A nonfiction account of the first loss of an atomic bomb by the American military, which took place over the coast of B.C. in February, 1950. On a cold, windy February night off the coast of B.C. in 1950, a new B36 United States Air Force bomber experienced catastrophic engine failures on three of its six engines. Before the airplane crashed into a mountainside, the crew dropped their atomic bomb over the Pacific Ocean into Hecate Strait. The aircraft was carrying one of the first two Mark-4 atomic bombs ever loaned to the USAF by the Atomic Energy Commission. In addition to a very heavy atomic bomb, the craft carried seventeen crewmembers. The U.S. military, very concerned about the loss of seventeen men, one bomber and one atomic bomb, immediately launched a huge search operation. Many of the crew were rescued by fishermen and the Royal Canadian Navy, but the aircraft, full of secret equipment, was not found. Broken Arrow No.1 examines exactly what happened in the preparation for the mission, the mission itself, the accident, the loss of the bomb, the search, and eventually the destruction of the bomber four years later.

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Dr. John Clearwater constructed this work based upon numerous sources and many years of research. A nuclear weapons specialist, he has worked for the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of National Defence. The author's previous works include Canadian Nuclear Weapons and U.S. Nuclear weapons in Canada.