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CHAPTER VII
AIR OPERATIONS ON TEST DAYS
2e
"X" DAY OPERATIONS
H-hour for the first atomic weapon test conducted by Joint Task
Force SEVEN was set at 0617 hours on 15 April 1948.
At the weather
briefing on 12 April, the forecast weather was considered satisfac~
tory for the requirements of the scientists, the air operations,
radiological safety and other operating agencies.
There was the pos-
sibility of precipitation causing a heavy "rain out" of radioactive
particles from the atomic cloud, but the winds were such that the
path of the cloud would not cross inhabited areas.
At the subsequent
weather briefings no major change was predicted and at the final brief-
ing at OS, 15 April, the final decision to go ahead with the test
was given by Seneral zw.
The "prattice day" operation on 8 April had revealed no major difficulties as far as air operations were concerned.
Drone aircraft had
been landed at Eniwetok the day before and were satisfactorily taken
off from there during the early morning hours ‘of "P" day.
All aircraft
had successfully completed their simulated missions for "X" day and had .
returned to their bases without major difficulty.
By 1h April, all aircraft had been thoroughly checked and every~
thing was in a state of readiness for the next day's mission.
The drone
aircraft were manually flown from their base at Kwajalein on 1); April and
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_ Peetdon YITT
PRIVACYACT MATERIAL REMOVED it