storage for subsequent use during CASTLE. Equipment and supplies not needed for CASTLE were to be disposed of.’ All these preliminary plans were partially changed by the schedul- ing of Operation UPSHOT/KNOTHOLE, the continental nuclear tests held in Nevada in March-June 1953. needed for CASTLE. This operation required many personnel In planning for the Nevada tests it was learned that much of the necessary construction and instrumentation for CASTLE could not be accomplished until the results of UPSHOT/KNOTHOLE were known. In view of this information, Major General John S. Mills, Commander, AFSWC, notified Major General Percy W,. Clarkson, Commander, Joint Task Force SEVEN on 9 January 1953 that, since the operational phase of CASTLE ; would not take place until the spring of 1953, he would not maintain the Air Task Group at full strength. Instead, he planned to integrate the Air Task Group staff into the AFSWC staff, where some of them would par- ticipate in UPSHOT/KNOTHOLE. . . Following UPSHOT/ENOTHOLE, the next earliest readiness date for CASTLE would have fallen during the typhoon season in November 1953 - January 1954. To avoid typhoon dangers and to insure the best possible weather conditions, all parties concerned had agreed that the spring of 1954 was the best possible period for CASTLE. The new overseas "in- place" date for the Air Task Group and its subordinate units was finally set for 15 January 1954. Although activated in January 1953, the Air Task Group was not manned wmtil 15 July of that year. On 13 February, ARDC General Order No. 19 redesignated the Air Task Group (Task Group 132.4) as Task Group 7.4. aPW/HC /6