Comments on: Atomic Annie and Her Nuclear Projectile

By: jpatricks1

jpatricks1 — Fri, 06 May 2011 10:01:04 +0000

[quote]LuckyLilLeprechaun said: “Anyone see the “Atomic Cafe” ? I think that’s the name- Horrifying footage of American soldiers told to march to ground zero. They rode it out in trenches like a quarter mile from the blast. There’s this awful footage of them standing up right after the flash of light, and with shocked/open mouths, sucking in all this horrible radioactive crap/debris/etc. Pigs left in houses exposed to the blast, and right afterwards they are filled with big tumors, scientists leaving canned goods in houses that are blasted and then sending in GIs afterwards to open and eat the contents. Probably the scariest thing I’ve ever seen. EVER.”[/quote]

I got curious and googled: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083590/

Disturbing!

By: LuckyLilLeprechaun

LuckyLilLeprechaun — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:47:15 +0000

Anyone see the “Atomic Cafe” ? I think that’s the name- Horrifying footage of American soldiers told to march to ground zero. They rode it out in trenches like a quarter mile from the blast. There’s this awful footage of them standing up right after the flash of light, and with shocked/open mouths, sucking in all this horrible radioactive crap/debris/etc. Pigs left in houses exposed to the blast, and right afterwards they are filled with big tumors, scientists leaving canned goods in houses that are blasted and then sending in GIs afterwards to open and eat the contents. Probably the scariest thing I’ve ever seen. EVER.

By: Frapper

Frapper — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:48:58 +0000

There are three of these Atomic Annie frames left in the world. One at Ft Sill OK at the museum, one at the Smithsonian and one at Freedom Park outside Ft Riley KS up on a hill just a few hundred feet from I -70. They had two semi type trucks, one in front and one in back that got them to there firing points. They were very cumbersome to move and often got stuck in the mud as they were very heavy. Thats one of the biggest reasons they are not around any longer, that and the advent of the 8″ round and the 155mm round more common to this day.

By: knowsalot12

knowsalot12 — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 04:37:45 +0000

Regarding the question about radiation exposure at 7 miles, there are three “sources” of “radiation” if you will from a nuclear explosion that bear discussion relating effects to humans. The first and most familiar is fallout, particles from the envirnoment and the vaporized weapon itself that are irradiated by the intense neutron flux of detonation and present within the nuclear fireball. This spreads out of an area and presents long term danger.

Second is thermal/visible radiation, this is the most immediate danger of a nuclear weapon (other than the blast). A vast amount of energy is converted into visible and thermal energy and will cause the vast majority of initial deaths and injuries due to burning etc, and the flash itself can cause blindness miles and miles away depending on yield.

Finally there is what you are referring to, prompt nuclear radiation, the “flash” of radiation that pulses along with thermal/visible energy at the moment of detonation. This is typically non consequential depending on the weapons yield. Why? Because for anything but the smallest of nuclear weapons (like the davy crockett etc) anyone within range of dangerous prompt nuclear radiation is likely already dead due to the thermal pulse or the nuclear blast. Radiation sickness is the least of your concerns when you are charred to a toasty crisp or blown several miles downrange of the detonation. The radiation flux is absorbed very readily by air, the thermal pulse and shockwave have greater range.

However the ratio between the range/danger of thermal pulse/shock wave and prompt nuclear radiation is related to the yield. For very small weapons like the davy crockett or the nuclear demolition munition the blast is small enough that the prompt radiation is actually the greatest danger. However these were TINY nukes compared to even a typical small tactical weapon.

In the case of this bomb, the prompt nuclear radiation at seven miles would have been a non issue, especially considering personal would be behind shelter and thus shielded from the pulse.

By: Kao_Valin

Kao_Valin — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:03:58 +0000

So when do we get nukes in hand grenade form?

By: Brain_In_A_Jar

Brain_In_A_Jar — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 21:44:12 +0000

Obligatory: “If you see a bug, nuke it!”

By: ops101ex

ops101ex — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 21:24:09 +0000

The information about the forming of the precursor is incorrect. The shell's velocity would not affect the formation of a precursor at all. The fireball expands so rapidly, any kinetic energy carried by the shell would be dissipated as the bomb debris is vaporized. Also, seeing as precursor effects were noted in other shots, such as Tumbler-Snapper shots, the precursor is not unique to AFAPs.

The real reason the precursor was caused was because of the low burst height. The explosion instantly heated up the air and ground in the vicinity, causing the ground to popcorn and creating a superheated ground-air layer. This heated ground air layer was more conductive to shockwave propagation and allowed the reflected wave to surpass the incident wave instead of creating a mach stem like normal. The results were a less defined overpressure, but a much stronger dynamic pressure.

They don't explain the whole thing in Trinity and Beyond. You have to look at the DOE film Operation Upshot-Knothole, as it provides a much more in depth explanation.

By: Codog

Codog — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 08:55:40 +0000

Tink, I think that the duck-and-cover was more for an illusion of security than anything that could be effective.

More importantly, does anybody think it is wierd that they can make a bomb that kills people, and not a bomb that feeds people, wouldn't that be great!!

By: Tink

Tink — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 03:25:53 +0000

kwiksand said: "That's a good point. If I remember anything from World War Two history and all the advertising of the time ("Duck… And Cover" Anyone??), the instant death and certain death by radiation zones of a bomb the size of the one dropped on Hiroshima were up to 60km (37.5 miles) away. Being only 7 miles away from a blast seems like a really stupid idea.

War… pfft."

schuylercat said: "... I assume 7 miles was understood to be outside the area of influence of a small nuclear weapon or the period, I suppose, but I grew up with duck and cover drills and full-frontal imagery of the "Big One" scorching out my eyeballs.

Don't know nothing 'bout bombings, but do remember the fear, the movies, and duck-n-cover drills in school. Never could figgure out how lineing up in a hallway with your butt in the air and your arms about your head was supposed to save you from the nuke. LOL, I figure the folks who dreamed up dunk-n-cover were thinking that if it hit you butt first, you wouldn't have enough time to finish thinking OH SH....!!

By: johnlh

johnlh — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 15:50:29 +0000

In the early 60′s I was flyin UH-1F’s for the Air force at Cheyenne. We were tasked to send a helicopter and pilot to participate in a nuclear blast. We had about 15 pilots and all of us wanted to go. The lucky winner departed and lucky him crashed in the mountains of Colorado and was not injured. I assume it would be a standoff flight to see how much radiation it would absorb during the blast. We were sure a gang of smart pilots. A couple of my buddies were statinoned in the Pacific flying helicopters and were participants in the various blast during all the unclear testing. I am not so sure I would want to go near them anymore. Wish I still had my docimeter to see just what it would read as I worked around nuclear B-47′s, B-52′s, Atlas, and Minuteman for many years. One time we had a spill of a deadly gas from the Atlas (liquid fuel) in Wichita. The gas cloud was so lethal it would kill anything almost instantly. I followed it in a helicopter radioing info back to our control center. Lucky us, the cloud moved to the southeast which was largely farmland and hit no houses before it dissiapated. If it had blown to the northwest it would have been over Wichita in a couple of minutes.
The Wing Commander and every key staff officer on the base was fired. Most people never knew how close to disaster we had come.