Mk.8 Light Case (L.C. or Elsie or Little Child) (TX 8)
The Mk-8 was a derivative of the earlier “Little Boy” gravity bomb. On February 15, 1951 authorization was given by the AEC to develop the XW-8/Regulus warhead. Only one flight test was conducted, and the warhead work was suspended in May 1955, when the Navy decided to investigate thermonuclear warheads for Regulus.
The bomb contained the same gun-type fuse as the Mark 1 "Little Boy," in which two subcritical masses (each less than what is required to cause a chain reaction) of nuclear material are placed at opposite ends of a long tube. To trigger detonation, an explosive charge at one end of the tube propels one of the nuclear masses down the pipe into the other subcritical mass, hence creating a supercritical mass (a quantity sufficient to cause a nuclear chain reaction) and resulting in a massive release of energy. This type of trigger makes for a simpler and more reliable type of bomb.
China Lake did not work on nuclear warheads, but supported a number of special weapon programs during the 1950s, when the military's focus was largely on nuclear weapons, with safety evaluations, component and shape testing, and component development. China Lake redesigned the Elsie (TX 8/TX 11) penetrator weapon.
The AD-4B was the first Navy fighter/attack aircraft with the low altitude bombing LABS system with wiring and controls for fuzing and arming. The center line rack that could carry the 1680 pound MK-7. Also carried was the Navy developed 3,250 pound MK-8 with delayed action detonation instead of the air burst of earlier weapons, to attack underground facilities.
According to one source, the Mark 8, an early penetration bomb, could penetrate 22 feet of reinforced concrete, 90 feet of hard sand, 120 feet of clay, or 5 inches of armor plate before detonating. ["Weapon Design - We’ve Done a Lot but We Can’t Say Much," by Carson Mark, Raymond E. Hunter, and Jacob J. Wechsler LOS ALAMOS SCIENCE Winter/Spring 1983]. According to another source, the Mk-8 could penetrate up to 40 ft of sand, 60 ft of loam and 100 ft of clay [US Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History by Chuck Hansen, Orion, 1988, p. 139-141].
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