III
Unloading the F-8LG aircraft from the USS Rendova posed further
problems.
Because the water in the Kwajalein lagoon was not deep
enough to allow the ship to tie up to the plier, the aircraft were
moved to a barge.
Unloading was complicated in that the aircraft
were lifted off the decks of the carrier by the ship's crane and
lowered over the side,
With two aircraft, the barge moved to the
beach where a Grane then lifted them to the beach,
yards away was the taxi strip.
Two hundred
After tugs parked the aircraft,
maintenance crewsofthe unit began preparing the aircraft and
within two days of beingset ashore, they were checked over and test
15
a
flown,
Sampling Operation IVY Shots
The pilots of the sampling unit made familiarizatio flights and
rehearsals over the Pacific Test Site while waiting.
It was soon
discovered that clouds and rain might cause them to land at Eniwetok,
During the actual sampling mission the aircraft would have landed at
Eniwetok if Kwajalein was having rain because the water destroyed
the filter papers,
MIKE Shot.
16
The first thermomeclear device ever fired, occurred
on the morning of 1 November 1952.
Two F-8hG aircraft "sniffers"
climbed to 0,000 feet altitude and met the primary B-29 control
aircraft about 50 miles southeast of ground zero, ten minutes before
the event.
They refueled and proceeded under control of the B-29
69
APWL/HC
SWEH-2 -003;
ut