The first and only live test of a USAF AIR-2 Genie nuclear-tipped air-to-air rocket
The video in this post, which was shot on July 19, 1957, shows a US Air Force (USAF) Northrop F-89 Scorpion carrying out Operation Plumbbob John, the first and only live test of a USAF AIR-2 Genie rocket with a nuclear warhead.
According to This Day In Aviation “On Friday morning, Jul. 19, 1957, a United States Air Force Northrop F-89J Scorpion interceptor, serial number 53-2547, flown by Captain Eric W. Hutchison, Pilot, and Captain Alfred C. Barbee, Radar Intercept Officer, launched a Genie MB-1 unguided rocket at an altitude of 18,500 feet (5,640 meters) over NTS Area 10.
“The rocket accelerated to Mach 3 and traveled 2.6 miles (4,250 meters) in 4.5 seconds when, at 07:00:04.6 a.m., Pacific Daylight Savings Time (14:00 UTC), its W-25 warhead was detonated by a signal from a ground station. The resulting explosive yield was 1.7 kilotons.”
The F-89 Scorpion
The Northrop F-89 was an early American, subsonic, all-weather, jet-powered interceptor. The Scorpion carried a pilot in the forward cockpit and a radar operator in the rear who guided the pilot into the proper attack position.
Notably, this aircraft was the first combat aircraft equipped with air-to-air nuclear weapons (the unguided Genie rocket) and one of the first USAF jet fighters equipped with guided missiles. The first flight took place on Aug. 16, 1948, with 1,050 aircraft built. Three hundred and fifty F-89Ds were converted to J models, which became the Air Defense Command’s first fighter-interceptor to carry nuclear armament. The Scorpion was retired in 1968.
The AIR-2 Genie
By the mid-1950s, it was apparent that traditional fighter weapons were inadequate for intercepting modern high-speed bombers. The solution would eventually be the development of guided missiles, but at the time this technology was not advanced enough for practical use. The answer to this problem for the US Air Force was the unguided AIR-2 (formerly known as the MB-1) Genie rocket.
This relatively large rocket contained a 1.5-kiloton nuclear warhead capable of blasting a bomber to bits from 1,000 feet away. The F-89, F-101, and F-106 interceptors carried the Genie. In the middle of the 1980s, it was finally retired from service alongside the F-106s.
Photo by U.S. Air Force
