Yorkshire came close to nuclear disaster during the 1950s and 60s due to a string of blunders by the RAF, a documentary will claim tonight.

BBC2's Close Up North will reveal that there was a spill of liquid oxygen at a base in Lincolnshire which held nuclear bombs - the consequences of which could have been devastating for anywhere within a 300 mile radius.

Ian Cundall, the series producer, told the Evening Press that if the liquid oxygen had come into contact with anything organic it would have exploded and set off nuclear warheads at the base.

He said that the incident happened at Ludford Magna RAF base: "The missiles could have blasted into pieces, turning into an aerosol spray of nuclear material."

Mr Cundall said that on speaking to an expert at Bradford University, the programme found that a nuclear cloud could have spread over an area of 300 miles.

He added: "If the wind had been blowing in the right direction, it could have got to North Yorkshire."

The Close Up North team tracked down dozens of airmen who manned the mighty V-Bomber Force and Thor missile batteries in East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire during the 1950s and 60s.

Other startling revelations will include:

How nuclear bomb was dropped by accident on an RAF base in Cambridgeshire in a blunder that was hushed up by senior officers

In 1962, the RAF effectively went to war with Russia, activating its full war plan, to the horror of missile base crews. Planes were recalled and missiles stood down after 90 minutes

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, crews, including some in North Yorkshire, spent two days waiting in their cockpits for the order to scramble

Officers openly talked about "jump starting" nuclear warheads on Thor missiles, jointly controlled by American officers, if the White House failed to respond to an attack on Britain

Some Vulcan bomber crews faced virtual kamikaze missions because their aircraft had insufficient fuel to get back to base and most accepted they would have to parachute into the Russian steppes.

Close Up North Secrets of the Bomb is broadcast tonight on BBC2 at 7.30pm.

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