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1211th Test Squadron
The 1211th Test Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 9th Weather Reconnaissance Group, stationed at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico. It was inactivated on 8 June 1963. History The squadron conducted nuclear cloud sampling during atmospheric testing. The idea of atomic cloud sampling developed from atmospheric testing during Operation Sandstone in the spring of 1948. During the operation, an aircraft accidentally flew through an atomic cloud. An analysis of the radiation dosages received by the crewmembers was found to be minor and led to the realization that sampling could be accomplished effectively with manned aircraft. Analyses of samples collected from atomic clouds were considered the most accurate method of determining the efficiency and yield of a nuclear device. Air Force Special Weapons Center (AFSWC) scientists accompanied the squadron on sampling missions in order to assess effects on humans. The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal Corps, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the United States Armed Forces in 1947 with the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the second youngest branch of the United States Armed Forces and the fourth in order of precedence. The United States Air Force articulates its core missions as air supremacy, global integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control. The United States Air Force is a military service branch organized within the Department of the Air Force, one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense. The Air Force through the Department of the Air Force is headed by the civilian Secretary of the Air Force ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kirtland Air Force Base
Kirtland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in the southeast quadrant of the Albuquerque, New Mexico urban area, adjacent to the Albuquerque International Sunport. The base was named for the early Army aviator Col. Roy C. Kirtland. The military and the international airport share the same runways, making ABQ a joint civil-military airport. Kirtland AFB is the largest installation in Air Force Global Strike Command and sixth largest in the United States Air Force. The base occupies 51,558 acres and employs over 23,000 people, including more than 4,200 active duty and 1,000 Guard, plus 3,200 part-time Reserve personnel. In 2000, Kirtland AFB's economic impact on the City of Albuquerque was over $2.7 billion. Kirtland is the home of the Air Force Materiel Command's Nuclear Weapons Center (NWC). The NWC's responsibilities include acquisition, modernization and sustainment of nuclear system programs for both the Department of Defense and Department of En ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RB-57D Canberra
The Martin RB-57D Canberra was a specialized high-altitude strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Martin B-57 Canberra tactical bomber, a licence-built version of the English Electric Canberra. It was used by the United States Air Force during the 1950s prior to operational use of the Lockheed U-2. Development The RB-57D was built strictly as a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. It originated in a December 1952 USAF study funded by the Wright Air Development Center for a turbojet-powered special reconnaissance aircraft with a radius of that could operate at altitudes of . Subsonic performance was considered to be acceptable and it was felt that no defensive armament would be needed. The RB-57D was unique and set the stage for high-altitude reconnaissance operations in the rarefied air of the stratosphere. Preliminary specifications were prepared by the Air Force on 27 March 1953. The project was carried out in high secrecy. It was known as Weapon System MX-2147 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Sunbeam
Operation Sunbeam (also known as Operation Dominic II) was a series of four nuclear tests conducted at the United States's Nevada Test Site in 1962. ''Operation Sunbeam'' tested tactical nuclear warheads; the most notable was the ''Davy Crockett''. The chief milestone of ''Operation Sunbeam'' was that it was the last nuclear test series on the Nevada Test Site conducted in the atmosphere by the United States. Since ''Operation Sunbeam'', specifically the '' Little Feller 1'' test of the ''Davy Crockett,'' all US nuclear tests on the Test Site have been carried out underground in accordance with the Partial Test Ban Treaty The Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) is the abbreviated name of the 1963 Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water, which prohibited all nuclear weapons testing, test detonations of nuclear weapons exce .... List of the nuclear tests References {{US Nuclear Tests Explosions in 1962 Sunbeam 1962 in m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Storax
Operation Storax was a series of 47 nuclear tests conducted by the United States in 1962–1963 at the Nevada Test Site. These tests followed the ''Operation Fishbowl'' series and preceded the ''Operation Roller Coaster'' series. British tests Some accounts include the second British nuclear weapons test at the Nevada Test Site, shot ''Tendrac'', as part of Storax. See British nuclear testing in the United States for more details. Tests References {{US Nuclear Tests Explosions in 1962 Explosions in 1963 Storax Storax ( la, storax; el, στύραξ, ''stúrax''), often commercially sold as styrax, is a natural resin isolated from the wounded bark of ''Liquidambar orientalis'' Mill. (Asia Minor) and ''Liquidambar styraciflua'' L. (Central America) (Ham ... 1962 in military history 1963 in military history 1962 in Nevada 1963 in Nevada 1962 in the environment 1963 in the environment ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Dominic I And II
Operation Dominic was a series of 31 nuclear test explosions with a total yield conducted in 1962 by the United States in the Pacific. This test series was scheduled quickly, in order to respond in kind to the Soviet resumption of testing after the tacit 1958–1961 test moratorium. Most of these shots were conducted with free-fall bombs dropped from B-52 bomber aircraft. Twenty of these shots were to test new weapons designs; six to test weapons effects; and several shots to confirm the reliability of existing weapons. The Thor missile was also used to lift warheads into near-space to conduct high-altitude nuclear explosion tests; these shots were collectively called Operation Fishbowl. Operation Dominic occurred during a period of high Cold War tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, since the Cuban Bay of Pigs Invasion had occurred not long before. Nikita Khrushchev announced the end of a three-year moratorium on nuclear testing on 30 August 1961, and Sovi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Hardtack II
Operation Hardtack II was a series of 37 nuclear tests conducted by the United States in 1958 at the Nevada Test Site. These tests followed the ''Operation Argus'' series and preceded the ''Operation Nougat'' series. With test moratoriums on the horizon, American weapons labs rushed out many new designs. A hard deadline for testing was set at midnight (0000 hrs), October 31, 1958, as negotiations were set to start that day, and the schedule shows it, with 29 tests executed in October, four of them on the last day. One other test was cancelled because weather delays postponed it across the midnight deadline. After the conclusion of Hardtack II, the United States announced a unilateral testing moratorium, which the Soviet Union joined after two last tests on November 1 and 3. In September 1961, the Soviet Union resumed nuclear testing—this period included the test of the most powerful nuclear device ever designed, the ''Tsar Bomba'' on October 30, 1961—and the United State ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Hardtack I
Operation Hardtack I was a series of 35 nuclear tests conducted by the United States from April 28 to August 18 in 1958 at the Pacific Proving Grounds. At the time of testing, the Operation Hardtack I test series included more nuclear detonations than the total of prior nuclear explosions in the Pacific Ocean. These tests followed the '' Project 58/58A'' series, which occurred from 1957 December 6 to 1958, March 14, and preceded the Operation Argus series, which took place in 1958 from August 27 to September 6. Operation Hardtack I was directed by Joint Task Force 7 (JTF 7). JTF-7 was a collaboration between the military and many civilians, but was structured like a military organization. Its 19,100 personnel were composed of members of the US military, federal civilian employees, as well as workers affiliated with the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). There were three main research directions. The first was the development of new types of nucl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Plumbbob
Operation Plumbbob was a series of nuclear tests that were conducted between May 28 and October 7, 1957, at the Nevada Test Site, following ''Project 57'', and preceding '' Project 58/58A''. Background The operation consisted of 29 explosions, of which only two did not produce any nuclear yield. Twenty-one laboratories and government agencies were involved. While most ''Operation Plumbbob'' tests contributed to the development of warheads for intercontinental and intermediate range missiles, they also tested air defense and anti-submarine warheads with smaller yields. They included forty-three military effects tests on civil and military structures, radiation and bio-medical studies, and aircraft structural tests. ''Operation Plumbbob'' had the tallest tower tests to date in the U.S. nuclear testing program as well as high-altitude balloon tests. One nuclear test involved the largest troop maneuver ever associated with U.S. nuclear testing. Approximately 18,000 members of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Redwing
Operation Redwing was a United States series of 17 nuclear test detonations from May to July 1956. They were conducted at Bikini and Enewetak atolls by Joint Task Force 7 (JTF7).Blumenson, Martin and Hugh D. Hexamer (1956). ''A History of Operation Redwing: The Atomic Weapons Tests in the Pacific''. Joint Task Force Seven Headquarters, Washington, D.C. p. 19. The entire operation followed '' Project 56'' and preceded ''Project 57''. The primary intention was to test new, second-generation thermonuclear weapons. Also tested were fission devices intended to be used as primaries for thermonuclear weapons, and small tactical weapons for air defense. ''Redwing'' demonstrated the first United States airdrop of a deliverable hydrogen bomb during test ''Cherokee''. Because the yields for many tests at Operation Castle in 1954 were dramatically higher than predictions, ''Redwing'' was conducted using an "energy budget": There were limits to the total amount of energy released, and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Wigwam
Operation Wigwam involved a single test of the Mark 90 "Betty" nuclear bomb. It was conducted between ''Operation Teapot'' and '' Project 56'' on May 14, 1955, about 500 miles (800 km) southwest of San Diego, California. 6,800 personnel aboard 30 ships were involved in ''Wigwam''. The purpose of ''Wigwam'' was to determine the vulnerability of submarines to deeply detonated nuclear weapons, and to evaluate the feasibility of using such weapons in a combat situation. The task force commander, Admiral John Sylvester, was embarked on the task force flagship . ''Wigwam'' was the first atomic test in the deep ocean, and it remains the only test that has been conducted in water deeper than . Detonation layout and test The test device was suspended to a depth of by cable attached to a barge. A tow line connected the Cherokee-class fleet tug, , to the shot barge. Suspended from the tow lines of other tugs were three miniature unmanned target submarines designated "SQUAWS", ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Castle
Operation Castle was a United States series of high-yield (high-energy) nuclear tests by Joint Task Force 7 (JTF-7) at Bikini Atoll beginning in March 1954. It followed ''Operation Upshot–Knothole'' and preceded ''Operation Teapot''. Conducted as a joint venture between the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Department of Defense (DoD), the ultimate objective of the operation was to test designs for an aircraft-deliverable thermonuclear weapon. All the devices tested, which ranged in weight from , were built to be dropped from aircraft. However, ballistic casings, fins and fusing systems would have to be attached. Operation Castle was considered by government officials to be a success as it proved the feasibility of deployable "dry" fuel designs for thermonuclear weapons. There were technical difficulties with some of the tests: one device had a yield much lower than predicted (a " fizzle"), while two other bombs detonated with over twice their predicted yields. One te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
