Atomic Annie Nuclear Cannon

• 84-ton nuclear cannon developed in early 1950s during Cold War
• Required two extra-long fire trucks to move
• Designed to fire small nuclear devices at long range
• Effective firing range: ~20 miles (contestants guessed 6 miles, 200 miles)
• Successfully tested at Nevada Test Site in desert
• 20 cannons manufactured total
• Deployed to Korea and Europe
• Purpose: shooting Russians, long-range nuclear delivery before ICBMs

Problems with Atomic Annie

• Better weapons invented (ICBMs) made it obsolete
• Realized could make atomic shells for regular artillery pieces instead
• Didn't need specialized cannon - could use bigger regular cannon with nuclear shell
• Never actually fired in combat
• Remained prestige weapon only

Davy Crockett Weapon System

• Recoilless rifle (rocket launcher) with nuclear bomb
• Shoulder-mounted nuclear weapon
• Back end open, exhaust gases come out hollow tube
• Major problems:
  • Didn't have range to get user out of blast distance
  • Instantly lethal within 150 meters of impact
  • Fatal radiation dose within quarter mile
  • No abort option once fired - nuclear bomb would explode on timer
  • Ammunition carried right next to user's head

Nuclear Bomb Safety Discussion

• Nuclear bombs don't accidentally explode when dropped
• Examples: accidents off coast of Spain, Georgia (US)
• Timer mechanism prevents accidental detonation
• Once fired, cannot turn off timer (would give weapon to enemy)

Blue Peacock - British Nuclear Mines

• British tactical nuclear weapon program
• Plan: bury nuclear mines in Germany
• Problem: winter cold made electronics fail
• Solution: bury live chickens with mines to generate body heat
• Chickens would keep mines at working temperature for ~1 week
• Never actually implemented
• Absurd concept: high-tech nuclear weapon kept warm by chickens
• Would create obvious signs (chicken sounds from underground minefield)

Resuscitation Annie Discussion

• Brief tangent about CPR training dummy
• Based on death mask of unidentified corpse pulled from Seine River
• 19th/early 20th century Paris
• Autopsy worker thought corpse was beautiful, made face cast
• Face used on CPR training dolls
• Became fixture on artists' walls