Let's nuke a t-bolt

Scott Rose · **Posted:** Mon Jan 28, 2019 2:11 pm

I remember see the final sequence with the Thunderbolt when I was a kid, always thought it was a Hellcat... whatever

I finally found the footage.

quemerford · **Joined:** Tue Jun 17, 2014 4:19 pm **Posts:** 1593

But more importantly, let's nuke the #1 XP-86! It survived this shot but was demolished in subsequent shots. A sad end for a truly historic machine.

Scott Rose · **Posted:** Mon Jan 28, 2019 3:32 pm

quemerford wrote:

But more importantly, let's nuke the #1 XP-86! It survived this shot but was demolished in subsequent shots. A sad end for a truly historic machine.

Didn't realize that :cry:

steve dickey · **Posted:** Mon Jan 28, 2019 4:01 pm

That was wild how that thing lifted in the air!! :shock:

Clifford Bossie · **Posted:** Mon Jan 28, 2019 5:43 pm

Yup, nuked the XF-90, at least one B-45, a B-29, or two and several B-17s including 909 during the Tumbler-Snapper tests. The XF-90 was recovered several years ago and is in storage at Wright-Patt. I wonder if any of the Jugs are still "cooling off" at the Nevada Test Site?

The films of the various tests are interesting and enlightening, but to me the Tumbler-Snapper tests involved nuking the most interesting test articles. With the exception of the Bikini tests. It is hard to beat nuking Carriers and Battleships.

Scott Rose · **Posted:** Mon Jan 28, 2019 8:16 pm

steve dickey wrote:

That was wild how that thing lifted in the air!! :shock:

Thats what struck me as a kid, I was amazed!

quemerford · **Joined:** Tue Jun 17, 2014 4:19 pm **Posts:** 1593

Clifford Bossie wrote:

Yup, nuked the XF-90, at least one B-45, a B-29, or two and several B-17s including 909 during the Tumbler-Snapper tests. The XF-90 was recovered several years ago and is in storage at Wright-Patt. I wonder if any of the Jugs are still "cooling off" at the Nevada Test Site?

There was a major clean-up (if memory serves) circa 1960 which will have removed all of the demolished debris. I'd include the XP-86, a further F-86A-5 and probably the P-47s in among that. The XF-90 survived by being more or less in one piece and - I assume - still of value as a range target.

aerovin · **Posted:** Tue Jan 29, 2019 2:29 pm

That early 1960s clean-up also pulled SB-17Gs 44-83575 (now flies as "909") and 44-83722 out of the nuclear scrap heap and off to Aircraft Specialties at Mesa, Arizona. 44-83575 flew off of Yucca Lake in May 1965 and the other was trucked out as scrap. (See also Final Cut, pages 158-162 http://www.aerovintage.com/final.htm). Parts of 44-83722 supported air tanker operations for many years and the residue was used as major portions of the fuselage and wings in the 44-85813 rebuild underway at Champaign, Ohio.

Adam Kline · **Posted:** Tue Jan 29, 2019 3:15 pm

I think the drone video after was more interesting. The horizontal stabs broke from the shock.

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