more at http://scitech.quickfound.net "You are there" footage of the "Annie" nuclear test, the first test of Operation Upshot-Knothole, on March 17, 1953. US Army troops observed the blast as part of the Desert Rock V exercise. Annie was a 16 kiloton bomb detonated on top of a 300 foot high tower. It takes about 32 seconds from the flash until the bang. Speed of sound varies with temperature, but you can figure that the microphone and camera were about 6 miles from ground zero. After the blast, the Desert Rock V commanding General arrives by Hiller OH-23 Raven helicopter and makes a statement. also see: Desert Rock Nuclear Tests 1951-1957 US Army Soldiers Observe Atomic Bomb Blasts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nvTd5mNRz0 Public domain film from the US National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied. The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original). http://www.dtra.mil/documents/ntpr/factsheets/Upshot_Knothole.pdf Shot ANNIE, a 300-foot tower detonation, was fired with a yield of 16 kilotons at 5:20 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST) on March 17, 1953, in Area 3 of Yucca Flat. The AEC designated ANNIE an "open shot," which meant that reporters were allowed to view the detonation from News Nob, 12 kilometers south of the shot-tower. In addition, 20 reporters were selected to accompany the troops to the trenches, located 3,200 meters southwest of the tower. Exercise Desert Rock V activities at Shot ANNIE included troop maneuvers, troop orientation and indoctrination, operational helicopter tests, and damage effects evaluation. Of the 1,700 personnel involved in these projects, 1,181 troops, divided into two Battalion Combat Teams (BCTs), participated in the tactical maneuver. Unlike the maneuver troops at other UPSHOT-KNOTHOLE events who were assigned to units all over the United States, the troops at Shot ANNIE had been specifically assigned to provide support at Camp Desert Rock. After the pre-shot orientation and rehearsal, which were conducted before each shot with Desert Rock participation, maneuver troops observed the shot with other observers in the trenches. After the shot, the two BCTs, each preceded by a radiological safety monitor, attacked an objective located about one kilometer west of ground zero. Once they reached their objective, the troops went to the display area and inspected the displays up to the 2.5 roentgen per hour (R/h) radiation intensity line. This line was 460 to 640 meters from ground zero. Besides the tactical maneuver troops, an estimated 505 personnel from various services participated in the orientation and indoctrination program, which consisted of instruction in nuclear weapons, observation of the detonation, and a post-shot tour of the display areas. In addition, approximately 10 Marines and three helicopters from the Helicopter Atomic Test Unit, 2nd Marine Corps Provisional Atomic Exercise Brigade, participated in a test of the effects of overpressure. The helicopters were parked on the side of a hill 17 kilometers from ground zero at the time of the ANNIE detonation. About 45 minutes after the shot, the helicopters airlifted some troops from the trench area to a location two kilometers south of ground zero. The helicopters flew to the decontamination station after the exercise, which was standard procedure in the UPSHOT-KNOTHOLE helicopter tests. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Rock_exercises Desert Rock was the code name of a series of exercises conducted by the US military in conjunction with atmospheric nuclear tests. They were carried out at the Nevada Proving Grounds between 1951 and 1957... Camp Desert Rock was established in 1951, 1.5 miles south of Camp Mercury. The site was used to billet troops and stage equipment. The camp was discontinued as an Army installation in 1964... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Upshot-Knothole Operation Upshot-Knothole was a series of eleven nuclear test shots conducted in 1953 at the Nevada Test Site. It followed Operation Ivy and preceded Operation Castle. Over 21,000 soldiers took part in the ground exercise Desert Rock V in conjunction with the Grable shot. Grable was a 280mm shell fired from the "Atomic Cannon" and was viewed by a number of high-ranking military officials. The test series was notable as containing the first time an atomic artillery shell was fired (shot Grable), the first two shots (both fizzles) by University of California Radiation Laboratory—Livermore (now Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), and for testing out some of the thermonuclear components that would be used for the massive thermonuclear series of Operation Castle...

• published: 01 Nov 2013
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