Sidewinder.

This is coolbert:

Once more to the subject of the air to air missile the performance of which not up to desired standards.

Thanks to the tip from Dee and the "This Day in Aviation" Internet web site.

"7 April 1961"

American B-52 Stratofortress long-range nuclear bomber warplane shot down by American air- to air missile!!

AN ACCIDENT DURING A TRAINING EXERCISE. MISSILE MALFUNCTION!

"The flight took Ciudad Juarez [B-52] over New Mexico where they were intercepted by a flight of two North American F-100A Super Sabres of the New Mexico Air National Guard, also on a training flight."

ALL SAFETY MEASURES AND PROTOCOLS FOLLOWED WITH 100 % EXACTNESS AND YET THE SIDEWINDER SPONTANEOUSLY LAUNCHING AND DETONATING ON TARGET, DESTROYING SAME!!

"Safety precautions required that a circuit breaker be pulled and a firing switch be left in the off position. Before each pass, ground controllers had the pilots verify that the missiles were safe"

Again, problem with the missile itself and not the operators, the protocols, the safety features!!

"An investigation determined that moisture condensation inside a worn electrical plug had caused a short circuit which fired the Sidewinder"

That warhead of the Sidewinder about three times larger than that on the Falcon AIM-4 air to air missile. Sufficient to cause enough catastrophic damage for the B-52 to fall out of the sky!!

See this You Tube video of the latest version Sidewinder as fired during test exercises in a variety of scenario.

"The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry".

coolbert.