Lesson plan

W59

The W59 was an American thermonuclear warhead used on some Minuteman I ICBM missiles from 1962 to 1969, and planned to be used on the cancelled GAM-87 Skybolt air-launched ballistic missile. A British development of the system using a new primary became the WE.177, which was widely deployed as an air-dropped weapon into the 1990s.

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Article summary

The W59 was an American thermonuclear warhead used on some Minuteman I ICBM missiles from 1962 to 1969, and planned to be used on the cancelled GAM-87 Skybolt air-launched ballistic missile. A British development of the system using a new primary became the WE.177, which was widely deployed as an air-dropped weapon into the 1990s.

Key claims

  1. release date: 1961 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the release date is "1961". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1371117091

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.