After this second fallout episode, the task force decided ta the attempt to reenter Bikini Lagoon that day. abandon The major units nd those vessels with TG 7.1 and TG 7.5 personnel aboard were sent west Enewetak to offload these people and to prepare for a return to Bikini a the be- ginning of operations afloat there. south of The USS Belle Grove remaine Bikini to reenter the following day if possible. The cloud-tracking aircraft Wilson 2 had begun its flight 2 Ours after detonation and had been scheduled to fly for 3 hours in a racetrack course 50 nmi (93 km) west of Bikini to warn if the fallout was headed $estward. It was then to fly eastward searching for the cloud in a sector Wounded by the bearings 55° to 85° through the burst point. at the Air Operations Control of Bikini for 6 hours. Owing to some (AOC) Center, Wilson 2 was held to donfusion [the west A portion of its flight path is shown in Figure 62 along with the reconstructed fallout at approximately this time. In its entire flight, Wilson 2 recorded only one radiation reading of a icance, and this was at 1550, 150 nmi zero. (278 km) signif- at a 60° bearing fom ground The aircraft flew at 10,000 feet (3.05 km) throughout its Flight. At 1553, the P2V aircraft dispatched to replace the transient] shipping Search P2V aircraft that had been forced to return because of confamination picked up the desired heading to continue the sweep centeredjon the 65° bearing. In attempting to pick up the heading slightly earlidgr, the P2V had encountered radiation at 160 nmi (296 km) bearing 85° from the burst point. search This had forced the P2V to swing east to pick up thd@ vector farther out from ground zero. This plane, based at Kwajaldin, was coming from the south toward the 65° bearing when it encountered the radi- ation. et; 305 These flights were flown at a much lower altitude (1,000 meters) than the Wilson flights. The remainder of the flight was apparently uneventful until th Sighted the USS Patapsco on a course of 30° (Reference 16). plane The P V con- tacted the Patapsco advising an "easterly" course so as to avoid t e 65° bearing. The Patapsco accepted this advice, leaving a course that would 218