Genie
A Genie that grants only a single wish
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.
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.
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.
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.
Explosive Power
1.5 kt (W25)
Hiroshima Equivalent Factor
One tenth
Dimensions
9 ft. 8 inches x 17.5 inches
Weight
822 lbs.
Year(s)
1957-1985
Range
6 miles
Purpose
Air-to-Air, stop Soviet nuclear bombers
Nukemap
NUKEMAP is a web-based mapping program that attempts to give the user a sense of the destructive power of nuclear weapons. It was created by Alex Wellerstein, a historian specializing in nuclear weapons (see his book on nuclear secrecy and his blog on nuclear weapons). The screenshot below shows the NUKEMAP output for this particular weapon. Click on the map to customize settings.
Videos
Click on the Play button and then the Full screen brackets on the lower right to view each video. Click on the Exit full screen cross at lower right (the “X” on a mobile device) to return.
Further Reading
- Wikipedia, F-106 Delta Dart Association, Minot AFB.
- An article by Christopher J. Bright (author of Continental Defense in the Eisenhower Era: Nuclear Anti-Aircraft Arms and the Cold War–you can see part of a chapter on the Genie here), gives some of the historical context for the Genie.
- The National Interest seems to have a special interest in the Genie, publishing “The F-89 Fighter Fired ‘Mini’ Nuclear Bomb Rockets to Make Russia Freak” by Sebastien Roblin in 2024 and, three years earlier, “This Air-to-Air Nuke Could Have Decimated Bomber Fleets No Problem” by Alex Hollings.
- This Genie, found in a Bellevue, Washington garage, got the press all excited in February of 2024…but the rusty rocket was missing its entire nose area, and obviously had no warhead. Still, sort of cool.
- Many of the sites on the Genie go over the same historical ground and use the same photos but maybe are still worth a look? Here’s one, and another, and one more (and I can’t resist a final entry on the list).
- A fascinating 1959 Department of State unclassified memorandum on transferring Genies to Great Britain and debates over control of the weapon.
- A now unclassified but undated history of the the Genie and other air-to-air nuclear weapons, “Nuclear Armament: Its Acquisition, Control and Application to Manned Interceptors 1951-1963,” by Thomas W. Ray, covers a lot of interesting detail. Be sure to skim a bit starting at page 124– the section on “Incidents and Accidents” is worth your time if for no other reason than to underline the many nuclear safety incidents that don’t make the lists you normally google.
- Famously, during the in-air test of the Genie, five volunteers and a cameraman stood beneath “air zero” to witness the detonation and to prove that they would suffer no health issues from the radiation exposure. (Remember–the plan for the Genies was to detonate them over North American airspace).