of flying our aircraft frequently."
General Estes was receiving the
_same weather briefings as General Clarkson,
If the weather looked
favorable for D and D + 1, General Estes instructed his aircraft to stay
on the ground,
If weather looked unfavorable for these two days, then
Air Task Croup commander assumed he was in D -3 day and instructed his
commanders to fly their airplanes.
In effect, General Ustes was gambling
that when the weather people believed a 48-hour delay in shooting was
necessary, there was,
in fact,
at least 60 hours before the next shot.
This allowed the aircrews necessary flight time to avoid many of the
maintenance troubles.
However, if an unforecast change in the weather
caused the test directorsto decide to fire a shot, General Estes admitted
that he would be in "somewhat awkward situation." However, he added,
"So far my guesses have been corréct but the possibility of a miss always
exists, . . In my estimation this is a risk which mst be accerted if we
are to be certain of having the truly critical aircraft in a position
to complete the desired missions."
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General Sstes found that the B-36 sampler aircraft were in critical
demand,
Scientists were willing to fire a shot without F-81G samplers but
not if the 8-36 high altitude samplers could not perform their missions,
The RB-36 control aircraft was also vital in that the F-8G samrlers
could notoperate without it.
Therefore, to meet these conditions,
General Estes established a priority system for maintenance,
First
priority went to the two B-36 samplers and the RB~36 control aircraft, then
F-8LG samplers were second, along with the weather, rescue, the photographic
107
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