Davy Crockett

1786-1836, frontiersman and politician. Has grown in mythological stature in American folklore. Known for his folksy charm, he was elected to the Tennessee state legislature in 1821. He ran for U.S. rep. position and was opposed by Andrew Jackson's political machine. In 1835 he left Tenn. for Texas to join the forces of the Texas Volunteers, fighting for freedom from Mexico. He died on 6-6-1836 at the Alamo, which happens to be just down the street from me.

Nickname of the smallest nuclear weapon ever fielded by the United States military, the W-54 warhead. Also known as the atomic bazooka, it weighed only 25kg and measured 27.3cm wide by 44.7cm long and had an explosive yield equivalent to 10-20 tons of TNT. It was designed to be fired from the bazooka-like M-28 recoilless rifle with a range of over 3km. The system's purpose was to give nuclear capability to the infantry. It was designed to be mounted on a jeep or armored personnel carrier, and a tripod-mounted, man-portable version was also manufactured. It was actually live-fired from an armored personnel carrier on July 17, 1962 as part of a troop maneuver called exercise Ivy Flats, and was the last atmospheric test ever conducted at the Nevada Test Site. It entered service in 1961 and 400 were made before it was retired from the stockpile in 1971. The W-54 was also the heart of the Special Atomic Demolition Munition, more popularly called backpack or suitcase nukes. The name "Davy Crockett" was chosen to reflect its intended use as a direct fire, "last stand" weapon by infantry troops against invading Soviet armored forces.

Most of these facts were taken from the Federation of American Scientists Special Weapons Archive at http://www.fas.org/nuke/hew/Usa/Weapons/Allbombs.html, which has many interesting facts about nuclear weapons in general. Pictures of the Davy Crockett can be found at http://www.fas.org/nuke/hew/Usa/Tests/Storax.html.