Operation Redwing

For the 2005 US counterterrorism mission in Kunar province, Afghanistan, see Operation Red Wings.

Operation Redwing
Redwing Apache
Information
Country	United States
Test site	Pacific Proving Grounds
Period	May-July 1956
Number of tests	17
Test type	Atmospheric tests
Device type	Fission/Fusion
Max. yield	5 megatons of TNT (21 PJ)
Navigation
Previous test	Project 56
Next test	Project 57

Operation Redwing was a United States series of 17 nuclear test detonations from May to July 1956. They were conducted at Bikini and Enewetak atolls. The entire operation followed Operation Wigwam and preceded Operation Plumbbob. The primary intention was to test new, second-generation thermonuclear devices. Also tested were fission devices intended to be used as primaries for thermonuclear weapons, and small tactical weapons for air defense. Redwing demonstrated the first US airdrop of a deliverable hydrogen bomb - test "Cherokee". Because the yields for many tests at Operation Castle in 1954 were dramatically higher than predictions, Redwing was conducted using an "energy budget" - there were limits to the total amount of energy released, and the amount of fission yield was also strictly controlled. Fission, primarily "fast" fission of the natural uranium tamper surrounding the fusion capsule, greatly increases the yield of thermonuclear devices, and contributes the vast majority of the fallout - fusion being a relatively clean reaction.

All shots were named after various US Native American tribes.

Michael Harris, a former public relations executive at CBS, served in the U.S. Army on Enewetak Atoll during most of Operation Redwing. He wrote about his experiences in The Atomic Times: My H-Bomb Year at the Pacific Proving Ground (Random House, 2005). To protect privacy, he changed most of the names of his fellow soldiers.

According to Harris in The Atomic Times, soldiers on Enewetak experienced fallout from eight blasts: 1) Zuni (3.5 megatons, Bikini) and Yuma (0.19 kilotons, Enewetak), both detonated on May 28, 1956; 2) Seminole, a 13.7 kiloton surface burst exploded inside a water tank on June 6, 1956; 3) Blackfoot (8 kilotons, Enewetak) and Flathead (365 kilotons, Bikini), another double shot day on June 12, 1956; 4) Inca (15.2 kilotons, Enewetak) on June 22, 1956; 5) Apache (1.85 megatons, Enewetak) on July 9, 1956; and 6) and Tewa (5 megatons, Bikini) on July 21, 1956, the “dirtiest shot ever,” according to Harris, with Enewetak being hit with “very heavy” fallout that lasted for days.

Harris personally experienced the Redwing Lacrosse through Redwing Dakota detonations, noting that the much smaller-yield explosions at Enewetak appeared to be the same size as the much larger explosions more than 150 miles away at Bikini. He left the atoll and was honorably discharged before the final five test shots, and therefore missed the most powerful detonations at Enewetak.

Tests

The following tests all took place in 1956. The dates are in local time, followed by the yield.

Redwing Tests^[1]

Test name	Date	Location	Yield	Note	Image
Lacrosse	4 May 1956	Enewetak Atoll	40 kilotons	11°33′14″N 162°20′53″E / 11.55389°N 162.34806°E / 11.55389; 162.34806
Cherokee	20 May 1956	Bikini Atoll	3.8 megatons	first US airdrop of a thermonuclear bomb, a Mark 15 nuclear bomb
Zuni	27 May 1956	Bikini Atoll	3.5 megatons	First test of a three-stage thermonuclear design (Bassoon device).
Yuma	27 May 1956	Enewetak Atoll	190 tons	a fizzle, but the device weighed only 96 pounds
Erie	30 May 1956	Enewetak Atoll	14.9 kilotons	Test of a prototype Mark 28 nuclear bomb
Seminole	June 6, 1956	Enewetak Atoll	13.7 kilotons	Exploded in a tank of water to simulate an underwater explosion
Flathead	June 11, 1956	Bikini Atoll	365 kilotons	intended to be particularly "dirty" - a high-fallout weapon
Blackfoot	June 11, 1956	Enewetak Atoll	8 kilotons
Kickapoo	June 13, 1956	Enewetak Atoll	1.49 kilotons
Osage	June 16, 1956	Enewetak Atoll	1.7 kilotons
Inca	June 21, 1956	Enewetak Atoll	15.2 kilotons	Test of the swan primary.
Dakota	June 25, 1956	Bikini Atoll	1.1 megatons
Mohawk	July 2, 1956	Enewetak Atoll	360 kilotons	Test of the swan primary and flute secondary.
Apache	July 8, 1956	Bikini Atoll	1.85 megatons
Navajo	July 10, 1956	Bikini Atoll	4.5 megatons	95% fusion, the cleanest US shot until the 1958 Hardtack Poplar shot, a 9.3 Mt shot of which 95.2% of the yield was from fusion.[2][3]
Tewa	July 20, 1956	Bikini Atoll	5 megatons	Test of a dirty three stage thermonuclear design (Bassoon Prime device). 87% of the yield came from fission, the highest percentage in any known US thermonuclear test.
Huron	July 21, 1956	Enewetak Atoll	250 kilotons

References

1. ^ Redwing test series from The Nuclear Weapons Archive retrieved 31 May 2008
2. ^ http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Hardtack1.html
3. ^ http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/453500

• Chuck Hansen, U. S. Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History (Arlington: AeroFax, 1988)
• United States Nuclear Tests - DOE/NV—209-REV 15
• United States Nuclear Tests at fas.org

External links

• Defense Dept film summarizing Operation Redwing
• Defense Department film giving technical results of Redwing blasts
• Summary and review of The Atomic Times