Would You Stand Under an Exploding Atomic Bomb?
Would you volunteer to stand beneath an exploding atomic warhead? Probably not. I know that I would not have, but five United States Air Force officers and a photographer did do just that back on July 19, 1957. A small, hand-lettered sign that read “Ground Zero. Population 5.” marked a small patch of desert 65-miles northwest of Las Vegas where those six men stood in anticipation of the event. Were those six men very brave, very foolish, or just plain stupid to do what they did?
- The Countdown at 18,500 Feet.
- Who were those officers and why were they there?
- Why did they want to prove this?
The Countdown at 18,500 Feet.
As those six intrepid souls gazed steadfastly upward, a flight of two F-89 jet fighters roared overhead. One of them fired a missile tipped with a nuclear warhead. The countdown begun as the missile soared upward into the sky above them. Five of them lowered their gaze to protect their eyes from the intense light that they knew were only seconds away, but one of them was wearing dark sunglasses and continue to gaze upward. When the missile reached an altitude of 18,500 feet the 2.5 Kiloton nuclear warhead exploded. A 2.5 Kiloton nuclear warhead had the energy yield of 2,500 tons of dynamite.
Who were those officers and why were they there?
Two colonels, two majors and a fifth officer agreed to stand right below the blast. These were not lowly enlisted men that could have been easily replaced if something went amiss, these were all high ranking officers with years of experience. These were all men that the Air Force would not have allowed to put themselves in harms way, if there had been any chance of something going amiss. Only the cameraman, George Yoshitake, didn't volunteer for the assignment. The actual event was filmed by the U.S. Air Force (at the behest of Col. Arthur B. "Barney" Oldfield, public information officer for the Continental Air Defense Command in Colorado Springs) to demonstrate the relative safety of a low-grade nuclear exchange in the atmosphere.
Why did they want to prove this?
For those of you old enough to remember those days, you will recall that Americans were very concerned, concerned to the point of obsessed, with Russia's growing nuclear and missile capabilities. The American people were obsessed with the concern of nuclear fallout. The objective of the demonstration was to prove that it was relatively safe to use tactical nuclear weapons to counter nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, the general public did not believe the film the military released or the documented reports in the news media so the military lost the argument.