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The Flying Crowbar [Project Pluto: nastiest weapon ever conceived?]
Air & Space Magazine ^
| April/May 1990
| Gregg Herken
Posted on 01/26/2006 11:38:38 AM PST by LibWhacker
click here to read article
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To: Tennessee_Bob
Gives new meaning to the name "Silver Bullet."
21
posted on
01/26/2006 1:12:37 PM PST
by
Doomonyou
(FR doesn't suffer fools lightly.)
To: LibWhacker
22
posted on
01/26/2006 1:16:14 PM PST
by
Bender2
(Even dirty old robots need love!)
To: LibWhacker
Even before it began dropping bombs on our enemies Pluto would have deafened, flattened, and irradiated our friends. Some people have no sense of humor whatever.
A fun article but filled with anachronisms. We didn't have TERCOM radar in 1957.
To: LibWhacker
There was a plan to use nuclear weapons to excavate for I-40 in Arizona and California
To: BadAndy
"Stay on the bomb run boys! I'll git the doors open if it hairlips ever'body on Bear Creek!"
25
posted on
01/26/2006 1:30:40 PM PST
by
GaltMeister
(“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”)
To: LibWhacker
If someone were indeed serious about wanting to revive Pluto, he would probably find some ready recruits at Livermore. But not many. What was once the weapon from hell now seems an idea best left dead and buried.
To: LibWhacker
27
posted on
01/26/2006 1:34:54 PM PST
by
6ppc
To: GaltMeister
I'll git the doors open if it hairlips ever'body on Bear Creek!" Which is kind of ironic, considering that the Y-12 Weapons Plant is on Bear Creek Road here in Oak Ridge.
28
posted on
01/26/2006 2:02:02 PM PST
by
Tennessee_Bob
("Those who "abjure" violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf.")
To: LibWhacker
A nuclear-powered bomber never got off the runway after the Air Force started advertising for pilots past child-rearing age.
Not entirely accurate. The bomber was canceled because the cost benefit analysis was unfavorable. Nuclear power bombers were on the drawing board that could have flown around the world without stopping several times. But what is the point of that? Normal bombers could already fly to the target and back at much lower cost per flight hour. The only useful roll for a plane that could fly for days or even weeks on end would have been as an orbiting nuclear platform. Something like a flying ballistic missile sub only loaded with nuclear cruise missiles. Except that compared to a sub it would have been easy to track and shoot down as soon as war started. Subs were cheaper for the same strategic role and could linger much longer undetected. THAT was what killed the atomic airplanes. There was simply no use for them. And this was a SAFE design. It was a closed nuclear system that did not leak radiation.
29
posted on
01/26/2006 2:16:29 PM PST
by
TalonDJ
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