XBradTC

Operation Plumbbob was a series of nuclear weapons tests undertaken in Nevada in 1957. There were 27 nuclear explosions, and two non-yield events. The primary focus of Plumbbob was the development of warheads for ICBMs and intermediate range missiles.

Of course, developing warheads, the DoD also had a very strong interest in more fully understanding the effects of nuclear weapons. By 1957, it was already fairly well understood that future ICBMs would likely be stationed in underground silos. The question became, what shock loads would a silo be subject to, and how to protect against them.

One idea to mitigate the transfer of a shock load from the earth to the silo wall was to have a frangible barrier between them. The barrier would shatter, and the shock wave would have to cross an air gap before reaching the reinforced concrete of the silo.

Rather than using glass building bricks, which may have been too thick, the testers settled on a very simple system. They used empty gin bottles. Square, clear glass gin bottles were stacked like brickwork around the silo, and strapped in place. The earth was backfilled around them.

The test results were quite encouraging, though they’re a little fuzzy on what happened to all the gin.