Ground Zero, population 5

[javadog]

A really interesting short YouTube video that I had no idea about:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_eRcmjW9BUY

[flatbutt]

I always wondered why they experimented with air bursts. Nice find.

[Seahawk]

Very interesting. Did not know.

[Norm K]

Cool vid.

I'd not heard about this before.

_

[mjohnson]

If you're lucky enough to swing a tour through the Nevada National Security Site (nee Nevada Test Site) you can still see the trenches where they stationed soldiers pretty close in to the burst of the big atomic artillery weapon. Then the soldiers got to march even closer immediately after the shot. There were also bleachers, still present, for the press and VIPs to watch, just from a much greater distance. There's probably a video or two about "Atomic Annie".

[Sooner or later]

Atomic Annie lives about 3 miles north of me.

[sc_rufctr]

The 1950s must have been very exciting because they were at the cusp of everything modern.

Very interesting video. Thanks for posting.

[masraum]

I've only watched 30-60 seconds. I'll definitely finish it later. I think there's a good chance that I'll watch the rest of the videos too. The beginnings of what I'll call the "atomic age" are fascinating. Some of the testing that was performed (probably really all of it) was also interesting and crazy.

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

Atomic Annie lives about 3 miles north of me.

Cool!

Nuclear weapons safety was a little bit stretchy during the cold war. Rounds for Ms Annie, referenced above, had a significantly non-zero chance of going critical in the barrel for example. In general, all of the artillery rounds had to make some pretty big compromises to do what they needed to do. In a few cases there may have been "oh carp! - we should go out and render them safe before bad things happen" moments.

I worked with a few Army vets, from back when the US Army had nukes, and I guess Annie was deployed to Europe but couldn't fit down most of the narrow roads. I think it was the only above-ground tested artillery piece - though we did shoot the Davey Crockett recoiless rocket/i.e. "Bazooka".

And for something closer to the Genie, you can visit the Nike battery in Marin. It's been restored and is operational-ish, as in that the missile elevators and erectors work. Sobering to realize how many of these were clustered around nearly every major city or industrial facility back in the 1960s. We toured that one about ten years ago and they still had some site vets providing talks. Thankfully their service at the battery was boring but they'd happily discuss "lighting up" incoming airliners with the anti-aircraft radar just for something to do on a long boring night.

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by masraum

...Some of the testing that was performed (probably really all of it) was also interesting and crazy.

Of course the houses in the Apple test were cool, one of which still stands - you've certainly seen the video of the house disintegrating and possibly blowing a movie-star/pilot/adventurer downrange in a refrigerator.

Harold Loomis, of the bank vault sort, got the AEC/DTRA to expose one of his vaults to prove that the Russkies couldn't destroy our gold. It's still there on Frenchman Flats.

Also on the Flats are all of the pig pens. Being biologically similar to humans was a poor choice for a pig as we used many of them for bio testing weapons effects. It took some learning though. At first they just tied them up in the open and we got BBQ (not the goal of the exposure tests). Then they made little shiny pig houses to shield them from the intense light and heat, thus prolonging their (not long) lives to study the effects of the neutrons and gammas on them.

I love all of that history. What a crazy time it must have been. We haven't even shook the ground since 1991 or so - and even those people are retiring.

[herr_oberst]

That was a great vid, and thanks to the OP for finding and posting it.

I know this is cynical, but I find it 'difficult' (ie impossible) to believe that a full Colonel and a Lt Col. agreed to volunteer to stand under a nuke blast without prior testing by, shall we say, more expendable 'volunteers'. Captain Obvious here, reporting for duty.

I know it's a photo op, they even said it was for publicity to assuage the fears of the citizens. Just can't help but think that some sad-sack cannon fodder laid the tracks to make this happen.

Edit ^^^^^. Or pigs!
But really, a interesting peek into the wayback machine.

Edit - MORE expendable, not less!

[Tervuren]

Tech is moving even faster today.
Just in ways people are oblivious to.
Which is why what is happening is so powerful.

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

The 1950s must have been very exciting because they were at the cusp of everything modern.

Very interesting video. Thanks for posting.

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

I know this is cynical, but I find it 'difficult' (ie impossible) to believe that a full Colonel and a Lt Col. agreed to volunteer to stand under a nuke blast without prior testing by, shall we say, less expendable 'volunteers'. Captain Obvious here, reporting for duty.

Effects were pretty well known at that point, and an airburst is nearly ideal from a calculation point of view. In terms of radiation, the n and gamma fluence would have been predicted (or even previously tested) with some precision. Things get mathematically (and literally) dirty when such things happen near the ground or structures though - that's when the officers probably stand back and let the enlisted have a go at it.

[javadog]

They can calculate all they want, I’m not sure I’d have the balls to stand under a nuclear blast.

I don’t know why but I’ve always been fascinated with that program. There’s a museum in Albuquerque I need to check out, someday.

[Por_sha911]

Those guy had some big brass ones but, based on what the scientists 'knew' they had a much better chance of survival than men during the D-Day invasion or some other war campaigns.

A man who is willing to risk his life for the good of many is a hero (unlike many of the bozos the the public worship today). "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

I know this is cynical, but I find it 'difficult' (ie impossible) to believe that a full Colonel and a Lt Col. agreed to volunteer to stand under a nuke blast without prior testing by, shall we say, more expendable 'volunteers'. Captain Obvious here, reporting for duty.

Oh heck they told us we'd be safe hiding under our desks!

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Oh heck they told us we'd be safe hiding under our desks!

Well, on one hand, avoiding and surviving blast injury (flying dangerous things) is always good. I guess knowing where the bodies are is also useful (cue the conspiracy things on fallout shelters).

Born in the Jerry Ford era, I was too young to do the duck and cover. Actually I dunno if we got any such "training" in grade school. Sure, we got to watch that scary movie from 1983(?), was it the "Day After"? That was about the limits of my learning until heading to Los Alamos...