Concerning
U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Canada, by John Clearwater, yes, it does indeed go beyond the Bomarc missiles. It covers, for example, the
Genie, a nuclear armed air-to-air missile designed to bring down Russian bombers. CF-101 Voodoos, flown by the Canadian air force in the early 1960s, were equipped with Genies. Nuclear depth charges (Mark 101 "Lulu", and the B57 bomb) were also stored at
Argentia Naval Station for use by American maritime patrol aircraft stationed there.
Many nuclear weapon components were pre-positioned at bases in Canada where the US Air Force had been active for many years:
Goose Bay Air Force Base,
Ernest Harmon AFB. As early as 1950, eleven Fat Man style nuclear bombs were stored for a few months at Goose Bay.
What was surprising was the number of regular overflights of Canadian territory by SAC bombers many of which were carrying nuclear bombs although these were not "fuzed". Typically, the bombers would take off from bases in the continental U.S. and later refueled by American tankers flying out of Goose Bay. For many years, SAC maintained a high-level of readiness whereby a significant number of bombers would be in the air at any one time... and ready to strike the USSR, of course. This required a great deal of training. Of course, accidents would occur and did. Clearwater's book includes a chronology of accidents the most notable being:
St. Lawrence River near Rivière-du-Loup on November 10, 1950, and
off the Coast of British Columbia, on February 13, 1950.
Much of the book focuses on the Canadian government's efforts to maintain a modicum of sovereignty on overflights of its territory. Negotiations took place at an agonizingly slow pace, to the annoyance of the Americans. I suspect that if push came to shove (i.e., a real air attack by the Soviets), the US would have ignored any diplomatic niceties. The US deployed nuclear weapons in many countries, in some cases without the knowledge of the "recipient" country.
One thing that I found a bit humorous : the Canadian bureaucrats insistence that nuclear weapon components be processed for customs and excise purposes. Pretty absurd.
Overall though,
I would not recommend this book (I borrowed it from my local library). It is written in a very dry and academic style. In my opinion, the interesting aspects of its contents - except for the list of nuclear accidents/incidents - could have been summarized in a 10-page article. If you're really interested in the subject of US nuclear weapons deployed in other countries,
this article from the NY Times would be a good place to start.
