pentagon until 1981. His A-4 Skyhawk was lost over the side of the on 5 December 1965 while the attack jet, armed with a B43 nuclear bomb, was being rolled from a hangar bay onto an elevator.
Broken Arrow
Webster, the A-4E Skyhawk, BuNo 151022, of Attack Squadron VA-56, and the nuclear weapon were lost off the coast of Japan on 5 December 1965 when the jet rolled off an elevator of the aircraft carrier, in 16,000 feet of water in the Pacific Ocean, 80 miles from one of the Ryukyu Islands, Okinawa during a training exercise. The Skyhawk was being rolled from the number 2 hangar bay to the number 2 elevator when it was lost. Airframe, pilot, and the bomb were never found. No public mention was made of the incident at the time and it would not come to light until a 1981 Pentagon report revealed that a one-megaton bomb had been lost. Japan then asked for details of the incident.
Memorial fund
A memorial fund has been established in Webster’s memory by family, friends and fellow naval aviators. It will be used to help young people of Warren, Ohio develop their personal ethics and physical abilities through participation in YMCA and High School athletic activities.

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