July 15, 2004
"Gratuitous Atomic Cannon Post"
Duncan Frissell just today posted a jaw-dropping bit of what he claims is history, the 1953 testing of an atomic cannon, "Shot Grable 10" at Frenchman's Flat, Nevada:
When I was looking for a nuclear weapons photo for a previous post, I immediately thought of the only live firing of an atomic cannon (in the US, that is). So I hunted up the famous photo of Shot Grable 10 (isn't the Net convenient?) and found that most of the images were poor scans. Finally I "borrowed" a good one and thought I'd actually post so you don't have to follow a link to see it. This is an actual photo of an actual atomic cannon firing an actual atomic shell. No editing or fakery involved.
Whoa. There's more here and also here.
Posted by Russell Whitaker at July 15, 2004 1:03 PM | TrackBackUmmmm...somebody tell me again why people freak out over the idea of regular citizens carrying handguns, but they get warm fuzzies knowing that the military is developing weapons like this. It must be the pretty ribbons and shiny medals. Kind of like how you distract a baby by shaking your car keys.
Posted by: Bob Tipton on July 15, 2004 6:25 PM"Duncan Frissell just today posted a jaw-dropping bit of what he claims is history, the 1953 testing of an atomic cannon, "Shot Grable 10" at Frenchman's Flat, Nevada:"
Yep. History. I wasn't there at the time but it actually happened.
James
Posted by: James R. Rummel on July 16, 2004 4:05 AMIf you liked that one, you'll love this one:
http://www.merkle.com/pluto/pluto.html
http://www.nv.doe.gov/news&pubs/publications/historyreports/news&views/pluto.htm
Heh.
Posted by: kbarrett on July 20, 2004 2:15 PMWhen I was a kid I built models of that thing, more than once.
It was weird growing up in the late 50s/ear;y 60s.
Posted by: DSmith on July 20, 2004 6:47 PM