Black Dog A72034 ATOM BOMB MARK 17

The Mark 17 was an American free-fall thermonuclear (hydro) airborne bomb. The weapon entered service in the mid-1950s, and its production was carried out in 1954-1955. The weight of the bomb was about 21 tons, its length was 7.52 meters, with a diameter of 1.56 meters. The detonation force of a Mark 17 bomb was estimated at 15 MT. In total, about 200 bombs of this type were created. Work on the Mark 17 bomb began at the turn of the 1940s and 1950s and was intended to lead to the creation of the first productionable hydrogen bomb in the history of the US Air Force. The work was given a high priority, which meant that the first prototypes of this bomb were created as early as 1953, and their tests were tested in 1954 in a series of atomic weapons tests codenamed "Operation Castel" at Bikini Atoll. In the same year, the bomb entered production and was put into service almost immediately. It is worth adding that it was the heaviest nuclear bomb deployed to the USAF at that time, and the only aircraft capable of carrying it was the B-36 Peacemaker. Interestingly, due to the withdrawal from the B-36 line, the Mark 17 bomb was also withdrawn from the line in 1957.