Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion: Manned Aircraft Progress Report

This film presents the US effort to build a nuclear-powered long-range bomber. The program history and evolution is discussed, from the 1955 weapons system 125A to the 1956 re-evaluation and CAMAL concept. Work done between 1956 and 1958 is highlighted, including a detailed technical summary of the GE direct cycle nuclear jet engines and the Pratt and Whitney indirect cycle liquid metal cooled system. It discusses the HTRE tests performed in Idaho. GE XMA-1 development is shown at Evandale, OH. The indirect cycle component development at CANEL in Connecticut are depicted. Shielding and the Convair reactor flights are shown.

Catalog description: This film reviews progress achieved in the Air Force aircraft nuclear propulsion program from 1956 to 1958.

This is film 62995 in our catalog.

A very special thanks to Nuclear Talent Scout for sponsoring the digitization of this amazing film.

Stills from the film

Banner saying SECRET Restricted Data Atomic Energy Act 1954

Title: Manned Aircraft Progress report for 1956-1958

Picture of the narrator

Diagram of the Camel nuclear powered aircraft concept from 1955

Model of the XMA-1 GE direct cycle nuclear powered jet engines

A controller sitting at the HTRE-1 control room

Three zirconium hydride moderator elements inserts tested in the HTRE experiments

All ceramic insert made of BeO tubes with BeO moderator where 2700 degrees F was reached. Tested in HTRE-2

Unclad Zirconium-Hydride moderator insert tested in HTRE-2

Special high-power experiment in flight configuration called the HTRE-3

Special high-power experiment in flight configuration called the HTRE-3

Jet nozzles from HTRE-3

Flight Engine Test facility in Idaho

Flight Engine Test facility in Idaho

XMA-1 nuclear engine diagram showing wavy ducts to let compressed air pass but block straight line radiation

XMA-1 (top) compared to the conventional J-79 chemical engine at GE's Evandale facility

Chemical fueled testing of full-scale XMA-1 engines in Evandale

Fuel element testing with induction heating in Evandale

A chromium-based fuel with a clad Zirconium-Yttrium-Hydride alloy moderator that looked promising in 1958

Model of the Pratt and Whitney indirect cycle nuclear jet engine with lithium-7 liquid metal coolant

Diagram showing cancellation of the indirect cycle, including the Aircraft Reactor Experiment at ORNL

Another view of the P&W indirect cycle nuclear jet configuration

Workers doing fuel development at the Connecticut Aircraft Nuclear Engine Laboratory (CANEL)

Worker welding liquid metal test loops at CANEL

Corrosion and mass transfer flow loops to find high temperature materials that can handle lithium-7 coolant at CANEL

Worker at CANEL welding an in-reactor lithium coolant test loop to be inserted into the Engineering Test Reactor in Idaho

Quarter section radiator model for the indirect nuclear engine

Model reactor vessel for the lithium cooled indirect cycle nuclear engine

Diagram showing radiation fields around a nuclear-powered jet and talking about radiation shielding

The Convair Nuclear Test Aircraft at Ft. Worth on the ground in advance of flying an operating nuclear reactor

The Convair Nuclear Test Aircraft NB-36H in the air

The Aircraft Shielding Test Reactor in the air at the Tower Shielding Facility at ORNL

Radiation effects on electronics testing

Lockheed's 10 MW Radiation Effects Reactor doing dynamic systems tests in high flux

Air Force Nuclear Engineering Test Facility at Wright Air Development Center

A monkey undergoing life sciences studies as part of the ANP shielding and radiation studies

A safety analysis program test where radioactive material was burned and released to investigate effects of a nuclear aircraft crash

Lockheed 1955 125A weapons air frame for the Pratt and Whitney indirect cycle system

Lockheed's tug/toe system called BlackJack

Lockheed systems including both ramjet nuclear propulsion and Pratt and Whitney indirect systems for high-altitude supersonic capability

Concept of nuclear-powered aircraft

References

You can read a lot more about the quest for nuclear-powered flight in Nuclear flight; the United States Air Force programs for atomic jets, missiles, and rockets.

Amazing CANEL description in PROPOSAL SECOND GENERATION PORTABLE NUCLEAR POWERPLANT.

See Also

• A related film about the reactor that flew
• A X post about this
• Our Digital Reactor History Museum
• Our Reactor Development History Page
• Our Old Videos page with a running list of the available and yet-to-be-scanned films out there.

If you’re interested in helping to get some of these scanned, check out our digitization GoFundMe and/or contact us!