Operation Ivy Atomic Test (Gallery)

Operation Ivy

Operation Ivy, conducted in 1952, was the eighth series of Nuclear tests by the United States. Two shots were detonated on Operation Ivy; the Mike shot (11/1/52) and the King shot (11/16/52).

The first shot, Mike, was the first successful full-scale test of a thermonuclear device or Hydrogen Bomb. Mike was known as a "wet bomb" since it used liquid deuterium as its thermonuclear fuel. Mike was detonated on Elugelab with a yield of 10.4 megatons (500 times the yield of the bomb dropped on Nagasaki). The detonation left an underwater crater more than a mile wide and over 150 ft deep, wiping out the island of Elugelab.

The objective of the Mike Shot was to test, "by actual detonation, the theory of design for a thermonuclear reaction on a large scale, the results of which test could be used to design, test, and produce stockpile thermonuclear weapons."

The second test of Operation Ivy, the King shot, was air-dropped by a B-36 north of Runit Island in Enewetak atoll. King was the largest fission nuclear weapon ever detonated with a yield of over 500 Kilotons.

Reed Hadley

Reed Hadley was the pipe smoking military observer/narrator of the documentary film "Operation Ivy" made about the test. Reed was a 1950's star of tv and motion pictures. He was the star of two tv series "Racket Squad" (1950) and "Public Defender" (1954). He also provided classified narration for other Lookout Mountain atomic documentaries.

He was born Reed Herring June 25, 1911. His career started in the 1930s and went until the early 1970's. He died on December 11, 1974.

He appeared in episodes of Wagon Train, Rawhide, Perry Mason and Green Acres.

Reed Hadley on Wikipedia

Reed Hadley movie credits on the IMDB