Redwing Cherokee Was A Blast

 

On this day in 1956, an RB-52 Stratofortress assigned to the 4925th Test Group (Atomic), Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico, took off from Eniwetok Island, the main island of Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The aircraft commander was Major David M. Critchlow, United States Air Force. Major Critchlow’s plane was named Barbara Grace in honor of his wife and his mother, respectively. This was the second test of the OPERATION REDWING series, code name REDWING CHEROKEE. Lack of accuracy over the target---missing Namu Island by 4 miles---the test was not a total loss as it generated information on its blast effect. It also demonstrated that the U.S. could air-deliver multimegaton thermonuclear weapons using B-52 jet bombers. The plane was transferred to the National Atomic Museum (now, the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History) at Kirtland in 1971, where it has been restored for display.