Museum Donation Fuels Bomb Squad Response and 'Rocket Man' Banter

Bellevue, Washington The Bellevue Police Department received a concerning call from the Air Force museum in Dayton, Ohio who reported that they received a call from a man looking to donate a Cold War era rocket to the museum.

Police tracked down the man who made the call and discovered that he purchased the item from an estate sale of deceased man. Police were dispatched to investigate the item along with members of the local bomb squad.

The bomb squad technicians identified the rusted item as a Douglas AIR-2 Genie, an unguided air-to-air rocket designed to carry a 1.5kt W25 nuclear warhead. However, due to the lack of warhead and rocket fuel, the item was classified as inert. Bellevue Police Department spokesman Seth Tyler quipped that the rocket was essentially a "gas tank for rocket fuel."

Because the item was inert and the military did not request it back, police left the item with the neighbor to be restored for display in a museum.

Following the incident, Bellevue Police humorously noted on social media, "And we think it's gonna be a long, long time before we get another call like this again," referencing Elton John's Rocket Man.