The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1952-04-24
SCIENCE
NEWS
By HOWARD ~. BLAKGsLeE

~ USW&MS Ne se&Me
Associated Press Science Editor
ATOM BOMB SITE, New. IN
For the first time men have lived,
unhurt, who stood under and
looked up into the flaming, hollow
heart Of the cloud that rushes up.
ward from an A-bomb.
This happened to soldiers and
officers close to the giant explc.
sion Tuesday Ut Yucca Flat.
II also happened to five con.
gressmen who went into trenches
with the troops. They are w. s.
Cole (R.-N. ", Glen league 3D..
Tex.). Melvin Price (D.-nl.), Chef
Holifield tD.Calif.) and Carl Hin
shaw (R.-Calif.).
What they saw and learned Is
the first chapter In . new atomic
chart for survival:
This bomb was greater than
anything In Japan or Bikini, and
just over or under the most pow.
erful we have fired In the United
States. That particular bombs
identity 10 secret.
The firecloud followed the fire.
ball. and swellsd to miles In diam.
eter, with red flames and yellow
gases swirling In whirls bigger
than Niagara Falls.
The cloud driited over the heads
Of some officers.
I'VE looked right up inside. /" said
one. ut was hollow. but you could
not see daylight through the hole
II was like On umbrella and whirl,
Ing crosswise like Z smoke ring
The inner dome was ribbed with
dark and light colors. the dari
ones probably nitrogen dioxide."
The desert under the bomb was
moist from rains Saturday and
Sunday. The flash Of heat lasting
three seconds baked this ares
white, with aikali giving the color,
For more than two miles In all
directions the bomb started fires
in Joshua trees--a cacuts about II
feet high. There was the smell Of
scorched brush all around. One
temporary first aid shack burned
to the ground. The blast that fol
lowed the heat fash blew out most
Of the fires.
| The troops--cioser than anyone
has approached except 10 Japan
knelt In trenches, two to several
in each. They faced the bomb,
with heads bowed just below the
top Of the dirt.
| They joked. and they Jumped IN
and laughed after the terrific flash
of light and heat had passed. But
their trenches felt hot for those
three seconds.
Then they learned the first les.
son--keep your mouth shut. Nearly
all were standing still In trenches,
looking up. mouths open, when the
blast drove . wave Of dust into
their faces.
Every man would have been 0
burn casualty except for the shad,
ow of the trenches.
A tank was placed almost al
the edge Of ground zero" direct,
~ under the bomb. The hatch was
left open to soc what would have
happened 10 men inside. They
would have been killed by heat.
Slgnboards more than two miles
away were ripped from their posts,
but troops not much farther we're
unhurt, because they knew how to
take cover. They wore no goggles
and no extra protective clothing.
The radioactivity ia the ground
directly under The blast was %
low that attacking troops could
have marched In Immediately and
stayed for 30 hours. One reason
vas the great altitude al this ex.
plosion, 1850 feet. AT that height
A-eombs do not make the earth
very radioactive.
The bomb plane missed isx tar.
Set By 100 feet. from 3o.eoc feet
altitude. For atomic weapcrs thai
10 plekle-harrsl accuracy.