shipman@nmtvax.UUCP (John Shipman) (02/11/86)
> Yup, and some of them also wondered early on whether the thing would work > at all; they didn't want all that expensively processed U235 spread all > over New Mexico when the TNT starter went off and the rest fizzled, so > they had a large (40'x10'?) steel bottle built to explode the first bomb > in. That way they could scrape the U235 off the walls (well, someone > could) if it didn't work. The thing weighed hundreds of tons, was built > and shipped to the site, but never used. I think its in some museum in NM > (maybe one built around it?) > > Lyle McElhaney > ...!hao!cisden!lmc I don't know what happened to the rest of it, but there is a small (about 2' x 3') chunk of this vessel on display in the town plaza here in Socorro, New Mexico. I hear it was broken up with conventional explosives; the inside of this piece is severely pitted. No plaque identifies or describes it; it is mounted on a small brick pedestal at the east end of the plaza. Can any of you Manhattan Project old-timers supply more of the story? -- John Shipman/Zoological Data Processing/Socorro, New Mexico USENET: ucbvax!unmvax!nmtvax!shipman OR ihnp4!lanl!unmvax!...
rck@ihuxx.UUCP (Kukuk) (02/17/86)
> I don't know what happened to the rest of it, but there is a > small (about 2' x 3') chunk of this vessel on display in the > town plaza here in Socorro, New Mexico. I hear it was broken > up with conventional explosives; the inside of this piece > is severely pitted. No plaque identifies or describes it; > it is mounted on a small brick pedestal at the east end of > the plaza. > > Can any of you Manhattan Project old-timers supply more of > the story? > -- > John Shipman/Zoological Data Processing/Socorro, New Mexico > USENET: ucbvax!unmvax!nmtvax!shipman OR ihnp4!lanl!unmvax!... My wife and I visited Trinity Site on July 16, 1985, the 40th anniversary of the test. The remains of "Jumbo", the bottle, are on display near the south entrance to Ground Zero. The ends of the bottle were blown out in some later (conventional?) test explosion, but the cylinder is still in one piece. By the way, the MacDonald ranch house about 2 miles southeast has been restored, and has been designated a National Park. It's the only National Park I know of that can only be visited one day a year! Ron Kukuk
lmc@cisden.UUCP (02/26/86)
> > I don't know what happened to the rest of it, but there is a > > small (about 2' x 3') chunk of this vessel on display in the > > town plaza here in Socorro, New Mexico. > > > > Can any of you Manhattan Project old-timers supply more of > > the story? > My wife and I visited Trinity Site on July 16, 1985, the 40th > anniversary of the test. The remains of "Jumbo", the bottle, > are on display near the south entrance to Ground Zero. The > ends of the bottle were blown out in some later (conventional?) > test explosion, but the cylinder is still in one piece. > By coincidence, I happened to see an advertisement in one of last year's Aviation Week's put in by Babcock & Wilcox, the nuclear power reactor people. They apparently contracted to build Jumbo, and the double page spread shows Jumbo loaded on a rail car with a couple dozen workmen standing around. The ad states that Jumbo weighed in at 214 tons. Lyle McElhaney ...hao!cisden!lmc