Operation Redwing

Operation Redwing, a 17-test nuclear weapons series, was conducted at the Pacific Proving Ground between May 4 and July 21, 1956. 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 AECs 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 AECs 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.

Tests comprising the 1956 Operation Redwing were as follows:

LACROSSE, May 4, Enewetak (Runit Island), surface, weapons related, 40 kilotons (kt)
CHEROKEE, May 20, Bikini (near Nam Island), airdrop, weapons related, 3.8 megatons (Mt)
(allowed scientists to make some unique measurements)
ZUNI, May 27, Bikini (Eneman Island), surface, weapons related, 3.5 Mt
YUMA, May 27, Enewetak (Aomon Island), tower, weapons related, 190 tons
ERIE, May 30, Enewetak (Runit Island), tower, weapons related, 14.9 kt
SEMINOLE, June 6, Enewetak (Boken Island), surface, weapons related, 13.7 kt
FLATHEAD, June 11, Bikini (off Iroij Island), barge, weapons related, 365 kt
BLACKFOOT, June 11, Enewetak (Runit Island), tower, weapons related, 8 kt
KICKAPOO, June 13, Enewetak (Aomon Island), tower, weapons related, 1.49 kt
OSAGE, June 16, Enewetak (near Runit Island), airdrop, weapons related, 1.7 kt
INCA, June 21, Enewetak ( Lujor Island), tower, weapons related, 15.2 kt
DAKOTA, June 25, Bikini (off Iroij Island), barge, weapons related, 1.1 Mt
MOHAWK, July 2, Enewetak (Eleleron Island), tower, weapons related, 360 kt
APACHE, July 8, Enewetak (off Dridrilbwij Island), barge, weapons related, 1.85 Mt
NAVAJO, July 10, Bikini (off Iroij Island), barge, weapons related, 4.5 Mt
TEWA, July 20, Bikini (off Nam Island), barge, weapons related, 5 Mt

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Science & Technology

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[geinman1287]

In the Cherokee Shot, the drop B-52 observer fouled-up and released the bomb 40 seconds too soon. An effects B-47 and B-52 received considerable blast and thermal damage.