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Operation Tumbler-Snapper
In the spring of 1952, the U.S. Defense Nuclear Agency conducted a series of atomic bomb drops and tower shots at the Nevada Proving Ground, code-named “Operation Tumbler Snapper.” One of Tumbler-Snapper’s objectives was to see how soldiers and military equipment—including one of only two Lockheed XF-90 fighters ever built—reacted to the detonation. Jet aircraft (including the XF-90 and some F-47s) were seen to be less damaged by the atomic blast than were the bombers (a B-45, a B-29, and some B-17s). This excerpt from a contemporary U.S. Air Force documentary about the Tumbler-Snapper program focuses on the airplane testing. (05:15)
Source: Internet Archive/ US Dept. of Energy
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