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considerable discussion as to the altitude at which this "shear effect"
would take place in the atomic cloud.
The plan provided for three pene-
trations of the cloud, but there was a general understanding that, should
*his break in the cloud appear, the pilots would attempt to direct the
drone aircraft through any remains of the cloud.
If there was no visible
evidence of the cloud, the pilots would then call General > for
further instructions as to their procedure.
In conclusion, it can be stated that the drone aircraft collected
air samples from the atomic cloud in a manner which met the requirements
of the scientists.
Five drones made three penetrations each at their
assigned altitudes, and. two drones made two penetrations each.
The
weakest sample collected on this first test was stronger than the strongest sample collected on Operation CROSSROADS.
Helicopter operations on the first test day were conducted as out-
lined in Annex H to Commander, Task Group 7.3, Operations Plan No. 1-},8,
Change No. 5.
The officer in charge » Helicopter Department, based on
the CVE (USS BAIROKO), reported to the Commander, Air Forces, as required
on 13 April 1948 at 0001 hours, and operations were carried out as planned by Task Group 7.3.
Helicopter operations which contemplated the pick-
up of samples from buoys in the lagoon were wnsuccessful because the blast
effect had either completely blown the samples away or had destroyed the
pick-up device to such an extent tmt recovery of the samples by the
aircraft was impossible.
Many of the carbon samples on the ground neu-
tron cable were no longer attached to the cable after H-hour.
Section VIIT
There
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