Operation Redwing: Inside the Forgotten Nuclear Tests of 1956 🌐 | Exclusive Insights!

9 months ago
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Between May 4 and July 21, 1956, Operation Redwing unfolded as a comprehensive nuclear weapons testing series comprising 17 tests. Conducted at the Pacific Proving Ground, this operation was crucial because the high-yield thermonuclear devices being tested couldn't be accommodated at the Nevada Test Site.

Participation in these nuclear tests involved over 10,000 military personnel and civilian employees from the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Department of Defense. Notably, the USS Mt. McKinley hosted 15 American press, radio, and television reporters who observed the LACROSSE and CHEROKEE tests. Remarkably, these reporters became the first uncleared U.S. civilians in a decade to witness an American nuclear test in the Pacific.

Operation Redwing marked significant progress in the AEC's miniaturization of warheads, reaching a point where the equivalent of the 90-ton weight of the MIKE device from Operation Ivy could be deployed from a bomber. The series not only advanced AEC's nuclear weapon designs for reduced fallout but also furnished valuable data for the development of nuclear warheads for missiles.

This operation subjected complete weapons systems to blast effects, and notably, it saw the successful use of a fallout computer for the first time. Among the tests conducted, the CHEROKEE test stood out as the initial instance of the U.S. airdropping a thermonuclear weapon. Operation Redwing, with its multifaceted objectives, played a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory of nuclear weapons development and testing during this era.

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