Mark 21 nuclear bomb
The Mark 21 nuclear bomb was a United States nuclear gravity bomb first produced in 1955. It was based on the TX-21 "Shrimp" prototype that had been detonated during the Castle Bravo test in March 1954. While most of the Operation Castle tests were intended to evaluate weapons intended for immediate stockpile, or which were already available for use as part of the Emergency Capability Program, Castle Bravo was intended to test a design which would drastically reduce the size and costs of the first generation of air-droppable atomic weapons (the Mk 14, Mk 17 & Mk 24). At long, in diameter, and weighing , the Mk-21 was half the length and one-third the weight of the Mk-17/24 weapons it replaced. Its minimum yield was specified at four megatons.
Castle Jazz Band
The band was a cooperative venture that never paid its members. It was led by banjoist Monte Ballou. The first recordings took place March 28 and April 16, 1944, and their first issue was limited to 200 copies. Wartime and employment difficulties ensured the band would not record again until 1947, but this recording was more widely distributed and garnered the nationwide attention of jazz fans and garnered critical acclaim. Ballou changed from guitar to banjo for the 1947 recording, and this, plus a change from string bass to tuba, had a significant effect on the band's sound. The most famous lineup was formed in 1948, and played music at the Jantzen Beach Amusement Park in Portland, dressed as various characters. They were regulars at the Rathskeller Cafe in 1948, and then moved to a more upscale location, the Sportsman Club, where they were a draw not only locally, but also from the traditional jazz fanbase in San Francisco. Their heyday was from 1949 to 1951. This time period included being a featured group at the 1949 Dixieland Jubilee concert, and a series of recordings on the Castle Records label that began in 1944. Trumpet player Don Kinch claimed one of these records, "Floating Down the Old Green River" sold more than a million copies. George Bruns left in 1950 to join the Turk Murphy band, and was replaced by initially by George Phillips (who had worked and recorded in the earlier edition of the band), and then by Rod Levitt.