1962 ... ooo - a 'crowd pleaser'!


... nice of Nikita Khrushchev in 1961 to end the informal halt in weapons testing with his crazy-big 50 megaton Czar Bomba.  All the pent-up frustration in the Pentagon types got let loose in our follow-up frenzy of testing at the Pacific Proving Grounds. Thirty-one tests total for Operation Dominic; making it the largest test series ever. It was also the last of the US above ground tests before the signing of the Limited Test Ban Treaty. (aw...boo-hiss).

... pictured is the 'Truckee' shot which was a test of the XW-58 warhead for the Polaris 2 Missile (an early MIRV which would carry three of the warheads). 

total yield of [1] XW-58 = 210 kilotons.

nice mushroom for a below megaton weapon!

all images- Right click- open in New Window= super colossal size!



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