CHAPTER IV SAMPLING OPERATION UPSHOT/KNOTHOLE Late in 1951, the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project recommended a series of mclear tests to be conducted at the Nevada Test Site to - determine the effects of nuclear detonations on military equipment and some types of structures, This series of tests, called KNOTHOLE, was approved by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in December 1951, and scheduled for April 1953, While Operation TUMBLER/SNAPPER was being conducted, the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory proposed a development test: operation, Operation UPSHOT, to be conducted in Nevada in the fall of 1952, These tests received approval also and became combined with the KNOTHOLE tests » but delayed until 1953. Intensive planning for Operation UPSHOT/KNOTHOLE was under way by December 1952, as soon as Operation Ivy ended inthe Pacific. ‘ Sampling Planning Colonel Daniel E. Hooks, Chief of Staff at the Air Force Special Weapons Center, wrote the commander of the 925th Test Group (Atomic , outlining functions which would be required during the test series. Among these duties were provisions for sampling aircraft, control aircraft, and crews ? in all about nine sampling aircraft,- In return, Colmel Osmond J. Ritland, commanding the test group, asked that nine F-8hG aircraft, modified for cloud sampling, be assigned to his group, In addition, Colonel Ritland asked for one T-33 aircraft with which to train personnel in sampling techniques. 80 sewiva The 925th also needed 18 qualified SWEH-2-003; qQ% smh ,@s