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Gadget & Thud
Reproduction of Trinity Test "Gadget" detonation tower near 1962 F-105D Thunderchief jet, a model nicknamed "Thud" by Vietnam War-era crews.
Location: National Museum of Nuclear Science & History; Albuquerque, New Mexico; June 21, 2024, 8:12pm
Per Wikipedia, the jet's nickname "Thud" came from the character "Chief Thunderthud" from the Howdy Doody television series (a helaciously dated native american caricature played by a white guy with a pencil 'stache). This supersonic fighter-bomber was said in its era to be a "Triple Threat" – it could bomb you, strafe you, or fall on you.
The Trinity Test detonation tower reproduction was constructed at the Museum in 2017 as dramatic housing for a reproduction of the "Gadget" test bomb exploded at the Trinity Test Site near Alamogordo, New Mexico on July 16, 1945 – so-called at the time ("gadget") to avoid words like "atomic" or "bomb" for security reasons.
Gadget & Thud
Reproduction of Trinity Test "Gadget" detonation tower near 1962 F-105D Thunderchief jet, a model nicknamed "Thud" by Vietnam War-era crews.
Location: National Museum of Nuclear Science & History; Albuquerque, New Mexico; June 21, 2024, 8:12pm
Per Wikipedia, the jet's nickname "Thud" came from the character "Chief Thunderthud" from the Howdy Doody television series (a helaciously dated native american caricature played by a white guy with a pencil 'stache). This supersonic fighter-bomber was said in its era to be a "Triple Threat" – it could bomb you, strafe you, or fall on you.
The Trinity Test detonation tower reproduction was constructed at the Museum in 2017 as dramatic housing for a reproduction of the "Gadget" test bomb exploded at the Trinity Test Site near Alamogordo, New Mexico on July 16, 1945 – so-called at the time ("gadget") to avoid words like "atomic" or "bomb" for security reasons.