{"id":4869,"canonical_url":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/events/1956ce-may-21--4869","name":"1956 CE, May 21","year":1956,"era":"CE","month":5,"day":21,"url":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/events/1956ce-may-21--4869","iso-date":"1956-05-21","precision":"year-month-day","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe United States Air Force detonated the first airborne hydrogen bomb on May 21, 1956. The test, codenamed \"Shot Cherokee,\" was part of Operation Redwing. The bomb was dropped from a Boeing RB-52B Stratofortress named Barbara Grace, assigned to the 4925th Test Group (Atomic).\u0026nbsp;\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","additional_details":"\u003cp\u003eThe thermonuclear bomb weighing 6,867 pounds.bomb was released from an altitude of 50,000 feet. Due to a target misidentification, the crew missed the designated aim point by about 4 miles.\u003c/p\u003e","photo":"https://k365fs.imgix.net/ZW1GT3JsRPqvx2HCczCR_RedwingCherokee%20-%20First%20Air%20dropped%20Hydrogen%20Bomb.gif?auto=format,compress\u0026fit=clip\u0026max-w=1600","photo_width":330,"photo_height":172,"created_at":"2026-05-21T13:54:20-07:00","updated_at":"2026-05-21T14:06:20-07:00","breadcrumbs":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"May History","item":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/may"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"May 21","item":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/may-21"}]},"schema":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Thing","@id":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/events/1956ce-may-21--4869#eventK365","name":"1956 CE, May 21","headline":"The United States Air Force detonated the first airborne hydrogen bomb on May 21, 1956 - 1956 CE","description":"The United States Air Force detonated the first airborne hydrogen bomb on May 21, 1956. The test, codenamed \"Shot Cherokee,\" was part of Operation Redwing....","url":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/events/1956ce-may-21--4869","additionalType":"HistoricalEvent","inLanguage":"en","datePublished":"2026-05-21T13:54:20-07:00","dateModified":"2026-05-21T14:06:20-07:00","publisher":{"@id":"https://www.kudos365.com/#organizationK365"},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://k365fs.imgix.net/ZW1GT3JsRPqvx2HCczCR_RedwingCherokee%20-%20First%20Air%20dropped%20Hydrogen%20Bomb.gif?auto=format,compress\u0026fit=clip\u0026max-w=1600","width":330,"height":172},"temporalCoverage":"1956-05-21","isPartOf":[{"@id":"https://www.kudos365.com/#websiteK365"},{"@type":"CollectionPage","@id":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/may","name":"What Happened in May History"},{"@type":"CollectionPage","@id":"https://www.kudos365.com/today-in-history/may-21#pageK365","name":"What Happened on May 21"}]}}