Atomic Test Film: "Operation Teapot " pt1-3 1955 USAF
more at
http://scitech.quickfound.net/
Public domain film from the
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 equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).
Split with MKVmerge
GUI (part of MKVToolNix), the same software can recombine the downloaded parts (in mp4 format): http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/doc/mkvmerge-gui
.html
part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BUJ4qralls
part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OowxC32bebU
also see "
Operation Cue"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG9X3gmPIGA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Teapot
Operation Teapot was a series of fourteen nuclear test explosions conducted at the
Nevada Test Site in the first half of
1955.
During shot "
Wasp", ground forces took part in
Exercise Desert Rock VI which included an armored task force "
Razor" moving to within 900 meters of ground zero, under the still-forming mushroom cloud.
The
Civil Defense "
Apple-2" shot on 5 May 1955 was intended to test various building construction types (nicknamed as "
Survival Town") in a nuclear blast. A few of the buildings still stand at
Area 1, Nevada Test Site. A documentary film was produced showing the buildings being damaged by the blast; in the film, the test is called "Operation Cue".
Stock footage from the nuclear test was used in the
1983 TV movie The Day After during the explosion sequence.
A retrospective documentary film known as The "
Survival Town" Atom Test recorded the nuclear detonation effects of the test.
An augmented test unit from the
United States Marine Corps participated in
Shot "Bee" during the
March 1955 exercises.
The notable
MET (
Military Effects Test, shown in all images at right) was the first bomb core to use uranium-233 (a rarely used fissile isotope that is the product of thorium-232 neutron absorption), along with plutonium. It produced a yield comparable to the "
Fat Man" plutonium weapon exploded over
Nagasaki, but a third less than the expected amount.
Teapot "MET" (Military Effects Test) detonated on a 400-foot tower over
Frenchman Flat on 15
April 1955, with a yield of 22 KT. This bomb is notable as the first inclusion of uranium-233 (rather than uranium-235) in its core.
This series preceded
Wigwam and followed
Operation Castle...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_National_Security_Site
The
Nevada National Security Site, previously the Nevada Test Site (
NTS), is a
United States Department of Energy reservation located in southeastern
Nye County, Nevada, about 65 mi (105 km) northwest of the city of
Las Vegas. Formerly known as the
Nevada Proving Grounds, the site, established on
11 January 1951, for the testing of nuclear devices, is composed of approximately 1,
360 sq mi (3,
500 km2) of desert and mountainous terrain.
Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site began with a 1-kilotonne-of-TNT (4.2 TJ) bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat on
27 January 1951. Many of the iconic images of the nuclear era come from NTS.
The Nevada Test Site contains 28 areas, 1,
100 buildings, 400 miles (640 km) of paved roads,
300 miles (480 km) of unpaved roads, ten heliports and two airstrips.
History
Established as a 680-square-mile (
1,800 km2) area by president
Harry Truman on
December 18,
1950 within the Nellis
Air Force Gunnery and Bombing
Range.
1951--1992
Between 1951 and
1992, there were a total of 928 announced nuclear tests at Nevada Test Site. Of those, 828 were underground. (Sixty-two
of the underground tests included multiple, simultaneous nuclear detonations, adding 93 detonations and bringing the total number of NTS nuclear detonations to 1,
021, of which 921 were underground.) The site is covered with subsidence craters from the testing. The Nevada Test Site was the primary testing location of
American nuclear devices; 126 tests were conducted elsewhere (many at the
Pacific Proving Grounds in the
Marshall Islands).
During the
1950s, the mushroom clouds from these tests could be seen for almost 100 mi (160 km) in either direction, including the city of Las Vegas, where the tests became tourist attractions.
Americans headed for Las Vegas to witness the distant mushroom clouds that could be seen from the downtown hotels.
On 17 July 1962, the test shot "
Little Feller I" of
Operation Sunbeam became the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada Test Site.
Underground testing of weapons continued until
23 September 1992, and although the
United States did not ratify the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the articles of the treaty are nevertheless honored and further tests have not occurred.
Subcritical testing, tests not involving the full creation of a critical mass, continue...