wa
damage resulted.
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At the time the drone was immediately over Zero-
point a picture was taken of the explosion, this accomplishing the
only vertical photograph of the operation.
The shockwave striking
the aircraft, following the simulated dropping of the bomb, was of such
force that the "beeper" pilot had some difficulty in controlling the
drone and, as a result, Colonel Sq recommended to the Commander,
Air Forces, that the drone be directed to land immediately rather than
attempt to penetrate the cloud to secure air samples.
By so doing,
he assured the return of the vertical photograph, which would have
been destroyed had the drone been directed through the atomic cloud,
and the valuable blast data which had been secured was not subjected to
further danger.
The loss of air samples at the 20,000 root altitude,
and the ‘rdilure to receive air samples at the 30,000 feet altitude was
compensated for by the excellent vertical photographs of the explosion,
the shock wave date, and the knowledge that an aircraft could have
actually dropped this atomic weapon.
The drone at 20,000 feet was
selected for this purpose because on the X-day test there had been a shear
effect in the atomic cloud at that altitude, and as‘a result the drone
made only two penetrations of the atomic cloud, and the air samples
were correspondingly weaker.
The shear effect in the cloud on "Y" day
was not as pronounced as it had been on "X" day, but it did not occur,
however, at approximately 20,000 feet.
An alternate plan had been
developed for employment in the event of heavy cloud interference at
Section VIII
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it