01:14Nevada, USA.
01:19This is the valley where the giant mushrooms grow.
01:22More atomic bombs have been exploded on these few hundred square miles of desert than on any other spot on
01:29the globe.
01:29Little bombs.
01:39Big bombs.
01:49Low bursts.
01:56And high bursts.
01:58Big bombs.
02:04Within the last two years, 20 of these colossal blasts have echoed across the great barren stretches of the southwest.
02:11This testing ground in our own backyard, just an aerial stone's throw from the Los Alamos laboratory,
02:19has been used only for experimental devices below certain power levels.
02:24Even so, it has been hugely valuable.
02:26It would have cost months of precious time and millions of dollars more to do this testing at the Pacific
02:33Proving Ground on Eniwetok Atoll.
02:37Interwoven throughout the story of the Nevada tests is a second story.
02:41The story of the part played by the United States Air Force, operating here under the command of Major General
02:48John S. Mills,
02:49responsible for Air Force participation in the nuclear weapons program.
02:55With this help, the help of Air Force personnel, equipment, and veteran know-how, the tests afforded much earlier completion
03:03dates than would have otherwise been practical,
03:06yielding information vital to the big picture national defense.
03:12Of the 20 bombs that were detonated, 14 had to be aerial drops, pinpointed with unerring accuracy to meet the
03:19requirements of atomic scientists.
03:23But the delivery of the A-bomb is only one phase of Air Force support of the Atomic Energy Commission's
03:29test program.
03:31As shock day approaches, a steady flow of information comes into Weather Central at the AEC's control point.
03:38Weather conditions must be right for test purposes and air operations, and from the standpoint of safety, the priority watchword
03:46of the whole program.
03:53The next day, after zero hour, we see the reason for this concentration on the weather jar.
03:58We see its relation to the huge fact which remains after every nuclear detonation, the atomic cloud, the towering, angry
04:06ghost of the fireball.
04:09The payoff is knowledge of wind speeds and wind directions.
04:24After the explosion, Air Force helicopters survey and monitor the acres of blast area with sensitive radiation counters.
04:45Charting super hot areas, probing for usable approach lanes for bomb damage assessment teams.
04:53Another phase of the test program is called cloud sampling, the job of gathering specimens
04:59of the radioactive particles inside the swirling atomic cloud. This is necessary for scientists
05:05to analyze accurately what happened during the explosion.
05:12The sniffers, which gather samples, are ingeniously designed filter traps mounted on the wings
05:18and fuselage of the collecting aircraft. The sampler crews do a job considered impossibly
05:25dangerous a few years ago. Since then, advanced techniques make it possible for these trained
05:30crews to fly through the cloud without harm, even to stay inside of it for a while, if they
05:37observe the precautions taught by experience.
05:50In addition to the cloud samplers, as many as 40 other aircraft are aloft to handle special
05:56assignments each time an atomic test shot is fired.
06:02There are observation crews with ultra-modern cameras, other crews operating complex electronic
06:08recording devices, and of great importance, the men in the cloud tracking aircraft, which
06:16will follow the cloud hour after hour as it is carried cross-country by the wind, checking
06:22its spread, reporting every phase of its movements to a radiological control center. With this
06:28information, commercial airliners can be warned of the cloud path, and Air Weather Service can
06:34further refine its weather forecasting techniques. Any aircraft that has been used for cloud sampling
06:43or cloud tracking operations will carry traces of radiological contamination. The Air Force has only
06:50recently developed a method of washing contaminated planes which makes them safe and ready for service
06:56within 24 hours. Part of the benefit the Air Force gains from its cooperation in the atomic energy program
07:03is in the form of questions answered. What will be the effect of brilliant atomic light on the eyes of
07:10aircraft
07:10aircraft crews? To find out, flight surgeon volunteers sat before optical instruments in a flying laboratory
07:17to test their visual reactions to the actual flare of an atomic burst.
07:27The result? Not one of these volunteers suffered any permanent eye damage. Thus, these flash blindness tests
07:34established reliable standards for protection against such intense light, which information
07:39was immediately passed on to the thoroughly interested civilian agencies.
07:46Now, another thing the Air Force needs to know. What are the effects of atomic blasts on its prime tools,
07:53aircraft?
07:54So, a number of aircraft, some obsolete and some latest models, were placed at various angles to the blast,
08:01because we must learn how to protect our own fighters and bombers, as well as how much damage
08:07we can do to the best of the enemy's aircraft.
08:12With the test setup completed, we move back and wait through the tense moments while the bomb falls.
08:21As it explodes, a hundred high-speed cameras and a thousand instruments record new evidence of the
08:28enormous destructiveness of the atom bomb.
08:42Later, we come back and study the results in detail, looking for the answers. Have fighters built to stand
08:49greater stresses than bombers sustained less damage? Have the ruggedly constructed jet planes fared better than
08:56the conventional aircraft? And the answers are here, in some lightly damaged aircraft and in other scorched and twisted wreckage.
09:10From these findings, the Air Force adds new pages to its understanding and its mastery of atomic warping.
09:36On the eve of a bombing run, an actual test drop, the air weather officer meets with top authorities for
09:42a
09:42final briefing. All groups concurring, the decision is made, as here, by Dr. Alvin Graves, scientific test
09:50director, and by Mr. Carroll Tyler, test manager for the Atomic Energy Commission.
09:56Well, Carroll, I think we should go ahead.
09:58Okay, Al, we have a shot.
10:02The standby period is over. The scores of activities that go into an atomic strike begin to mesh together.
10:09Aircraft crews get their final briefing. I am confident that you will execute this mission successfully.
10:17Now, let's go and have a good mission.
10:21Out on the flight line, the drop aircraft is wheeled into position for loading.
10:25An intricate job with no room for fumbling.
10:37This is no simulated mission. This is no dry run. This is the real thing.
11:01With an atomic bomb loaded in the bomb bay, the strike is launched.
11:05Rosebud, code name for this B-50 drop aircraft, is in the air.
11:10Three men in this plane especially share the heavy responsibility. The pilot,
11:17the radar navigator, and the bombardier.
11:23Once cleared from the base area, Rosebud climbs toward operational altitude.
11:29At the AEC control point, the progress of Rosebud, mile after mile,
11:35is charted carefully and matched against its predicted course.
11:39The test authorities stand by for any emergency decisions that may be needed.
11:49Rosebud is at bombing altitude, swinging in on the final bomb run.
11:58In five seconds, four, three, two, one, turn.
12:10Okay, bombardier, open the bomb bay doors.
12:17Give me a level.
12:25Level. Level, level, level.
12:27And now, as the final seconds tick away, the bombardier becomes the most important man in the drop plane.
12:34The target he must hit is six miles below.
12:39These nuclear tests demand that the bomb be released within a timing tolerance of plus or minus two seconds.
12:47The bomb must fall within a scant 100 yards of dead center.
12:53Teamwork, precision, experience, all raised to the nth degree.
13:24Monkinyi!
13:35Oh, my God.
13:59So, this is what happens in the valley where the giant mushrooms grow. This, within security limits, is the part
14:07played by the United States Air Force in the Atomic Energy Commission's Continental Test Program. Target, Nevada.
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