An inert, rusting rocket that once could have carried a nuclear warhead was discovered in the cluttered garage of a recently deceased Washington homeowner.
The local police bomb squad made an emergency visit last Thursday following the discovery of a military rocket. It was soon determined that the missile debris was inert and posed no danger to the surrounding area.
According to Bellevue police, a neighbor of the deceased homeowner told police that the deceased man originally purchased the unusable equipment at a property sale. said in a news release.
Police said the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Ohio contacted them about the rocket last Wednesday after a neighbor offered to donate it.
Law enforcement officials determined the chunk of metal was a Douglas AIR-2 Genie, an unguided air-to-air rocket designed to carry a 1.5-kiloton W25 warhead dating back to the Cold War.
“Bomb squad members determined the object was inert and did not contain rocket fuel, meaning it was a man-made object with no explosive risk,” Bellevue police said in a statement. Ta.
Because the missile was no longer in use and the military had no interest in acquiring it, the historical piece was left with a neighbor who plans to restore it for display in a museum, officials said.
According to the Air Force Museum, the Douglas AIR-2 Genie was first tested in 1956 and entered service early the following year.
In July 1957, the Genie was launched from a fighter plane from 18,000 feet over Yucca Flats, Nevada and exploded. This was the first and only experiment of its kind by the United States.
This rare artifact shocked local police in Bellevue, a West Coast city of about 150,000 people, who made the following decision: Share photos of strange finds on social media.
“It will likely be a very long time before we receive another call like this,” the station tweeted in reference to Elton John’s hit single “Rocketman.”
