their mission and get back to base.-°
When the aircraft landed at Eniwetok, special crews of the 926th
Test Squadron removed the filter papers, installed them in lead containers,
and placed them aboard long-range transport aircraft for the flight to the
United States,

The gas samples were transported to Perry Island,

27

Later

on the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory reported that these samples
collected from BRAVO were the best taken from any detonation in the
Pacific ,-°

-

-

The second shot, ROMEO, was postponed 17 times.

This caused some

trouble and changes in plansforthe Test Aircraft Unit of Task Group 7.4,
and others .-”

As delays piled up, General Estes informed General Mills

that Task Group 7. might be overseas for a long time.

"If we wait for the

ideal winds desired," General Estes wrote, "we will have to wait for a
typhoon and a fire on the back side of it.

Seems to be only one typhoon

comes every four years, so this may be a long TDY." 30
Problems caused by the delays were serious, however,

While waiting

for the shots to be fired, aircraft suffered from drying up of seals
in hydraulic lines, corrosion of metal surfaces, valves which stuck, and
moisture corrosion of electrical surfaces,
troubles was to fly them,

One way to prevent these

The Air Task Group "exercised" its aircraft

and on one occasien it was discovered that two B-36 aircraft could not
retract landing gears, while a number of F-8,G aircraft wouldnot feed
fuel from their tip and pylon tanks because of stuck valves, To counteract
the deterioratiam resulting from such idleness, General Estes reported
to General Clarkson, task force commander, ", , , I am taking the risk

106

AFWi/do

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