Camel.

This is coolbert:

Came across this quite by accident. A variety of the Sidewinder infra-red guided air-to-air missile but nuclear armed.

"The Diamondback was a proposed nuclear-armed air-to-air missile studied by the United States Navy's Naval Ordnance Test Station during the 1950s. Intended as an enlarged, nuclear-armed version of the successful Sidewinder missile, Diamondback did not progress beyond the study stage."

. . . .

"Diamondback was intended to provide increased speed, range and accuracy over that achieved by Sidewinder. The missile's design called for it to be armed with either a powerful continuous-rod warhead or a low-yield nuclear warhead, the latter developed by China Lake's Special Weapons Division, and which would have a yield of less than 1 kiloton of TNT"

Oak Ridge I have heard of. Hanford I have heard of. Chicago Pile-1 and Chicago Pile-2 I have heard of. Los Alamos of course I have heard of. China Lake and the association to the Manhattan Project I had not heard of. Special weapons usually a designation reserved for atomic, biological and chemical weaponry.

My understanding the development of nuclear weaponry solely the responsibility of Los Alamos! China Lake and the Special Weapons Division too has a role not totally appreciated.

Special Weapons China Lake. During the Second World War this was Project Camel.

"Project Camel was the codename given to work performed by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in support of the Manhattan Project during World War II. These activities included the development of detonators and other equipment, testing of bomb shapes dropped from Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers, and the Salt Wells Pilot Plant, where explosive components of nuclear weapons were manufactured."

See additionally Project Alberta. Also part and parcel of the Manhattan Project.

coolbert.






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