The operational plan for this project involved the participation of
three modified RB-50E aircraft. The airplanes, alr crews and ground
maintenance echefon were furnished by the 6007th Reconnaissance Group,
Far East Air Forces. The planes were equipped with identical camera
assemblies on A28 gyro-stabilized mounts located in the aft section of the
aircraft,
.
Each mount held an EG&G 70-mm cloud camera, an Eclair 35-mm
motion picture camera (shooting one frame every 15 sec), and a GSAP
16-mm motion picture camera loaded with 50 ft of color film. The three
aircraft were positioned in the east, west, and south quadrants, respectively,
at ranges of 70 nautical miles from GZ on all shots predicted within the
Kiloton range, and 110 nautical miles for the megaton shots. Starting altitudes at zero time were established at 20,000 ft for all three aircraft. On
missions where natural cloud obscuration was encountered, altitudes were
altered to 30,000 ft.
Processing of the cloud-survey negatives and final analysis of the
photogrammetric data are the responsibility of EG&G. As of this date,
pre-preliminary results have been submitted on only four events; however,
¢
the Program Director has been advised that analysis is proceeding satisfactorily, and it is anticipated that final results will exceed the Castle experiments, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
In addition to supporting Project 9.1, the three aircraft were equipped
for vertical photography. Controlled mosaics were made for a number of
shots in support of Project 1.8, Crater Survey.
Requirements were generated in the field for vertical photography ‘of
Eniwetok and Bikini Atolls. These were for low-altitude uncontrolled
mosaics and proved to be of value to planning operations. As a result of
these surveys, other outlying atolls were photographed for current and
future planning purposes.
2.2
2.2.1
TASK UNIT 1, LASL PROGRAMS
Introduction
Task Unit 1 carried out experiments to determine the performance of
the devices fired; to measure physical quantities of interest {n weapon
design; and to understand the mechanisms by which the various effects of
the devices are produced,
For further information on thedetails of the
measurements or the analysis of the data, reference should be made to the
Redwing preliminary reports or té6 the individual project pre-operational and
final reports.
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