"Atomic-Powered Aircraft" Topic

The Manhattan District—the multi-service program that developed the atomic bomb—in 1946 awarded a contract to the Fairchild Engine and Airplane Company to determine the feasibility of using nuclear energy to power an aircraft. The Navy several years earlier had initiated a program to develop a nuclear-powered submarine, but that effort was suspended during the war, and its scientists and engineers were reassigned to the atomic bomb project…

USNI: link

The obvious issue is the consequences if and when one of these planes crashes. The program lingered until JFK canceled the program. But supporters still clamored for it. The 1966 Palomares Broken Arrow killed it for good.

I once worked with an older engineer who had been in the Air Force. One time his assigned duty was to watch and record readings on radiation detectors while a chase aircraft circled the B-36 described in the article. Apparently there was little to no shielding except for the crew compartment.

There were many oddities associated with the nuclear powered aircraft program. For example, a large shielded hanger was built in Idaho for the aircraft to be serviced in, largely through remote manipulators. But the project was cancelled before the landing field was built. AFAIK the hanger has only been used to examine reactor debris from the SL-1 and TMI-2 accidents.

I believe there was a plan to develop an engine that sucked in air at the front heated it in the reactor then blew it out the back to provide thrust. This went under the title of Project Halitosis! :-)

That was one of the proposed designs. Numerous aircraft traversing the skies, emitting radiation particles indiscriminately.

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, the understanding of radiation exposure was limited primarily to the scientific community, particularly those involved in the Manhattan Project, which extended until 1946. The impact of radiation on Japanese civilians did not deter enthusiasm.

In the post-war period, "Atomic" became a prominent buzzword. Magazines and newspapers featured articles envisioning atomic power revolutionizing ground and air transportation, even household appliances. However, it would take time for the true implications of radioactivity exposure to be comprehended.