Porter Chemical Company produced the Chemcraft Master Laboratory with Atomic Energy throughout the 1950s. The kit included radioactive Uranium ore and was the most expensive and elaborate model available in 1951. At $27.50 (about $265 in today’s dollars), this was quite an investment for a family Christmas gift.
The popularity of chemistry sets peaked during the 1940s and 1950s, coinciding with the nuclear arms race. After the Atomic Energy Act was passed in 1947, the Atomic Energy kits were added to the Chemcraft chemistry sets. This model contains not only chemicals, but an educational manual on atomic energy, radiation test strips, and the sample of true uranium ore.
The set in the pictures, above, was found at the Great Basin Museum in Delta, UT. Other museums have tested these sets with Geiger counters and found the radiation from the Uranium core to be negligible and safe for handling.
On June 30, 1946, (July 1 local time), Dave’s Dream dropped Rita Hayworth taped to a 23kt Mark 3 implosion bomb, nicknamed Gilda, on Bikini Atoll.
The first post-war test of an atom bomb was conducted at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands located near the equator in the Pacific Ocean. Operation Crossroads originally consisted of three shots, Able, Baker, and Charlie, although the last was canceled. This testing series was one of the largest military operations in U.S. history.
Both the tests used the Mark 3 plutonium implosion bomb, the same as “Fat Man” used on Nagasaki. Test Able was an aerial drop, and Test Baker (on July 25) was detonated 90 feet underwater.
Rita Hayworth as “Gilda” on the Mark 3.
Test Able’s bomb was stenciled with the name Gilda in two-inch black letters and was decorated with a picture of Rita Hayworth (in her femme-fatale Jean Louis black strapless dress) by photographer Bob Coburn cut out of the June 1946 Esquire magazine. Rita Hayworth was the star of the popular 1946 film, Gilda. Although the gesture was meant as a compliment, Hayworth was deeply offended.
Dave’s Dream (7354)
Gilda was dropped from the silverplate B-29 Superfortress, Dave’s Dream of the 509th Bombardment Group. This B-29, previously known as Big Stink, participated in the atomic bomb drop on Nagasaki as a camera and scientific observer plane.
Dave’s Dream (7354)
The purpose was to test the effect of nuclear weapons on warships and was conducted by the Joint Army/Navy Task Force 1, not the Manhattan Engineer District (Manhattan Project). The test was arguably a publicity stunt for the U.S. Navy to demonstrate ship survivability (or vulnerability, depending upon which side of the politics you sat).
Test Able’s target array consisted of 78 vessels. The original zeropoint target was the battleship Nevada (number 32 in the picture, below) because it was the most rugged ship available. However, due to poor aerodynamics by the high-drag tail fin structure of the bomb, Gilda detonated 2,130 feet from the target and 518 feet directly above and 50 yards off the bow of the attack transport Gilliam (number 5 in the picture, below) with a yield of 23 kilotons. [Source: National Park Service.]
Test Able Target Array
Operation Crossroads’ tests were the first to be publicly announced beforehand and observed by an invited audience, including a large press corps. Buried in the Metro section of the Chicago Tribune on June 30, 1946, is a small announcement that the test would be covered by WGN and WBBM.
Chicago Sunday Tribune, June 30, 1946, Part 3, Page 8
You can visit the Bradley Science Museum in Los Alamos, NM, which houses historical weapons-research artifacts, including a replica of “Fat Man” and the Fireset (triggering mechanism).
Fat Man Replica
Fireset Triggering Mechanism for Fat Man
On display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, OH, is another replica of the Mark 3 Fat Man atom bomb. The museum has replicas and casings of numerous nuclear warheads and bombs throughout, providing a visual history of our Cold War arms race.
Fat Man Replica (Mark 3)
Watch a 27-minute government documentary from 1946 about Operation Crossroads, Test Able.
On May 25, 1953, The US military conducted Shot Grable of Operation Upshot-Knothole at the Nevada Test Site (now the Nevada National Security Site).
Shot Grable was detonated with a yield of 15 kilotons. A 280-mm cannon fired the atomic artillery projectile, which detonated 524 feet above Area 5 (Frenchman Flat). The cannon, later nicknamed “Atomic Annie,” was manufactured at the Watervliet Arsenal in New York.
Shot Grable was not just a test of the cannon. Indeed, the test involved over 650 Department of Defense test group personnel, 2600 exercise troops participating in the Desert Rock V exercises, over 700 observers, about 70 Air Force Special Weapons Center crewmen providing air support, and sheep. (See the DTRA Fact Sheet on Upshot-Knothole.)
Where can you see some of the remaining atomic cannons today?
Of the 20 M65s produced, seven survive (of which one is the 240-mm prototype) and are on display at various museums. In addition to the two, above, you can also seem them at:
U.S. Army Ordnance Museum, Aberdeen, MD (museum is closed; moving to Fort Lee). Although all museum relics will be moved to Fort Lee’s US Army Ordnance Training and Heritage Center, the M65 is still at the NW corner of Aberdeen Blvd and Maryland Blvd just off the parking lot. [picture]
