CHAPTER XI RADIATION PRECAUTIONS With a universal fear of the unknown dangers of radiation resulting from muclear detonations, officials associated with the tests concentrated on developing handling techniques which would not endanger the lives, well-being, or generic values of those participating, As brought out in earlier chapters, the fear of the effects of the nuclear cloud prevented the use of manned aircraft as samplers during several tests, Following "accidental" penetration of a small segment of an atomic cloud, radiate’officials decided that such penetrations would not necessarily result in a lingering and horrible death, Consequently, a cloud penetration program evolved-which was utilized withapparent safety. Within a few short years, sufficient knowledge had been accumlated “ concerning the awesome contents of a nuclear cloud so that sampling by manned aircraft became nearly as routine as ordinary flight. Colonel Karl H. Houghton, summarized the progress in a memorandum to Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations, on 21 August 1953: "Another point which might be of interestto the listerners is that historically, manned sampling has grown froma random approach at Operation RANGER and GREENHOUSE to one in which sample quantity-quality can be predicted and controlled by time and length of flight, positioning in the cloud, and the extent of radiation exposure allowed the pilot. The true cost of operation is measured in terms of radiation exposure to the pilot. Pilot exposure is the limiting factor on quantity of sample obtained,"= 229 SWEH-2 -003h, g" v AFWU mE ane