OT but relvant Nuclear test 1950s USA nevada

[sabredriver]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLW_ismq ... ed&search=

doesnt this care the wits out of you for the poor troops..

and for the aircrew....

[bdk]

I worked with a guy who was one of those troops in the trenches. He succumbed to cancer about 2 years ago. Interesting guy and a great engineer.

[Forgotten Field]

Thank, God- I though it might have been somebody important...

"Gather 'round, lads. The skipper volunteered us for something different!"

A matter of USMC Pride- the Buffalo was still standing...

[Shay]

Appearently the Tail that is being used to rebuild B-17 44-85813 in Urbana came from a Fortress was used in one of these tests.





If I recall correctly this B-17 was destroyed on the ground as a target.

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[Shay]

This the B-17 in question:



As found on Wikipedia:

SB-17G Flying Fortress, 44-83722, also designated B-17H, used as a Search and Rescue aircraft. This airframe was subsequently used as a target during three Operation Snapper atomic tests at Yucca Flats in the 1950s. Back of airframe broken aft the wing, extensive skin damage. The remnants are being used in the restoration of 44-85813 in Urbana, Ohio

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[tom d. friedman]

the u.s. govt was pretty careless in exposing troops to these tests. an ugly footnote.... when howard hughes had shot the movie ghengis khan with john wayne, it was shot in a previous nuclear test area, hughes ignored this fact, & i believe covered it up to the movie cast. naturally hughes was nowhere near the set, & john wayne succumbed to cancer in 1976.

Last edited by tom d. friedman on Mon Feb 05, 2007 9:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Jack Cook]

This the B-17 in question:

You mean this one?

Boeing flat in Yukka Flats
I wonder if that sucker is hard to taxi like that

[Shay]

I wonder if that sucker is hard to taxi like that

It's OK ...pulls a little to the right.

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[chico]

the u.s. govt was pretty careless in exposing troops to these tests. an ugly footnote.... when howard hughes had shot the movie ghengis khan with john wayne, it was shot in a previous nuclear test area, hughes ignored this fact, & i believe covered it up to the movie cast. naturally hughes was nowhere near the set, & john wayne succumbed to cancer in 1976.

You mean "The Conqueror". Hughes was more paranoid about the nuke tests than average folks, nutjob that he was. He even went so far as to phone his political connections to ask them to stop the tests, since they tended to wake him up in the morning (we can't have that now, can we?) From imdb.com;

Eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes provided the financial backing for this film and later paid an extra $12 million (estimated) for every existing print of it from a sense of guilt - it was he who paid for the shipping of 60 tons of radioactive dirt to Hollywood for retakes (see above). He kept a jealous hold on the film, not even allowing it to be seen on television, for 17 years until 1974, when Paramount managed to secure the rights to reissue it.

91 of 220 members of the cast and crew later developed cancer. Not all of those can be directly attributed to the fallout on the set ("I'd walk a mile for a camel!") but there's more than enough to prove a connection.

Check the rates for thyroid cancer in Idaho and Montana, where most of the fallout ended up. Shocking to say the least. Thyroid cancer is an easy one to attribute to radioactive materials (hence the use of Iodine as a treatment for exposure). But at the same time you have to temper that result against the fact that, for the most part, the people in charge didn't know the full extent of what was happening until much later on.

[agent86]

"Gee Sarge,I think yer glowin"

[mustangdriver]

Isn't that how Steve McQueen got cancer? From riding a motorcycle out by one of these test sites?

[Randy Haskin]

Isn't that how Steve McQueen got cancer? From riding a motorcycle out by one of these test sites?

Apparently he had a type of cancer that was caused by exposure to asbestos....not likely that a single drive through Yucca Flat or Frenchman Flat caused his cancer.

[Bill Greenwood]

That B-17 doesn't look to good, did they have to lower the g rating before the next flight? I would use that photo as a example of why not to ever let a jet pilot fly your real airplane.