PRIVACY ACT MATERIAL REMOVES
VI
advantage of the B-57A was lost because of its poor visibility,
7
meanwhile, received orders to return to Kirtland,
The
Center had borrowed a "B" model of the B-57 and he along with Dr. Plank,
as a passenger in the rear position, spent part of one afternoon "wringing
out" the airplane,
The "BY had several improvements over the "A" model but
specifically a redesigned canopy which was similar to that of a T-33 jet
trainer, affording unobstructed view for both crew members.
With this
canopy the pilot could maneuver at high altitudes while the radiation
observer kept an eye on thenuclear eloud,!°
Much of the sampling for TEAPOT had become fairly routine; however,
occasionally the pilots of the 926th Test Squadron (Sampling) reported
minor malfunctions of equipment during a mission.
On the fifth detonation,
HORNET Shot, things were somewhat enlivened when F-8l pilots, maneuvering
for a pass at the cloud, suddenly discovered two “extraneous F-8type
planes" coming toward them,
They abandoned the pass, momentarily, to
evade the unauthorized visitors.
During WASP PRIME Shot, the B-50 sampler control aircraft remained
in the air over five hours, Earlier in the morning APPLE I had fired
and the controller did not land until after completing both missions,
For the firsttime, sampler pilots had to fly two missions in one morning:
after APPIE they landed, filter papers were replaced and they were off to
sample WASP prime, *?
During Operation TEAPOT, the Air Force Special Weapons Center carried
off experiments of its own.
A project, called "Contact Radiation Hazard
Associated with Contaminated Aircraft," had as one of its goals a survey
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SWEH-2-003h,
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