to ninety seconds or less.
78
>
Later in the day the samplers would probably
encounter intensities of five to twenty roentgens per hour, allowing
them to remain in the cloud from thirty to forty minutes,
case the crews received one or two roentgens.
In either
To protect the crews all
sampler aircraft were pressurized, each carrying a special filter which
prevented the entry of radioactive particles into the pressurization sys-
tem.
As a further safeguard should contamination escape this filter,
all crew members were required to breathe one hundred percent oxygen dur~
ing and after sampling.
masks.
In effect, the crew members were wearing gas
Lead vests were furnished to crew members to decrease the amount
of radiation reaching the body's vital organs.
Finally, all aircraft
attract, or act as a collecting agent for radiation.
To avoid picking
up contamination, a platform was constructed and placed on a fork lift
to serve as an elevator for pilots leaving the aircraft. On the B-36's,
crews were given gloves and instructed to use extreme care in exiting
‘through the crew hatches.
The aircraft were then isolated to allow the
radiation to decay for approximately 48 hours.
Next, they were placed
on either the decontamination pad or wash rack and thoroughly washed and
scrubbed with a combination of detergent, kerosene and chemicals.
wards they were given a fresh water rinse.
After-
This process was continued
until the cockpit reading was approximately 25 mr per hour,
No flying
was permitted until the cockpit level was reduced to this figure.
De-
spite the above precautions, crew members frequently had small amounts of
contamination on their clothing and the exposed portions of their body.
These men were processed through the personnel decontamination center,
AFWL/io
6s