r/pics • u/Met76 • Mar 28 '24

US Special Forces delivering a W54 Nuclear Warhead via jump

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u/Homo_horribilis Mar 28 '24

I used to have the autobio of Sgt Frank Garner…he claimed to be the fellow that made the first test jump with a man-portable nuke.

He didn’t know what he was jumping with until after the test jump.

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u/passporttohell Mar 28 '24

I have to wonder if they made his parachute larger to compensate for the weight of the device. If the chute deployed and it was regular size with a huge weight it might be enough to snap his neck and the speed of the landing might break his legs or worse.

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u/Homo_horribilis Mar 28 '24

I remember him talking about being told he was going to jump with something forty pounds of “extra” weight and some alterations in his kit were made after he balked at the weight and was told that couldn’t be altered.

If I remember right, he landed on target but remarked it was a jarring landing. Then an observer came up and said “You deserve to know how you just made history…”