All of the Photos
For those looking for a more pure photographic experience, here are all of the nuclear weapons photographs of American Nukes. Click on any photo to enlarge and then you can toggle the thumbnail and caption options.
A replica of the Gadget at the Nuclear Museum in Albuquerque.
A replica of the Gadget at the Atomic Museum in Las Vegas. They claim theirs is the most accurate replica but in what way I do not know.
This recreation of the Gadget, as the scientists named the device, is shown here in this full-scale recreation being lifted to the top of the 100-foot tall tower. Located at the Nuclear Museum in Albuquerque.
Just down the road from the K-25 History Center, the American Museum of Science and Energy has their own Little Boy, which is illuminated in various ways in synch to a video presentation.
An image from the new galleries at the K-25 History Center at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the site where uranium was purified for use in Little Man and for further processing into plutonium in Washington state. The display emphasizes the many other locations (in addition to the famous Los Alamos) that worked on developing the bomb.
A model of Little Boy located at Wendover Historic Airfield, in Utah, on the California border. The base, once neglected, is now being restored. This model, made by John Coster-Mullen, is considered one of the most accurate and is a centerpiece of the historical base, though the weapon was never here. Wendover was where the crews of the B-29s practiced dropping the bomb.
One of the most famous individual planes in history, this is the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima, on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, the annex of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, located just outside of Washington, DC, in Chantilly, Virginia. A bomb is nothing without a plane to deliver it and few planes in the world could carry the weight of Little Boy. The Boeing B-29 Superfortressย (its development the most expensive of all the weapons programs in WWII, easily surpassing the cost of the entire Manhattan Project) is a central part of the story of Little Boy and Fat Man, though often underemphasized.
The same display as image #2. The plane that the bomb appears to “go with” has no relationship to it at all. It is a B-18 Bolo and the weight of Little Boy was more than twice the plane’s entire bomb load capacity.
In this model from Wendover Historic Airfield (where Tibbets and crews trained to drop the Little Boy and Fat Man bombs) you can see the bomb loaded via special loading pit. The B-29 would drive up over the bomb which would be lifted up into the plane. Even for these B-29s the weight of the bomb was so great that the plane would jerk sharply upwards upon release of the weapon.
At Wings Over the Rockies, an aerospace museum in Dallas. This Little Boy sits on its transport cart (uncommon to see). You can see the bomb again with its cart is image #4 of the model plane being loaded.
A Little Boy replica at the Bradbury Museum of the Los Alamos National Lab. The is in the main exhibit gallery but is not the star of the show by any measure, perhaps understandable given Los Alamos many other activities over the years and their desire to highlight their work that benefits non-military purposes.
A Fat Man displayed alongside Bockscar at the National Museum of the US Air Force, in Dayton, which gives scale to this very large and heavy bomb.
The view of Fat Man as you approach the entrance to the Bradbury Museum.
A Fat Man at the West Point Museum. The museum was quiet at the time I was there but while shooting this image from the balcony I was interrupted by a young man and woman who noisily entered the gallery below and, finding the bomb, became quite excited and shot several selfies with Fat Man in the background. Then they abruptly left. Note the Davey Crocket to the right of Fat Man, a sort of atomic bazooka from the 1960s. The explosive force of its small projectile was one-thousandth that of Fat Man.
The view of Fat Man from the interior of the Bradbury Museum at Los Alamos, part of the Los Alamos National Lab.
At some point during the loading of Fat Man into Bockscar, the nose of the bomb was stenciled with the letters “JANCFU” and the “FM” (with an outline of a bomb). The “FM,” unsurprisingly, stands for Fat Man. The longer stencil is an acronym for “Joint Army Navy Civilian Fuck Up,” a play of words on the more common SNAFU. Later, armed forces personnel would sign the bomb in various locations, though those signatures are not reproduced on any of the display units I visited. Located at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton.
Also at the Grissom Air Museum, this small wooden model display of Little Boy, Fat Man, and two crew members. Again, the model Fat Man sits upon its stabilizer.
A small model of the Fat Man (or Mark III) sitting incongruously upright, upon its stabilizer. The plane tail in the image is a model of the B-58 Hustler, a supersonic bomber. As the Fat Man design was phased out before 1950 before the arrival of the B-58 Hustler, it seems unlikely that this plane carried this particular bomb. The small object that the figure is looking at appears to be one of the plane’s escape pods. Located at the Grissom Air Museum at Grissom AFB.
On display at the entrance to the Atomic Museum in Las Vegas. The screen shows a B-29 on the runway at Tinian, from which the atomic bomb missions against Japan were launched. The full-sized statue of the showgirl seems at first to be part of the bomb display but is unrelated.
This model of Fat Man was made by John Coster-Mullen, a well-known amateur nuclear archeologist, with assistance of his son. (He and his son also built the Little Boy model at Wendover.) When I made this image this weapon was only viewable as part of a lengthy guided tour. While I was chatting with the gift shop clerk about my photo project a man standing near us offered to drive me out to the bomb’s location (in another building). Turns out he was the museum curator and he generously gave me ample time to photograph it.
The third view of the Fat Man (Mark III) at the Air Force Armaments Museum.
A display case honoring Ralph D. Belanger, the assistant flight engineer on the The Great Artiste, a B-29 that accompanied Bockscar to Nagasaki. Belenger was actually part of the crew of Bockscar but he, along with his captain Frederick C. Bock and the entire crew, traded places with the The Great Artiste crew due to instrumentation issues. Thus, instead of the The Great Artiste dropping Fat Man, it was dropped by Bockscar. Belanger can be seen in the portrait in the center of the group image, with his crew.
A white-painted Fat Man on display in the outdoor “rocket garden” at the White Sands Missile Range, in New Mexico. This particular unit is, twice every year, trucked out to the Trinity site for public viewing.
Another view of Fat Man at the Air Force Armaments Museum.
A bomb needs a delivery system, in this case a B-29 with its armor and almost all of its defensive guns removed. In this image we see a re-creation of the bombardier, now in control of the aircraft, working to aim the weapon at the target, despite the thick cloud cover. This B-29, named Bockscar, is the actual B-29 that dropped Fat Man on Nagasaki and is located at the National Museum of the US Air Force, in Dayton, Ohio.
The first of three images that I made of the all-white Fat Man at the Air Force Armaments Museum at Elgin Air Force Base, in Florida’s Panandle. One hundred and twenty Fat Man bombs were produced (as the Mark III bomb) in the years following World War II. This is an actual ballistic case of one of those bombs.
This Fat Man bomb, at the Travis AFB Aviation Museum, is a “ballistic case” for a real bomb, probably one of the Mark III units–the Fat Man-style bombs that were made after WWII. It is on long-term loan from the Nuclear Museum in Albuquerque.
Even before the end of World War II development of post-war bombs was underway. The Manhattan Project created a new engineering and field testing site in July of 1945, and the development of the Mark IV started two weeks before the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Z-Division–a new site focused on the engineering and assembly of atomic bombs, located adjacent to Kirkland Air base, near Albuquerque, New Mexico–greatly improved the ability of engineers to test and improve these weapons. One of the many improvements, as you can see in this image, made outside the China Lake Museum in Ridgecrest, California, is the completely redesigned tail section. The boxy, poorly designed shape of the stabilizer has been replaced now with fins that improved the bomb’s accuracy from high altitudes. This unit appears to be the only Mark IV on public display anywhere in the world (the one at the Diefenbunker Cold War Museum is a model). A small sign next to the display indicates the bomb is on loan from the Naval History and Heritage Command.
The smaller size of the Mark V (which actually entered service a year after the Mark VI and three years after the Mark IV, despite the numerical sequence of their names) is obvious when you see the more streamlined shape of this bomb as compared to the others. Located at the National Museum of the US Air Force near Dayton, Ohio.
I’m a little embarrassed by this image. It is a crop of a much wider view, made at the Nuclear Museum, in Albuquerque. The Mark V bomb, as you can see, has door panels that can be opened to facilitate the removal of the nuclear “pit” (to either safeguard the weapon from a nuclear explosion or to allow the use of pits with various degrees of explosive power). The part that goes in and out of the weapon with the pit is called the “birdcage” and the insertion process could be automated. An example of a birdcage is sitting right there next to the bomb–this is the only photograph I have of a birdcage anywhere in my collection. I started this project knowing very little about the details of nuclear weapons and when I made this image I apparently did not know about the birdcage or recognize its importance.
I do not know why the Hill Aerospace’s unit lacks the rounded nose cover seen at the Museum of the US Air Force, nor why, lacking that cover, it also lacks the bolt holes that would have secured the cover to the main body.
A rear view of the Mark VI at the Museum of Aviation. Note the thickness of the tail fins when seen from this view.
A Mark VI at the Museum of Aviation located at the Robbins AFB in Warner-Robbins, south of Macon, Georgia. The bomb sits under a B-29, the same general model of aircraft that dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Another view of the National Museum of the US Air Force’s Mark VI bomb. Behind the bomb you can see the large wing of a Boeing B-50D Superfortress, an updated B-29 (although this particular aircraft was, in the last years of the plane’s service, converted to a weather reconnaissance role).
A wider view of the same bomb at the National Museum of the US Air Force.
This is the nose of a Mark VI bomb at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. It is painted bright yellow. The cover is removable so that the nuclear pit can be inserted. I do not understand why there are only four bolts, arranged asymmetrically, holding it to the body of the bomb.
Another improvement in the Mark IV’s design that is visible on the outside is the nose plate, which was removable. As a safety measure the Mark IV was designed so that the nuclear core could be installed by a technician while in flight (an approximately half-hour process), thus protecting the air base, the airplane, and preventing an accidental nuclear explosion in the event that the plane would crash. (The Fat Man’s nuclear core was installed prior to takeoff but it did have several safeguards in place as well, just not safeguards as robust as having the core separated from the bomb). This removable core (or “pit,” as it is called) also allowed the weapon to be armed for a variety of explosive yields, from somewhat larger than that of Fat Man at 31 kilotons all the way down to one kiloton, in order to make the weapon useful against a variety of potential targets.
A more extensive crop of the previous image. The text on the sign reads: “M102 Birdcage. For the first 15 years of the nuclear weapons era, all nuclear components were stored separately from the rest of the weapon. The M102 was the first pressurized storage and shipping container, often called the ‘birdcage.’ The nickname ‘birdcage’ came from the metal frame that surrounds the central storage tube. Used with bombs and artillery rounds, the frame kept nuclear components separated. The neutron absorbing material in the central storage tube prevented nuclear components that were stored close together from causing a nuclear reaction.” Located at the Nuclear Museum in Albuquerque.
A different and closer view of the Mark 7 at the Air Force Museum. The plane immediately behind the bomb is the Republic F84F, a primary platform for the Mark 7. Behind that plane is the Boeing KC-97L Starfreighter, an in-flight refueling plane (basically a modified B-29). A B-29 could carry only a single Fat Man bomb due to the bomb’s size and 10,000 pound weight. The Mark 7 was so much smaller and lighter, and therefore so much more useful. Between 1645 and 1700 were built (and used by all three military services in the US, a first) and a warhead version was used in the Corporal missile, the Honest John rocket, and others.
This image, from the National Museum of the US Air Force, in Dayton, gives you a sense of the size of the bomb in relation to the aircraft. The bomb is certainly big but does appear to be about the same size as a large external fuel tank. In use the pilot would, in an attempt to escape from the blast, “drop” the bomb with an upward flying maneuver called “toss bombing” where the plane would approach the target at a low altitude and then would suddenly climb and launch the bomb, sending it higher after its release and then letting it arc down, gaining precious seconds to put distance between the aircraft and the explosion. A second possible maneuver, which probably sounded as crazy to the pilots at the time as it does today, was to launch the bomb even higher on that same upward flying maneuver so that the bomb actually traveled backwards from the previous direction of the plane. Crazy stuff, indeed.
A nose-on view of the Mark 7, which was the first bomb to feature automatic core insertion. Some sources say the core was inserted into the front of the unit, others say the rear or from the side. Photo made at Wings Over the Rockies, in Denver.
Although this at first may appear to be a different view of the same bomb as the prior photograph, this Mark 7 is located at Wings Over the Rockies, an aerospace museum in Denver. Note here the tail of the bomb. The weapon could be carried by fighter-bombers but the bomb was still large for these aircraft and, at fifteen feet in length, long as well, leaving little clearance between the rear of the body of the bomb and the ground. Thus, the bottom fin was retractable and would extend during flight.
The Mark 7, which came out in the middle of the Korean War, borrowed much from the Mark V, but was smaller and designed to be carried by fighter-bomber aircraft, a major improvement in usefulness. As you can see in this unit, from the Hill Aerospace Museum in Utah, the Mark 7 is far less bulbous than earlier bombs. What is not readily visible is the weight: Only 1600 lbs, light by nuclear bomb standards.
Many airplanes modeling kits in the past included nuclear armament–not as common nowadays. The Travis AFB Aviation Museum, where this one is found, had at least eight small models of nuclear weapons.
Another view of the Nuclear Museum’s Mark 7. Note the rectangular access panel that is absent on the other units.
This looks to be a training unit, located at the Nuclear Museum in Albuquerque. Note the small tabs on the fins–these were added to the design to impart spin to the weapon as it fell. Earlier models featured air brakes, which would flip out from the tail (all of the units here in my images have the fins). However, this unit seems to have something, I’m not sure what, that flips out, visible between the fins.
Although the bomb had fuzing and other safety devices, on the version meant to be carried externally under an aircraft’s wing, there does not appear to have been any way to insert the nuclear core once in the air. This is especially odd in that the bomb then would been “armed”–in the sense of being ready to explode–while still on the deck of the aircraft carrier. At the Nuclear Museum in Albuquerque.
The odd tail design of the Mark 8 was said to be for stability when dropped from high altitude although later versions used a fin design and did away with the ring. At the Nuclear Museum in Albuquerque.
The Mark 8 bomb (sometimes called by its nickname, “Elsie”) was unusual in that, despite the use of fuel-efficient plutonium-based bombs elsewhere in the growing US inventory, it used a Little Boy-like uranium gun design. My assumption is that, due to the intent of this weapon as a ground penetrating bomb where the bomb explodes after impact, not upon impact, the gun design was the more robust choice. Forty Mark 8’s were manufactured in several different versions (with later units modifying earlier units). The use of the still rare uranium caused concern in the other military branches–the Mark 8 was a Navy bomb. At the Nuclear Museum in Albuquerque.
This is the “C” model of the Matador, nested in amongst other artifacts at the Smithsonian Air & Space Annex in Chantilly, Virginia, had an improved radio system which required only two radios operators to control the weapon and which also allowed the range to extend to 600 miles.
VFW and American Legion posts will often have a display of military equipment out front, commonly artillery, tanks, or a helicopter. This VFW location (Post 160) in Glen Bernie, Maryland, has a nuclear missile.
A rear view of the Matador at VFW Post 160 (Glen Burnie, MD). The range on the “A” model was limited to a theoretical 250 miles, which assumed line-of-sight from the Matador to the nearest radio operator with no interference or jamming. I have no idea what would have happened if the Air Force lost the signal to an armed weapon while in flight.
The Matador and the Mace look very similar to each other. I found the easiest way to differentiate between the two is to look at the tail–a smooth vertical is the Matador. A “ribbed” tail is the Mace. This image from the Hawkinsville-Pulaski County Airport.
A view looking up at the front of the Matador, from the National Museum of the USAF, in Dayton. The mechanism visible at the bottom of the frame is part of the jig that elevates the missile from the launch truck.
Aside from the painted letters on the Matador itself, I could find no sign or other information on this display, located at the the small Hawkinsville-Pulaski County Airport. During my two hour visit I saw a scattering of buildings and one man walking around who may have worked at the airport.
A disassembled German V2 at the Smithsonian Annex. The V2, a rocket, is not the precursor of the
When photographing missiles one tends to lean backwards, giving the impression to those not familiar with the weapon, that they are towering constructions. This image, made at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, helps give a more correct scale–the Corporal is about forty-five feet tall.
The Corporal was in development for many years and suffered many setbacks. Nevertheless, it represents an important milestone in weapons history and in preparing the way for the missiles that would come in the future. Photo from the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville.
The Corporal was guided by radio and, once in flight, armed by radio, which subjected the weapon to the possibility of natural interference and enemy jamming. If the signal was jammed before arming the missile would nevertheless continue on its path toward the target. This Corporal is on view outside the Ft. Sill Artillery Museum, in Oklahoma.
The Corporal was a troubled design with a high failure rate, even in its final form, and took 250 men and nine hours to set up, requiring some of the men to wear awkward protective clothing due to the missile’s toxic and corrosive liquid fuel. Corporals traveled in pairs and one battalion could launch four missiles per day. This unit is at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Annex in Chantilly, Virginia.
An improved version of the Honest John, located at Ft. Sill in Oklahoma. The most obvious way to differentiate between the new and old models is that the newer one has smaller fins (compare this to the other images) and a slightly more slender warhead section.
A cutaway view of an Honest John warhead at the Artillery Museum deep inside Fort Sill, Oklahoma. This display show the warhead holding 4800 grenades which would disperse before impact, to be used against massed enemy troops.
This roadside Honest John is located in St Albans, along the extraordinarily busy MacCorkle Avenue, is technically inside the small Rosie the Riveter Park but it’s far better to navigate to it by looking for the McDonalds, just across the street. Parking is available in a playground and picnic area just past the rocket, on the riverside, heading west.
The bartender at the American legion Post 1019 in Kankakee, Illinois alerted me that he had heard that the fins on this unit, located in the parking lot to the post, were not the original ones and that the originals were larger.
Over seven thousand Honest Johns were made and were deployed not only US bases but to allied bases worldwide. It is easily one of the most successful nuclear weapons ever made, owing no doubt in large part to its comparatively low cost, its ease of use, its size (which code be transported by air), and its high mobility. Located in Milledgeville, Indiana.
The guard at this school, the Milledgeville Middle School in Milledgeville, Indiana, was surprised to learn that the rocket out in front of the school was a nuclear weapon.
This Honest John, painted with the word “Missiles,” is the school’s mascot and football team namesake. It has long guarded the building now used by the Milledgeville Middle School, in Milledgeville Indiana.
Cultural differences surely play a great role in the display of nuclear weapons in public space. This Crestwood, Illinois installation would never be permitted along the northern California Coast, where I live. On the other hand I know of no neighbors who have served in the Armed Forces or have children in the Armed Forces.
Not many homes come with a view of a nuclear weapon. These homes in Crestwood, Illinois are among the lucky few. The Honest John is positioned at the corner of a sizable municipal park.
An Honest John posed outside of an Army-Navy Surplus store in Bedford, Indiana. Given the number of Honest John’s on display in the United States I’m assuming that at some point a large number of them (rendered inert, of course) were sold as surplus.
The Honest John, with a maximum range of fifteen miles in its first version and thirty miles in its improved version, was seen as a weapon to support ground troops, destroying enemy formations and bridges in and just behind enemy lines. Located at Camp Atterbury, part of the Indiana National Guard, near Edinburgh, Indiana.
Here you can see the Honest John mounted in its launch vehicle, which has its three ground stabilizers deployed to attempt to keep the rail stationary as the rocket launches. In the historic films of test launch the rail seems to move quite dramatically, although the Army claims that the rocket, especially the newer versions, has good accuracy. Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona.
An Honest John displays at Camp Atterbury, a National Guard installation in Indiana. The historic weapons area is located just past the main gates and open to the public. Note that the lower two fins on the rocket have ben removed (very common to see) presumably to avoid people banging their heads on the fin’s edge.
An Honest John at the Yuma Proving Ground. Its paint job, which indicates it was intended to be a test model, looks surprisingly modern as many contemporary nuclear weapons are painted white.
The Honest John was an unguided missile and would be launched off its truck-mounted platform with a dramatic burst of flame. The propellant would, however, last only a few seconds before sending the rocket on its way. Yuma Proving Ground, in Arizona.
The middle section of the Honest John held the propellant, which apparently operated best at 77 degrees Fahrenheit. To help achieve this a warming blanket was placed over the rocket when being transported. It is entirely unclear how the rocket would be cooled if the Sun warmed it above 77 degrees, or what the actual thermal operating range of the rocket might be if it could not be held at the proper temperature. This unit baking in the heat at the Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona.
The Honest John could be assembled and then driven to its destination, though it seems it was usually assembled at the launch site. The example is at the Yuma Proving Ground, in Arizona.
Most of the Honest John launches seem in historic videos took place at the White Sands Missile Range, in New Mexico. They have an extensive rocket garden just inside the fortified gate to the base.
The warhead of the Honest John would often be a nuclear explosive but it could also be a more traditional high explosive (surrounded by tens of thousand of small ball bearings for maximum destructive effect to enemy personnel, a sarin gas warhead, or a cluster munition with 4800 M40 grenades.
A second Honest John at the Nuclear Museum in Albuquerque. Many sources claim the the weapon could be deployed and launched in five minutes. That seems simply impossible, as a video of the process–a video heavily edited to compress the time–is five minutes long.
When assigned to duty in military units the Honest John was painted olive drab but weapons used for testing were painted in a variety of colors and patterns to help observers track the weapon in flight and to better determine its rate of spin. Located at the Nuclear Museum in Albuquerque.
Honest Johns could be fitted with non-nuclear warheads. After the early 1970s the Honest John was primarily a non-nuclear weapon fielded by state-based units, such as this one Camp Mabry in Austin, Texas, headquarters to the Texas Military Forces.
The sign in front of this Honest John, at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is like many such signs throughout the country in that it provides no hint that the weapon is a nuclear weapon.
The Honest John is an uncommonly popular weapon display, often at non-military locations. This Honest John, at a middle school, has been there so long none of the school staff, save a guard I met with a special interest in atomic weapons, seems to know that it is a nuclear rocket. Located in Neenah, Wisconsin.
Another view of the original Atomic Annie at Ft. Sill. When it fired the Grable test shot it missed the target (aiming for 500) by twenty-four feet (it was too high), too far west by eighty-six feet, and too far south by one hundred and thirty-seven feet. This is said to be accurate for a such a large gun, well within the “bulls-eye” for an atomic weapon.
This is a nuclear artillery shell but not for the Atomic Annie. It took from 1945 to 1953 to shrink an explosive with the power of Little Boy down to the 280mm shell, and the miniaturization did not stop there. This shell, the M455 is the training shell for the nuclear version, the M455, and could be fired from a standard Army M109 self-propelled howitzer (still in use today). The M454 entered service in 1963 and was in inventory until 1992. Located at the Atomic Museum in Las Vegas.
Although most sources label this shell (at the Nuclear Museum in Albuquerque) as a W9, it may instead be the W9’s replacement, the W19, a smaller, lighter, and more aerodynamic projectile, with a longer range.
Once lowered to the ground the M65 had the ability to rotate 360 degrees and could elevate its gun by fifty-five degrees. At the Nuclear Museum in Albuquerque.
Nuclear researcher Chuck Hansen wrote that the efficiency of the W9 in utilizing its uranium was poor–and quotes one unnamed source as describing its efficiency as “woeful.” The Navy and Air Force cited this inefficiency in the use of the expensive and difficult to make uranium as a prime objection to this weapon. This is the barrel of the original Atomic Annie, at Ft. Sill in Oklahoma.
The Army, back in the 1950s, claimed that the gun could be set up, loaded, and fired, all within twenty minutes, which seems difficult to believe. How fast they could move the unit after firing, to avoid incoming fire, is not mentioned. At the Nuclear Museum in Albuquerque.
The atomic shell used by Atomic Annie, designated W9, was just over 900 lbs and due to its weight and poor aerodynamics had a shorter range than a conventional shell. The replacement atomic shell, the W19, weighed only 600 lbs and could outrange its conventional cousin. One of the few remaining M65s, this one at the Nuclear Museum in Albuquerque.
This is the original “Atomic Annie,” which fired the nuclear shell in 1953. The cannon was mis-identified for ten years after the nuclear test and found its way to Germany while the backup cannon from the atomic test was mistakenly thought to be Annie. Located at Ft. Sill in Oklahoma.
By the end of the 1950s, Regulus-capable submarines, which depending on the sub could carry either two, four, or five missiles, could conceivably deploy seventeen Regulus missiles at the same time, all aiming to deter the Soviet Union in the Pacific. This wingless example is at the Point Magu Missile Park, just south of Oxnard. California.
In the first half of its life the Regulus was carried by aircraft carriers and cruisers, in addition to submarines. At its peak in 1957, sixteen ships could carry the missile. At the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Annex.
Up until 1958, the Regulus used the W5 nuclear warhead. From 1958 onward, the missile could also be fitted with a far more powerful W27 thermonuclear warhead. This example is at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Annex, in Chantilly, Virginia.
Both the Regulus models look like fighter jets at first glance. While the Regulus I was undergoing testing for its first flight at Edwards AFB, crews would attach a fake canopy to the missile when it was outside of its hanger in an attempt to deceive any observers. This Regulus II is at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas.
The Regulus II was an entirely new missile, despite its name. Several of the Regulus-capable subs were initially intended to carry Regulus IIs, but with the cancelation of the Regulus II the subs were modified to carry the Regulus I. At the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas.
Unlike the Regulus I, the Regulus II had folding wings, which assisted in quickly launching the missile, minimizing the time necessary for the submarine to stay on the vulnerable surface. Looking down at the missile at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas.
By the time the Regulus II missiles were no longer of use as missiles (in a testing program), due to the introduction of the Polaris, they had flown 1129 times–a missile often flew multiple times due to its landing gear and reusability. Later, both models of Regulus were used as target drones and very few survive today. At the Frontiers of Flight Museum, in Dallas.
The Regulus I was not supersonic and needed constant guidance from a radio signal to reach its target. The Regulus II was self-guided, and flew much faster, allowing it a better chance of eluding enemy aircraft and anti-aircraft fire. At the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas, Texas.
The Loon program was the predecessor of the Regulus I. It was based heavily on the German V1 rocket. This Loon is outside of the Ft. Sill Artillery Museum, in Oklahoma.
The Loon was reconfigured into the Regulus I as the Loon was unable, due to its small size, to carry the nuclear warheads available at the time. This unit, painted a bold yellow and dark blue, is at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum Annex, in Chantilly, Virginia.
Despite the Genie being one of the most common nuclear weapons to find at aerospace museums, it’s also one of the most anonymous, often displayed with no informational sign. This unit, attached to a Northrop F-89J Scorpion (the same model of plane in the Plumbbob nuclear test), is at the National Museum of the US Air Force, In Dayton, Ohio.
At first glance, Genie rockets can be confused with fuel tanks. In this image are two Genies, one attached to an aircraft and one still on its loading cart. Note the Genie on the left has a dark band across the middle which indicates it is a training unit. These rockets are at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton.
The exact plane that launched the Genie during the nuclear test still exists and is part of the Montana Air National Guard’s historic display, adjacent to the Great Falls International Airport, in Montana.
The pilot of this plane, which fire the only live test of a nuclear air-to-air missile, was Captain Eric W. Hutchison, along with Captain Alfred C. Barbee, who was the radar Intercept Officer. It is not known whether, in their evasive maneuvers, whether they looked back and saw the explosion or the resulting cloud. A chase plane was also present and additional planes flew into the nuclear cloud shortly after the explosion to make measurements. This photograph was made adjacent to the exit from Great Falls International Airport, in Montana.
As the Soviet bombers were required to come from the north in order to attack the United States, the Canadian Air Force also fielded significant numbers of Genie rockets. This is another image of the Operation Plumbbob F-89 Scorpion with its two Genies, photographed next to the Great Falls International Airport, in Montana.
This unit at the Atomic Museum in Las Vegas seems far too big for the case it is displayed in. However, its vertical orientation, which you can easily compare it to your own size, allows you to recognize smallness of the rocket.
The warhead for the Genie was the W25. It was famously tested during the Operation Plumbbob John shot but also was tested at least three other times, during Teapot Wasp, Wasp Prime, and HA. Thsi Genie at the Castle Air Museum in Atwater, California.
Despite being an interim solution to defending against Soviet long-range bombers, over three thousand Genies were produced and they were deployed until 1985. At Castle Air Museum, Atwater, California.
Nuclear weapons can be much smaller than people may think. In 2024 a man found one in a garage of things that he had inherited, although it was missing the entire front and posed no danger whatever. This unit is at the Castle Air Museum in Atwater, California.
Many of the surviving Genies, such as this one at the Pam Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona, have the emblem of the 87th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. The emblem is deep red and easy to spot in color images or in person (look for the red bull if the text is worn.). Unexpectedly, the unit was based in upper Michigan.
The Genie is not a powerful nuclear weapon, as nuclear weapons go, with the Plumbbob John test only a tenth of the power of Little Boy. The primary reason for this was the need for the pilot to avoid the explosion and its radiation. A bigger explosion would have required the plane to launch the rocket from farther away and, being unguided, accuracy would have suffered. This image made at the White Sands Missile Range’s rocket garden, in New Mexico.
In the hot sun and dry environment of the Arizona desert few paint jobs will survive for long. I find these old paint patterns fascinating and I made many close-up images of them whenever I could. This unit is located at the Pima Air and Space Museum, near Tucson.
For another “sub-project” of my effort to photograph nuclear weapons, I photographed their shadows. This shadow was briefly at the White Sands Missile Range’s rocket garden, just inside the fortified gates, in New Mexico.
I grew up in Akron, Ohio and didn’t know there was an aerospace museum nearby. When I arrived I saw this weapon–this was before I could spot a Genie a hundred yards off–and the docents told me that there were no nuclear weapons in their collection. I googled and then photographed. Most aerospace museum docents come from the “flying” side of the Air Force and don’t have a strong background in nuclear weapons. Image made at the MAPS Air Museum, in Canton, Ohio.
It is unusual, for some reason, to see the Genie’s tail fins fully extended, unlike with this display at the Nuclear Museum in Albuquerque. I don’t know why. In flight the fins would extend about the time the rocket reached Mach 1.5, helping to keep it on target for its short flight.
Two Genie’s loaded onto a F101B VooDoo interceptor, on display at the National Museum of the US Air Force, in Dayton. Aside from the VooDoo the Genie could be carried by the F-106 Delta Dart and the F-89 Scorpion. As these plane’s aged out of the Air Force inventory the Genies, already old, were less and less useful.
The Genie was rushed into service in fear of rapidly increasing Soviet bomber capabilities. The original units were said to have few, if any, safety mechanisms. This Genie stands along the upper level of the Air Force Armaments Museum, just outside of Elgin Air Force Base, in Florida’s Panhandle. When I was there it sounded like a mini war was underway, just to the north, somewhere on the base.
The Genie is conspicuous on the Air Force Armaments Museum’s wall of air-to-air missile development.
A training version of the Genie (indicated by the dark paint on its body) at the Museum of Aviation at Robbins AFB, near Macon, Georgia.
A good view of the assembly screws and ports on this Genie at the Hill Aerospace Museum, south of Ogden, Utah.
A training version of the Genie–identified by the sky-blue bland across the middle section of the rocket–at the Travis AFB Aviation Museum, near Vacaville, California.
A tiny model Genie stands erect in front of an array of other nuclear weapons–a Nike-Hercules on the left, the Mark 7 Mark 43 bombs, and the Rascal missile behind it. Located at the Travis AFB Aviation Museum in Vacaville, California.
Another view of the Smithsonian’s Nike-Ajax. The missile’s “kill radius” was too small for its level of accuracy. Existing nuclear warheads were too large for the slim Nike-Ajax so the missile was revised to be larger in the Nike-Hercules design.
The Nike-Ajax (originally just called “Nike”) was a guided, surface-launched, anti-aircraft missile, the world’s first. For all of its advanced features it lacked the ability to distinguish individual planes in a formation. This Nike-Ajax is at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Annex in Chantilly, Virginia.
Another view of the model display case at the Travis AFB Aviation Museum. The size of the nuclear warhead technology at that time necessitated that the Hercules be made substantially larger than the Ajax.
The bunker doors fully open, exposing the Nike-Hercules. Photo made at the SF-88 site near San Francisco.
There was a “semi-mobile” version of the Nike-Hercules. Early versions required some twenty trucks for the radar and a week of calibration once set up. This photo was made at Ft. Sill, in Oklahoma.
The Nike-Hercules was deployed in 1958 and was eventually replaced by the Patriot missile. These two located at Ft. Sill’s outdoor display area next to the US Army Field Artillery Museum.
The US Army Field Artillery Museum at Ft. Sill is best known perhaps for having the original Atomic Annie but I was surprised to learn upon my arrival there that they have so much more.
I found this missile at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park. It was in a closed-off area, not in public view, but when I spoke with the docents and shared my project they said they thought they had something for me and opened it up.
The Nike-Hercules angled to the sky and waiting to be launched. Of course, this demonstration model has no fuel. Thsi bunker was one of several in this cluster. This is the view from above the Nike Site SF-88, part of the US National Park system.
A view of some of the internal components of the Nike-Hercules. This image was made at the Nike Site, SF-88, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, near San Francisco, California.
The doors have started to open and the Nike-Hercules will begin its rise to the surface, in preparation for launch. At the National Park Service’s SF-88 site near San Francisco.
As the threat of Soviet bombers decreased ad the thread from ICBMs increased, the Nike-Hercules was slowly removed from service. The Army had hoped to deploy the Nike-Zeus as a replacement but it was not to be. This unit is at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The missile ascends to the surface on the hills above San Francisco. At the SF-88 Nike site.
The Nike-Zeus, pictured here at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, would not be deployed but the Spartan missile, which was deployed, based much of its design upon the Zeus.
The SF-88 Nike-Hercules site near San Francisco has demonstrations of the missile launch bunker every weekend, weather permitting. Here the missile is awaiting its ascent past the protective doors and into launch position.
Like so many displays of nuclear weapons, the informational sign of this unit, at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, gives no hint of its nuclear capability.
I stumbled upon this missile on my way to the White Sands Missile Range main entrance–it was not in my database. iIt sits on the road coming down the mountain, overlooking the base five miles in the distance.
At its peak, there were 130 Nike-Hercules bases in the United States alone, with many more overseas. About 25,000 Nike-Hercules were made (it could be fitted with a conventional warhead as well). White Sands Missile Range.
The Nike-Hercules was heavily based on the Nike-Ajax. The booster is made up of four of the Ajax boosters with fins added for stability. Photo made at the Nuclear Museum.
A Nike-Hercules missile consisted of two main parts: A booster, which would burn for 3.4 seconds but had no control surfaces, and then the missile itself. At the Nuclear Museum in Albuquerque.
Each Nike launcher typically had twelve missies, with four in the underground launcher area and eight more in a separate storage area. This missile and many others at the White sands Missile Range’s rocket garden.
Because the Ajax sites had to be near cities, they had to be put underground to minimize the danger from explosions and accidents. Later those same bunkers would be converted for use of the Nike-Hercules. This missile located at the White Sands Missile Range, in New Mexico.
More images coming! For reasons mysterious even to me, I have only a few images of the Bomarc, all similar to this one. Many Bomarcs are no longer on public display due to concerns that its frame is (slightly) radioactive, but I will find them and I will photograph them.
Two miniature Nike-Ajaxs on display at the Travis AFB Aviation Museum, in Vacaville, California. You can see part of the Nike-Hercules missiles at the edge of the frame–they appear to be at the same scale as the Ajax moddls–which offers a nice size comparison.
The Nike-Hercules is something of a poster child of the ongoing feeding between the military branches. A public debate between the Air Force (which pinned it hopes on the Bomarc) and the Army, with leaks to the press attacking the each other, seems very odd today. This missile is at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Reportedly the B-36 could carry an additional, smaller, nuclear bomb in its forward bomb Bay Area, with which to strike a secondary target. This image was made at the Castle Air Museum in Atwater, California.
The Castle Air Museum in California also has a Mark-17 displayed next to their B-36 bomber. The bomb reportedly used a multiple parachute system to slow its descent to allow the bomber a chance to escape the blast. The bomb, with parachutes, took two minutes to descend from 36,000 feet (where it was released) to 8,000 feet, where it would detonate.
The Mark-17 is enormous, and heavy. The metal on the casing is three and a half inches thick, which accounts for its 42,000 lb weight. Photo made at the National Museum of the US Air Force, in Dayton.
The Mark-17 was the physically largest nuclear bomb ever produced by the United States. Here it is placed against the backdrop of the enormous B-36, the only plane capable of carrying it. Located at the National Museum of the US Air Force, in Dayton, Ohio.
The Rockwell B-1A Lancer (one of four of the “A” model that were built in the 1970s) was a bomber built to carry nuclear weapons. However, the Mark 36–poised to be loaded into it as you can see here–was retired ten years before this plane was built. At the Wings over the Rockies Museum in Dallas, Texas.
The nuclear test Operation REDWING CHEROKEE, in 1956, was there first time a thermonuclear bomb had been dropped. Some writers say it was a Mark-17, some say it was a TX-15. Author Peter Goetz thinks it was a Mark 36, basing his logic on comparisons to the Mark 17–he doesn’t mention the TX-15. In any event, the plane dropped the bomb four miles off course and little scientific data was gained. This bomb is at the SAC Museum in Ashland, Nebraska.
The casing of the Mark 36 was made of aluminum in an effort to save weight. The casing, however, was 3.5-inches thick and the casing alone weighed 12,000 lbs. This example is located at the SAC Museum, in Ashland, Nebraska.
The Mark 36 was a thermonuclear bomb and was based on the Mark 21–it used the same casing. The Mark 21 was in service for only a year–it’s not known why it was withdrawn. Located at the SAC Museum in Ashland, Nebraska.
This Mark 41, at the National Museum of the USAF, in Dayton Ohio, may be the only one on display anywhere.
The Mark 41 was the most powerful nuclear weapon built by the US–but bigger ones–such as the Ripple Concept and Flashback–were contemplated, even planned for. This bomb is located at the National Museum of the US Air Force, in Dayton, Ohio.
The Mark 41 was considered highly efficient, one of the most efficient ever made, in terms of its use use fissile matrerial to its explosive power. Of course, being such a powerful weapon it still used a lot of fissile material. (Located at the National Museum of the USAF.)
About 500 Mark 41s were built. These were the days when the military’s plan for nuclear war envisaged multiple waves of bombers attacking and counterattacking with nuclear weapons over several days. This unit is located at the National Museum of the US Air Force, in Dayton, Ohio.
The Mark 41 would be slowed in it fall by parachute but only had air burst or contact fuzing 9and lacked lay-doan capability), limited even by the standards of the early 1960s. (Located at the National Museum of the USAF.)
Scale models of nuclear weapons (often an accessory to an aircraft model) have been available for many years from different manufacturers, and many museums (such as the Mark 43 model here at the Travis AFB Aviation Museum) collect these items.
The Mark 43 bomb that was lost off the coast of Japan ws said to have been set to the highest yield (one megaton) on this variable-yield weapon, which could go as low as 750 kilotons. (Located at the National Museum of the US Air Force, in Dayton.)
The white bomb in the rear is the Mark 43 while the closer bomb is the practice version of the B61 nuclear bomb, the primary modern bomb in the US inventory and one of the bombs that replaced the Mark 43. These units are located at the National Museum of the US Air Force, In Dayton, Ohio.
About 2000 Mark 43s were produced, with a variety of fuzing options and reportedly coudl be dropped from as low as 300 feet (soee sources say 200 feet). In those cases they bomb would lay on the ground of a timed interval (to allw the plane to escape) before exploding. These units are located at the Wings Over the Rockies Museum, in Denver, Colorado.
The Grissom Air Museum has a display of the B53, marking both its pride in the bomb (and especially its pride in the B-58 Hustler, which carried it) and its recognition of the nuclear accident that occured on the runway, just a few hundred yards away.
The B53 had a variety of fuzing options: 1)High altitude freefall, 2) contact, 3) high-altitude parachute-slowed air burst, and 4) high-altitude parachute-slowed contact burst, and 5) low-altitude laydown. In addition there was a timer for the laydown option. This unit is at the Wings Over the Rockies Museum, in Denver.
The B53 was test fired in Operation Dominic in 1961 and was fully retired in 1997. It was the last of the high-yield nuclear weapons in the US inventory. This bomb is located at the Wings Over the Rockies Museum, in Denver.
A “former senior officer” at SAC, as quoted in a 2010 unsigned article at the Washington Post’s web site, says that the B53 was known internally as a “crowd pleaser.” This might be due to its extraordinary 9-megaton yield but more likely was due to the dramatic scene of a B-58 Hustler dropping one at low altitude, with a trio of parachutes opening one after the other, like a flying drag racer, to slow its descent. As a photographer I like to think of it as a “crowd pleaser” because it has a certain minimalist beauty, especially so with the pod of the B-58 Hustler in the background. Located at the National Museum of the US Air Force, In Dayton, Ohio.
There have been two siginicant accidents involving the B53, both in 1964, shortly after the introduction of the bomb. In the first, a B-52 over the Appalachian Mountains in Maryland, lost its vertical stablizer (the vertical part of the tail that moves) and the plane crashed with two B53s aboard. Both were found “relatively intact.” In the second accident, a B-58, on the runway at Bunker Hill AFB (now renamed Grissom AFB), in Indiana, caught fire and burned. The plane also had four Mark 43 nuclear bombs on board. This photograph was made at the Wings Over the Rockies Museum, in Denver.
The B53 is a great example of the changes in nuclear weapons brought on by advances in bomb delivery accuracy. The B53, built in early 1960s as a “bunker buster,” is 9 megatons, one of the most powerful nuclear weapons ever made. The B61 (Mod 11), which replaced it in 1996, is only 400 kilotons–less than 1/20th as pwerful, and more much effective. This unit is at the Wings Over the Rockies Museum, in Denver.
These ports are said to be the fuzing plugs for the B53. The bomb could be delivered in a variety of ways: Freefall, parachute-slowed freefall, laydown, and others. This bomb is at the Wings Over the Rockies Museum, in Denver.
With its wide, blunt nose, the B53 doesn’t resemble anything you might think of as a “bunker buster” bomb, yet that seems to have one of its primary puposes. Prime targets included underground command centers around Moscow. The bomb’s large yield–9 megatons–perhaps make up for the lack of accurate aiming techologies in the 1960s. This bomb is at the Wings Over the Rockies Museum, In Denver, Colorado.
This is the physics package to the B53. When used as a missile warhead (i.e., in the Titan II’s W53), the orientation of the physics package is counter-intuative: The rounded end faces the bottom of the missile, the flat part faces toward the nose. I do not know the orientation of the physics package when used as a bomb. Located at the National Museum of the US Air Force, in Dayton.
This is an image of part of the “missile gallery” at the National Museum of the US Air Force, in Dayton, Ohio. To left of the B53 bomb is the Titan II ICBM, the most powerful ICBM ever built by the United States, which used a W53 warhear–eseentially the same as the B53. Further left is a Thor ICBM and to the right is a Titan I ICBM.
Although fully retired in 1997, the remaining B53s weren’t immediately disassembled, as planned. Many of the bombs, built in the early 1960s, lacked saftey features and thus required Pantex to engineer equipment and plan carefully for a safe disassembly. Not only were the nuclear elements a concern but each bomb contained 300 pounds of high explosives. The last bomb was disassembled in 2011. This unit is at the Atomic Museum in Las Vegas.
A nuclear bomb is designed inside of what is called a “physics package” (which is what you see here, at the Pima Air and Space Museum, in Arizona). The physics package would then be inserted into a bomb casing and attached to its fuzing mechanisms. Presumably, this same physics package, or one very similar, would form the warhead of the Titan II ICBM.
The plane behind the B53 bomb is the B-58 Hustler fighter-bomber. One of the most interesting features of the Huster was that a special pod was designed for it that could hold fuel and a nuclear bomb, such as the B53. In use the Huslter had the ability to fly at just a few hundred feet above ground and to drop the bomb, which would then open a series of parachutes to slow the bomb’s speed, before coming to a stop on the ground. The bomb would then detonate after a timed delay. This unit is located at the National Museum of the US Air Force, in Dayton, Ohio.
The B53 was made in two versions. The most well known was the 9 megaton “dirty” version but a less substantially less powerful “clean” version was also made. Some sources say this less powerful version–which is still classified–was the more common version. This unit is located at the Museum of Aviation at Robins AFB, in Georgia.
For loading into the B-52 bomb bay a weapons clip (attached to the top of the bomb) would allow crews to quickly attach the bomb to its release mechanism in the aircraft. To drop the bomb it would first be released from the mechanical lock, then small explosives would shatter the bolts that held the bomb in place. This is the only example of the harness that I have seen, here at the Nuclear Museum, in Albequerque.
The B53 has a complicated deployment history. Early versions were retired starting in 1967 (just five years after they were built) and out of 340 built only 25 were left in srvice by 1987 when, due to a “gap” in the Air Force’s inventory, 25 were brought back into service. By 1997 all had been retired. This unit is at the Museum of Aviation at Robins AFB, south of Georgia.
The particular B53 bomb pictured here, under the cannon-equiped tail of the B-58 Hustler, is the final B53 in the US stockpile. This unit was disassembled in 2011 and arrived the National Museum of the US Air Force in 2012.
The Mark V bomb, as you can see, has door panels that can be opened to facilitate the removal of the nuclear “pit” (to either safeguard the weapon from a nuclear explosion or to allow the use of pits with various degrees of explosive power). The part that goes in and out of the weapon with the pit is called the “birdcage” and the insertion process could be automated. An example of a birdcage is sitting right there in the clear case next to the bomb.
The text on the sign reads: “M102 Birdcage. For the first 15 years of the nuclear weapons era, all nuclear components were stored separately from the rest of the weapon. The M102 was the first pressurized storage and shipping container, often called the ‘birdcage.’ The nickname ‘birdcage’ came from the metal frame that surrounds the central storage tube. Used with bombs and artillery rounds, the frame kept nuclear components separated. The neutron absorbing material in the central storage tube prevented nuclear components that were stored close together from causing a nuclear reaction.” Located at the Nuclear Museum in Albuquerque.
