Standing Under an Atomic Bomb Blast

[TheCommandTent]

Fifty-five years ago today, five Army officers and a photographer stood directly under a 2-kiloton atomic blast at the Nevada Test Site, about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, and survived.

The five officers, who volunteered for the duty, and the cameraman, who did not, designated the July 19, 1957, test site with a hand-lettered sign as "Ground Zero, Population 5," KPLU, a Seattle/Tacoma-based NPR station, said in a story marking the 55th anniversary of the blast.

The intent of the Cold War test was to film the officers surviving the blast and convince U.S. military leaders of the time that using low-grade nuclear missiles in the air would be relatively safe for people on the ground, KPLU reported.

A movie, obtained from government archives by AtomCentral.com, shows two F-89 jets zooming into view and one shooting off the missile carrying the atomic warhead. The officers are shown waiting during a countdown for the missile to detonate 18,500 feet above them. One officer, wearing sunglasses, looks up as the warhead explodes, at first in silence, followed by a roar, after which the sky goes black and the air turns to fire.

This is crazy.  I had no idea anything like this happened. 

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/19/12834002-55-years-ago-6-stood-under-atomic-bomb-blast-on-purpose?lite

Make sure and watch the video.

[Barthheart]

 :o :o :o :o

[Staggerwing]

Early on in the 50's the DoD (DoW then?) had entire infantry units out in the open during tests to see what would happen. And these were not at 18 thousand feet up but fixed above ground tests. The public was not made aware of this until sometime in the last 20 years.

[besilarius]

There is an old Hollywood chestnut that an atomic bomb blast contributed to John Wayne's death.
For his movie, the Barbarian, in which he plays Genghis Khan, to get things right, the studio dug up a ton of dirt from Nevada for the studio scenes.
What no one recognized was that they got the dirt from a bomb explosion site.
When this came out after his death, people assumed the dirt was radioactive and killed him over time.
Course, it took about twenty years, so this seems like a real stretch.

[LongBlade]

There is an old Hollywood chestnut that an atomic bomb blast contributed to John Wayne's death.
For his movie, the Barbarian, in which he plays Genghis Khan, to get things right, the studio dug up a ton of dirt from Nevada for the studio scenes.
What no one recognized was that they got the dirt from a bomb explosion site.
When this came out after his death, people assumed the dirt was radioactive and killed him over time.
Course, it took about twenty years, so this seems like a real stretch.

Yeah, like the smoking didn't have anything to do with it either.

A radioactive dirt bath probably didn't help, though.

[bayonetbrant]

Early on in the 50's the DoD (DoW then?)

It was DoD.  DoW and DoN were combined in 1948.

[eyebiter]

Back in the 50's western movies would film down wind of the Nevada test site.  Who knows how much fallout they were exposed to. The above ground test times were usually published in the local paper so people could picnic and watch the atomic tests.

[eyebiter]

double post

[GDS_Starfury]

IIRC there was at least a platoon on troops that were given LSD during one of those tests.
the bomb went off and they were told to charge towards the mushroom cloud.
urban legend... maybe.  with everything else our government has done... most probably.
what a bad frakkin trip that would have been.

[eyebiter]

The soldiers walk toward the atomic bomb footage

"Operation Tumbler-Snapper was a series of atomic tests conducted by the United States in the spring of 1952 at the Nevada Test Site."

The blast is at 2:50 and the troops get out of their foxholes and start walking at 3:30. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ0WQcXSAbY

[TheCommandTent]

Knowing what we know now its crazy watching those videos.

[Shelldrake]

Sometimes DOD wanted to use other friendly nation's troops as guinea pigs!

Previously top secret documents have shown that even as the world was outlawing chemical weapons at the height of the Cold War, Washington sought Canberra's permission to test sarin and VX gas on diggers in remote Queensland.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10520276