I don't know how the Air Farce runs their NUCWEPS programs, but this would never happen in the Navy. I won't go into the loading and storage procedures here but, suffice to say, any "Special" weapons would immediately be apparent. What is mystifying to me is that a weapons loadout check should be part of a preflight checklist and would show the type of weapons loaded and number in the weapons control console. That and any cursory examination of the weapons themselves that should have presumably been done as part of a visual inspection pre-flight should have raised a red flag as well. War shot ordnance is distinctly different from exercise weapons and are clearly marked with weapons type on the outside of the missle.
On another note, I remember reading in WMR a while back about the loss of two of the warheads from the Kazakh portion of the Soviet arsenal that were lost of the Somali coast in the early '90s. Those two were recovered by smugglers and allegedly sold to North Korea.
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