Operation Sunbeam was a series of four nuclear tests conducted at the United States of America's Nevada Test Site in 1962. Operation Sunbeam tested a number of small, "tactical" nuclear warheads. Most notable of these was the Davy Crockett.
The most notable milestone of Operation Sunbeam was that it was the last nuclear test series on the Nevada Test Site conducted in the atmosphere by the United States. Since Operation Sunbeam, specifically the Little Feller 1 test of the Davy Crocket, all US nuclear tests on the Test Site have been carried out underground in accordance with the Partial Test Ban Treaty.
The individual blasts were:
| Name | Date | Size |
|---|---|---|
| LITTLE FELLER II | July 7,1962 | < 20 kilotons |
| JOHNNIE BOY | July 11,1962 | 0.5 kt fission |
| SMALL BOY | July 14,1962 | < 20 kilotons |
| LITTLE FELLER I | July 17,1962 | < 20 kilotons |
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—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“I greet you at the beginning of a great career, which must yet have had a long foreground somewhere, for such a start. I rubbed my eyes a little to see if this sunbeam were no illusion; but the solid sense of the book is a sober certainty. It has the best merits, namely, of fortifying and encouraging.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)