PRIVACY ACT MATERIAL REMOVEO

VI

During this mission

for the B-S7A aircraft was APFLE II, fired on 5 May,
the airplane, piloted by

with
observing, was inside the cloud a total of

6 minutes . ?
From these experiences, the Air Force Special Weapons Center
constructed an evaluation of the B-S7A as a sampler,

Hal Plank from

Los Alamos discussed performance of the B-57A airplane with the crews
after each mission,

Following RA Shot

reported that because

—

of the high altitude of the mission, he had to concentrate on flying duties

at all times,

A slipeht error handling the B-57A, for example, caused

a loss of from 500 to 1,000-feetaltitude and he was unable to keep the
miclear cloud in sight while maneuvering the airplane.

Because the cloud

scattered and stratified above 50,000 feet, there was difficulty in
identifying for a sampling run.

. could not help because he was

-

buried back in the fuselage of the airplane and had almost no visible
contact with anything save the radiation instruments.

Most of the samples

collected, therefore, were probably taken in the “radiation flux" area
outside or below the cloud.

On the other hand
"

flying 500 feet above
samples, but

explained that as

«gathered fairly adequate
"a matter of luck" he happened

to get a good view of the cloud just before penetration.

Although both

crews received nearly the same radiation exposure, the latter's sample

was far superior? These discussions indicated that mch of the performance

12h

AFWL/HO

SVEH@}2-003),

4

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