The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) tested high-yield thermonuclear
devices that could not be tested at the Nevada Test Site. Over 10,000
military personnel and civilian employees of the AEC and the Department
of Defense participated in these nuclear tests.
The LACROSSE and CHEROKEE tests were observed from aboard the USS
Mt. McKinley by 15 American press, radio and television reporters.
These were the first uncleared U.S. civilians in ten years to observe
an American nuclear test in the Pacific.
The AEC's progress in miniaturization of warheads had accelerated
to where the equivalent of the 90-ton weight of the MIKE device
in Operation Ivy could now be dropped from a bomber.
Operation Redwing also further advanced the AEC's designs of nuclear
weapons that would produce reduced fallout and provided new information
for the design of nuclear warheads for missiles.
Complete weapons systems were exposed to blast effects in Operation
Redwing, and a fallout computer was successfully used for the first
time. The series included the CHEROKEE test, the first airdrop by
U.S. of a thermonuclear weapon.
The total run time of this DVD is 32 minutes.
Here are some sample clips from the DVD
 
 
 
|
