i | The mission of this aircraft was to aid in the investigation of ioniza- tion and associated effects in the high atmosphere caused by a large nuclear detonation at altitudes over 100,000 feet. It took vertical sounding meas- urements on the Lonospheric layers after the high altitude detonations gathering data on radio wave absorption and on the physics of the high atmosphere, See Figure 11 for statistics on the flying activities of this aircraft Quite late in the operation, the School of Aviation Medicine decided that its studies of retinal damage to the eye caused by exposure to high altitude nuclear detonations needed airborne stations, These stations were deemed nscessary to minimize cloud cover between shipborne stations and the detonation, MATS was required to furnish a C-97 aircraft to carry rabbits above cloud cover and to place them at a distance of 300 miles horizontal range from the detonation, It flew 6sorties on practices and rehearsals and participated in both of the NEWSREEL shots. It flew a total of 39 hours during its participation in HARDTACK, Project 6.13 furnished two (2) WV2 aircraft to the NEWSREEL Events to study the effects of the high altitude detonations on its air search radar equipment, These aircraft staged their missions from Barber's Point NAS and participated only in the NEWSREEL Events. They similated barrier patrol missions at a distance of 200 miles horizontal range fromthe detonations, positioning themselves with their own airborne navigational equipment. They fle« 7 practice missions and participated in both NEWSREEL Events flying a total of 103 hours, To aid in their studies of methods of detection of high altitude AFWUHO : ah o————-3