-3EPG from 1 July thru 1 Sept. "This is the first time in the history of nuclear
weapons testing that a military person had been placed in a position of immediate
command or direction of all scientific activities, including those of the AEC
laboratories."
The person in this job was Colonel Ernest A. Pinson of the Air
Force.
Note that Colonel Coleman, Head of Task Unit 7.1.3 was permanently transferred
on 20 Dec. 58, and was not around to assist the Task Force during the moratorium,
Of some interest are some specific communications recorded between the
WET Technical Director and the Technical Director of AFSWP in Washington on 16
Dec. 58.
The latter individual was Frank Shelton and it was suggested to him
by the Field Command man "that high altitude shots over J.1. may be fired at any
altitude without fear of eye-burns in the Hawaiian Island or elsewhere at
similar distances.
This suggestion derives from the probable fact that when
devices are fired at altitudes above 100 kilometers, the deposition of x-ray
energy
in the very thin atmosphere may not produce a fireball sufficiently hot
to burn the retina of the eye.
In this situation, the heated core material can
be "seen" and is very hot but at distances of over 300 hundred miles, the image
size of the hot core material on the retina will be small enough so as not to
produce a burn within the blink reflex time."
Note that 7.1.3 offices on J.1. supporting Teak and Orange were closed on
23 Aug. 58.
Of interest is that Field Command reported excellent or good to excellent
results on both Teak and Orange events as far as technical coverage.