How a hungry black bear in Minnesota came within minutes of triggering nuclear Armageddon during the Cuban Missile Crisis
TL;DR: On October 25, 1962, during the most dangerous moment of the Cold War, a wandering bear at a Minnesota air base was mistaken for a Soviet saboteur, triggering a chain reaction that nearly launched nuclear-armed fighter jets and potentially started World War III.
Contents
The Most Dangerous Night of the Cold War
It’s just after midnight on October 25, 1962. The world is holding its breath during the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Kennedy and Soviet leader Khrushchev are locked in a nuclear standoff that has the planet teetering on the edge of destruction.
The U.S. military is on DEFCON 3 for the first time in history—halfway to nuclear war.
Bombers circle the globe 24/7, missiles are armed and ready, and every soldier, pilot, and guard is on edge, knowing that World War III could begin at any moment.
The Setup: Nuclear Hair Triggers
As part of the crisis protocol, the Air Force had scattered 161 F-106A Delta Dart interceptor jets armed with nuclear weapons across small airfields throughout the country.
The strategy? Make it harder for the Soviets to destroy America’s nuclear arsenal in a surprise first strike.
Two squadrons from Selfridge Air Force Base in Michigan had been relocated to Volk Field in Wisconsin—a tiny training base so small it didn’t even have a control tower.
These weren’t your average fighter jets. Each F-106 carried:
- Four conventional AIM-4 Falcon missiles
- One AIR-2A “Genie” nuclear rocket with a 1.5-kiloton warhead
The Genie was the world’s first nuclear air-to-air weapon—an 812-pound unguided rocket designed to detonate in the middle of Soviet bomber formations, wiping out entire squadrons with a single blast.
It had a lethal radius of roughly 300 meters and could reach speeds of Mach 3.3.
Enter the Unlikely Villain
At the Duluth Air Force Base in Minnesota, about 300 miles from Volk Field, security was taken extremely seriously.
The base housed approximately 130 nuclear weapons, and military planners expected that any Soviet nuclear first strike would be preceded by sabotage operations—”spetsnaz” special forces infiltrating to disable American defenses.
So when a security guard spotted a shadowy figure climbing the perimeter fence around midnight, his training kicked in. Soviet saboteur!
He fired his weapon and immediately activated the base’s sabotage alarm.
But the “Soviet saboteur” was actually a curious (and probably American) black bear, likely searching for food before winter set in.
The hefty intruder quickly scampered back into the woods on four legs, completely unaware that it had just triggered a potential nuclear apocalypse.
The Fatal Wiring Error
Here’s where things went catastrophically wrong. The sabotage alarm at Duluth was connected to alarm systems at nearby bases, including Volk Field.
But in the rush to install new alarm systems during the crisis, someone had crossed the wires.
Instead of triggering the “intruder alert” at Volk Field, the bear’s midnight snack run activated the “scramble” alarm—the klaxon that ordered pilots to immediately take off with nuclear weapons, believing that World War III had just begun.
Nuclear Jets Ready for Takeoff
The pilots at Volk Field had been sleeping in the base dispensary when the klaxon shattered the night.
They’d been explicitly told there would be no practice drills—if that alarm sounded, it was the real thing.
Lieutenant Dan Barry, just 27 years old, raced to his F-106A along with his squadron.
Each pilot genuinely believed nuclear war had started and Soviet bombers were approaching over the North Pole. Barry later recalled:
“That was serious business. We’d never flown with a nuke on board… It was really serious. I can remember almost expecting to see inbound nuclear missiles.” (Source: Racket MN)
The jets began taxiing toward the runway. In the weapons bay of each aircraft sat a live nuclear warhead capable of devastating destruction. The pilots were seconds away from takeoff.
The Last-Second Save
Fortunately, an officer at Volk Field decided to call Duluth directly to confirm the scramble order.
When he learned it was a false alarm, disaster was literally racing down the runway toward them.
Since Volk Field had no control tower, the only way to stop the nuclear-armed jets was for someone to drive a vehicle onto the runway with headlights flashing.
Barry, who was second in line for takeoff, saw the truck speeding toward them and received the stand-down order just in time.
Nuclear war had been averted by mere minutes.
The Decades-Long Secret
This incredible near-miss remained classified for over 25 years. The pilots initially thought equipment had malfunctioned due to snow.
Later, they heard rumors about a drunk soldier trying to sneak back onto base.
It wasn’t until 1993 that Stanford University professor Scott Sagan revealed the truth in his book “The Limits of Safety: Organizations, Accidents, and Nuclear Weapons.”
Sagan discovered the incident through Freedom of Information Act requests and declassified Air Force documents.
When he contacted Barry decades later, the former pilot finally learned that a bear had nearly triggered the end of the world.
Why This Matters Today
This bizarre incident wasn’t isolated. Sagan documented numerous nuclear close calls during the Cold War:
- Moon rising over Norway mistaken for incoming missiles
- Computer training tapes accidentally fed into live warning systems
- Mechanical failures nearly causing accidental launches
- Communication breakdowns bringing superpowers to the brink
The bear incident highlights a terrifying reality: during the nuclear age, human error and technical failures can be more dangerous than enemy action.
As Sagan noted, “There’s an inherent fragility to the system—it’s like walking across thin ice.”
Wrapping it Up
The bear, for its part, wandered back into the Minnesota woods completely oblivious to its brief role as potential destroyer of worlds. It probably just wanted a midnight snack.
A single hungry bear, looking for food before winter, came within minutes of potentially ending human civilization.
If those F-106s had taken off with nuclear weapons during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Soviet forces might have interpreted it as the beginning of an American first strike.
The incident serves as a chilling reminder that even in our most carefully planned systems, the unexpected will occur.
Sometimes the greatest threats to humanity come not from our enemies, but from the complex, fragile technologies we create to protect ourselves.
References
Defense Media Network. (2021, July 14). 6 November activation [PDF]. U.S. Department of Defense. https://media.defense.gov/2021/Jul/14/2002762368/-1/-1/0/6_NOVEMBER_ACTIVATION.PDF
Broad, W. J., & Sanger, D. E. (2018, January 13). False alarm missile alerts show the lingering dangers of the nuclear age. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/13/us/false-alarm-missile-alerts.html
Sagan, S. D. (1993). The limits of safety: Organizations, accidents, and nuclear weapons. Princeton University Press. https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstreams/cfd8b2cb-8df3-4475-94d8-5da76d993c05/download
Stilwell, B. (2021, April 30). How one black bear almost set off World War III during the Cold War. Military.com. https://www.military.com/off-duty/how-one-black-bear-almost-set-off-world-war-iii-during-cold-war.html
White Eagle Aerospace. (n.d.). First & only air-to-air nuke. White Eagle Aerospace. https://www.whiteeagleaerospace.com/firstonly-air-air-nuke/
Sagan, S. D. (1993). The limits of safety: Organizations, accidents, and nuclear weapons. Princeton University Press.