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." | | 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 AFWL/HU S*SH=-2-003h yy