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["Pomp and Circumstance"]

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["Pomp and Circumstance"]

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["Pomp and Circumstance"]

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["Pomp and Circumstance"]

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In Hollywood, California, a tribute was held
at the American Film Institute

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for a special group of filmmakers.

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Filmmakers whose credits never appeared on
the big screen.

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They were a team of photographers, producers,
and technicians

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who put together hundreds of classified films

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for the Department of Defense and the
Department of Energy.

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Their jobs were shrouded in secrecy.

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The atomic bomb blasts they filmed were a
matter of national security.

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Now, 50 years after the opening of their
secret film studio,

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their story can be told.

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Operation Crossroads was the first series of
atomic tests

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following World War II in 1946.

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Because of the lack of adequate photography
during the bombing

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of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,

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the U.S. government placed high priority on
motion picture

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and still photography to record future atomic
and nuclear tests.

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Virtually every type of camera available in
1946

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was employed on Operation Crossroads.

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The cameras were positioned in fixed ground
locations and in aircraft.

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In the air, camera platforms consisted of
aircraft orbiting the target fleet.

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More than 1,500,000 feet of motion picture
film

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and over 1,000,000 still pictures were
exposed during Operation Crossroads.

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Crossroads became a landmark in photographing
atomic weapons tests.

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I was originally hired as a film editor on
Operation Crossroads,

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which was before Lookout Mountain.

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That was the Abel and Baker shots in the
Pacific.

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And then there was a two-year gap there,

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and then they started this second series of
tests.

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And I heard about it, and I asked if I could
go back to work for them,

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and they said yes.

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So like in a typical military fashion,

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they sent me to McDill Air Force Base in
Tampa, Florida,

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while all the time they were getting ready to
build this place in Laurel Canyon.

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So about a month later after being in
Florida,

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they sent me back here to Hollywood.

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I lived just a few miles away. I lived on
Gardner Street in Hollywood.

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I went up there, this strange place, at 8935
Wonderland Avenue.

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I was employed already.

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They said, you know, bring a hammer and
pliers and screwdrivers

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because we're building and remodeling this
place.

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The officer who started Lookout Mountain

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went to SC Cinema School with eight other
guys,

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and he took them all up and started Lookout
Mountain.

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And they worked on Crossroads and Sandstone
before I ever got there.

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Then I worked on the very next test,

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which was called Greenhouse in the spring of
51.

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Well, Lookout Mountain, we were located up
one of the highest mountains

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and we were located up Wonderland Avenue,

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and the neighbors thought we were building
atomic bombs there.

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And so they were all suspicious of what we
were doing

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because they would come and go at all times
of the hours,

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and strange looking vehicle.

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Lookout Mountain Air Force Station,

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a photographic installation of the Aerospace
Audiovisual Service,

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Military Airlift Command,

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and home of the 1352nd Photographic Group,

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containing facilities to accomplish all
phases of photography.

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Staffed by both civilian and military
filmmakers of the United States Air Force.

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Photographic documentation of Air Force
activities.

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Production of scientific films,

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technical films,

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training films,

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informational motion pictures,

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for the Atomic Energy Commission,

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for joint Army and Air Force exercises,

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for Civil Defense,

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for the Air Force, as well as other
government agencies.

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Lookout Mountain's facilities included a full
stage,

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two screening rooms,

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processing of 16 millimeter and 35 millimeter
motion picture film,

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optical printing capabilities,

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a still photography lab,

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animation department,

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an editorial department,

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extensive film vaults,

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and support facilities.

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The laboratory was required to conceptualize
projects,

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research and write the scripts,

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photograph, process and edit the films,

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score the music,

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and provide final release printing.

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All personnel of the lab were queue cleared
for access to top secret restricted data.

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The location of the studio in Hollywood gave
its personnel ample opportunity

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to test new photographic equipment and
techniques.

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They always made what they called a
commander's report

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that was shown to Congress,

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and that's how they got the appropriations
for future tests

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and for the programs that made the scientific
discoveries

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and what happened to weapons and different
things like that.

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Lookout Mountain was charged with
photographing

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all the nuclear weapons tests in Nevada

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and we talk in bikini on film for documentary
purposes.

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We documented every scientific program

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and every military program for the effects

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that were created by the weapon going off.

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But the excellence of a photographic record
depends upon the production facilities beh...

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That is why Lookout Mountain Laboratory had
been established at Hollywood, California,

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close to the labor market of skilled
personnel,

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and yet satisfying all security requirements.

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This modern motion picture laboratory was
designed to be a place

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where the

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!

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!

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The laboratory had been set up by the Air
Force to serve the needs of the Atomic Ene...

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At that time they didn't have a lab yet.

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The film went to the labs in Hollywood to be
developed.

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The labs in Hollywood had security channels
that were approved by the Armed Forces

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so they could handle the stuff.

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Security was important too, and careful
accounting had to be made of all film

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at the same instant that the photo crews were
being congratulated

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for the success of the missions and the
excellence of the photography.

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The top secret nature is if when you
photograph any weapon or test device

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so that it would reveal the size of it, the
shape, the weight, or the construction of it.

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That was always top secret.

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Security rules are followed and records kept
on all film issued or received.

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For stored in this vault are thousands of
cans of irreplaceable and classified film.

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Millions of feet documenting the Atomic
Energy Program as well as Air Force footage.

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Currently being produced at Lookout Mountain.

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Small wonder, nothing is left to chance.

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The doors are often firmly locked.

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Guarding those men and women who, like these
negative cutters,

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must handle this film in their daily work.

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I guess it was important. I guess, you know,
it's a need to know.

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It didn't need to be declassified.

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It was going forward under controls of
classified restrictions.

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And if you needed to know something, you got
to know it.

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Everybody at Lookout Mountain had a top
secret clearance

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and everybody had a Q clearance for the
Atomic Energy Commission.

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But there were lots of things, projects that
I wasn't working on,

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that I didn't know really what it was all
about.

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For a few years, four or five years, we
thought that was it.

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We were the only ones that had it.

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But then the Russians suddenly had it in
French and English.

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It's a matter of just, it's technology.

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And it can go forward in any country.

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Well, usually when they would have a nuclear
test in the Pacific or in Nevada,

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it was in the papers.

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The government would announce the Atomic
Energy Commission.

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In those days, they would announce they were
going to conduct some tests

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in the Pacific, in the Weetop, or in the
Marshall Islands.

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Usually they would say the same thing in
Nevada.

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And after the tests, a lot of times they
would release pictures

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of the detonation after it was over when it
was a nice pretty picture stage.

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So those got released so the public knew what
was going on,

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but only that there were tests going on.

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The same in our families, knew we were there
and photographing tests,

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but they didn't know any particular things
about the tests themselves.

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For what answers are found within a seemingly
insignificant building,

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what happens behind the wire fences, what a
man carries home with him,

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and for security's sake will not speak of,

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these things are vital to Americans
everywhere.

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If you were driving from Los Angeles to Salt
Lake City on US Highway 91,

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you'd pass through St. George, Utah,
population 4,562,

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just a short way from the state line of
Nevada.

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It's pre-dawn, 5 in the morning.

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Pretty deserted at this hour.

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Everything is closed down. Everyone's asleep.

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Everyone that is except a milkman.

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Been delivering over the same route for 12
years.

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Never missed a day.

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And the police officer patrols the lonely
downtown beat.

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And another night owl.

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Keeps his place open 24 hours for tourists
coming through.

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Since the rest of the town was sound asleep,

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only our night owl saw it.

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That great flash in the western sky.

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An atomic bomb at the Nevada test site 140
miles to the west.

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But it's old stuff to St. George.

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Routine. They've seen a lot of them ever
since 1951.

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Nothing to get excited about anymore.

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Nevada, USA.

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This is the valley where the giant mushrooms
grow.

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More atomic bombs have been exploded on these
few hundred square miles of desert

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than on any other spot on the globe.

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Little bomb.

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Big bomb.

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Low bursts.

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And high bursts.

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I know the first one is the one you'll always
remember.

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It was in Nevada. It was a reasonably small
device.

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It was just before dawn, so we see the light
go off

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and you're so busy watching the light the
first time.

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And you forget about looking for the
shockwave.

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The shockwave comes across the desert when it
hits you.

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Just a big bang.

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Dust rises up in the air and you remember
that one.

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And from then on you know it's coming, so
there's no problem.

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The thing that surprised me, because I had
never witnessed one in person before,

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that one, was that you got an intense flash
of heat for just a moment.

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And you remember that one.

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And you remember that one.

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And you remember that one.

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And you remember that one.

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And you remember that one.

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You got an intense flash of heat for just a
moment.

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And it was the heat from the explosion.

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And it traveled through the air.

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Of course, light travels the fastest, so you
saw the flash, the bomb and the fireball,

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and then you felt the heat.

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And it was sometime after that really that
the shockwave arrived

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and you felt it in the airplane.

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And it wasn't a shockwave that shook you
completely.

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The airplane just sort of slid sideways.

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But by that time, the fireball was way up and
dissipated.

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There was no more fire in the sky.

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Normally, at Mercury, Nevada, we were about
four miles,

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was the closest we would get, to stand in the
open and photograph.

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We used to put cameras in steel containers
much closer and run them remotely.

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Maybe sometimes we could go a little closer
if it was a small-yield weapon.

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The smaller the weapon, the closer you get.

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I think the troops ahead in the untimely
snapper were like a mile and a half.

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Then I was about two miles back.

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I had some remote cameras in that area.

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You have to document everything.

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If you don't, you try to go back and
remember, what did we do here?

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Or was this on the left or the right side?

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And the same way you set up a building, you
roll it apart.

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You want to see what's being done.

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And where the building is affected or
whatever you're testing,

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how is the stress applied to it?

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Very good.

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While the shape drops, every aspect of its
performance is captured

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for later evaluation in the laboratory.

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A truism that everyone can't be everywhere at
the same time

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applies particularly to atomic tests.

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It is impossible for all of us to be on hand
at the test site,

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or all of us to ride in the drop plane,

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or for any of us to be at ground zero at H
hour.

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But there is a way to solve this problem,

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and that is with photography.

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A camera can take us into the very interior
of a nuclear weapon

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as the weapon ear makes final preparations
for detonation.

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It shows us ground zero as it appears from
25,000 feet on the final bomb run.

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It slows down the split second birth of a
nuclear blast

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so that we can apply a tape measure to it.

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The second test I went on in 1951,

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where our writer talked to the commander of
the test,

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was saying what kind of good shots we can
make,

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and he said, well, why can't we have an
airplane follow behind the drop airplane,

292
00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:38,000
and the following airplane will be directly
over the blast when it goes off.

293
00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:41,000
So then the boss said to me, he said, I got a
good job for you.

294
00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:46,000
He said, you get in the nose of that airplane
and take a picture of that bomb from right...

295
00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:48,000
So I did that four times.

296
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:54,000
And the first time, they'd say bombs away,
okay,

297
00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:58,000
and then they'd give you a count of how long
it's going to be before the bomb goes off.

298
00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:05,000
And you wear a pair of big goggles that were
a rubber frame with an almost opaque lens ...

299
00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:10,000
and I thought, well, I got to keep steering
the camera because the airplane's moving...

300
00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:16,000
And so I said, well, I'll wait till minus one
and then I'll put on my goggles.

301
00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:21,000
And so the count gets down to about three and
I reach up and it goes to two,

302
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:25,000
and I go to one and I rip the lens right out
of the goggles.

303
00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:27,000
It was a plastic lens.

304
00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:32,000
The panic set in and I slapped my hand over
my eyes,

305
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:36,000
and when the flash went off, I could see the
bones in my fingers.

306
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,000
One afternoon I was at LeCun Mountain right
here in Hollywood,

307
00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:54,000
and I got a call from a Woody Mark, I think
he was a major at that time,

308
00:19:54,000 --> 00:20:00,000
and he was in Nevada, and he said, George, I
need you out here tomorrow for a special...

309
00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,000
So he said, catch a plane and come on out.

310
00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:06,000
So I did. I got there that night, and Woody
said,

311
00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:11,000
tomorrow morning you're going to go out with
five other guys and you're going to be...

312
00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,000
I said, ground zero?

313
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:20,000
He said, yeah, but the bomb's going to go off
10,000 feet above you.

314
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:23,000
I said, well, what kind of protective gear am
I going to have?

315
00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:24,000
Well, he said, none.

316
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:30,000
So I remember I had a hat, and so it was a
baseball hat, so I wore that just in case.

317
00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:35,000
These five were scientists and they
volunteered to do so, but I was in the...

318
00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:37,000
I didn't find out until I got there.

319
00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:42,000
But anyway, we went out there early morning
and sure enough, the test went off on...

320
00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:56,000
Yeah, thank you.

321
00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:08,000
The bomb went off at 10,000 feet.

322
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:13,000
We were told not to look up when the bomb
goes off, but you could look up afterwards.

323
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:20,000
When the bomb went off, I could see the
ground light up,

324
00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:25,000
and afterwards I looked up and you could see
the donut-shaped cloud where the bomb went...

325
00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:33,000
Five military observers stood directly
beneath the burst,

326
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:38,000
indicating the safety of interceptor nuclear
rocketry to personnel on the ground below.

327
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:44,000
It was on the first and only firing of the
280-millimeter Army cannon,

328
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:49,000
firing a shell, a live atomic shell, in
Frenchman's Flat in Nevada.

329
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:54,000
And when it went off, I believe about 500
feet above the ground,

330
00:21:54,000 --> 00:22:01,000
it appeared to have a double fireball, and
that's the only one at lookout that we've...

331
00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:08,000
Seen here for the first time is original
CinemaScope photography of the detonation...

332
00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:12,000
The image has been letterbox formatted for
your television screen.

333
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:19,000
Lookout Mountain tested many technical
innovations,

334
00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:24,000
including 3D photography, stereophonic sound,
and VistaVision,

335
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:28,000
often taking the lead in the latest advances
in filmmaking.

336
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:39,000
The day of the test and the test itself, it's
a very technical operation.

337
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:41,000
They have their cameras and their film.

338
00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:42,000
They don't pick their locations.

339
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:47,000
They might suggest to the person in charge of
the whole operation where they want to be,

340
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:51,000
and if it's safe for them to be there and
okay for them to be there, they're there.

341
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:54,000
They're all connected with information,
intercoms, and so on.

342
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:59,000
They know what time is going to be the test
time, and they're rolling for that,

343
00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:02,000
and hopefully everything works out all right.

344
00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:07,000
No one directs an atomic bomb going off.

345
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:10,000
Once somebody pushes the button, it's out of
control.

346
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:42,000
There were several of my relatives that died
at Hiroshima and Nagasaki,

347
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:48,000
and so I knew how terrible it can be when one
of these goes off.

348
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,000
I had some of that foreknowledge.

349
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,000
I had an uncle and an aunt who was at
Nagasaki.

350
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:59,000
I think they came into town that day for
shopping or something,

351
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:03,000
but coming into town, it just happened to be
a family gathering.

352
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:08,000
I remember one test in Nevada where they
brought in some pigs and monkeys,

353
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:09,000
and they propped them up.

354
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:12,000
They had their eyes open and so forth,

355
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:16,000
and I thought this is how people, human
beings,

356
00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:21,000
must have felt when the bomb went off to have
suffered.

357
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:28,000
I was in the middle of a war, and I was in
the middle of a war.

358
00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:31,000
I remember the first time I was in the war,

359
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:34,000
I remember the first time I was in the war,

360
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:37,000
I remember the first time I was in the war,

361
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:40,000
I remember the first time I was in the war,

362
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:43,000
I remember the first time I was in the war,

363
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:46,000
I remember the first time I was in the war,

364
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:49,000
I remember the first time I was in the war,

365
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:52,000
I remember the first time I was in the war,

366
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:55,000
I remember the first time I was in the war,

367
00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:58,000
The unseen glow of radioactivity,

368
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:04,000
produced by the monstrous nuclear furnaces
which are those stars.

369
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:08,000
They issue bursting floods of radiation and
showers of particles

370
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:12,000
too tiny to be matter as we conceive it.

371
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:18,000
Radiation and particles which flash through
all space until they strike other matter.

372
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:22,000
And in their striking, they alter that matter

373
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:26,000
and create still new flares of radioactivity.

374
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:33,000
Dead asteroids, suns, moons, or green
planets,

375
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:39,000
all matter in space receives this constant
rain of radioactivity.

376
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:44,000
So radioactivity is no new thing on earth.

377
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:49,000
Returning after each mission, the photo crews
were monitored

378
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:54,000
to make certain that neither they nor their
equipment had been exposed to dangerous...

379
00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:59,000
You can be damaged by radiation, but all
these people who were out there

380
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:04,000
were hopefully put in safe areas and
precautions were taken

381
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:09,000
so they wouldn't be overexposed to too much
radiation.

382
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:12,000
If you're going into a radioactive area after
a shot,

383
00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:17,000
then you have coveralls and booties to fit
over your shoes,

384
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:21,000
and they were taped, your ankles were taped,
your wrists were taped,

385
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:25,000
and you had a cap on and a breathing mask and
gloves.

386
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:31,000
You'd go in there just for a minimum amount
of time to collect some sample and then ge...

387
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:36,000
And you allowed so many middle Americans, and
that was it.

388
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:40,000
At the site, radiological safety teams
monitor the radiation level.

389
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:46,000
Scientists recover instruments that have
recorded what you might call the fingerpri...

390
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:51,000
In the nuclear test zone, everyone had a film
badge that he wore all the time.

391
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:53,000
It was processed maybe once a week.

392
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:57,000
When you were going to enter an area that was
hazardous after a test,

393
00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,000
they issued you a separate brand-new film
badge.

394
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:04,000
When you turned the badge in to the RadSave
people,

395
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:08,000
they would process the film and then read it
on a densitometer

396
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:12,000
to determine how much radiation you had
actually received.

397
00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:19,000
I think that people talked about how many
Renkins they got that day, or Renkins they...

398
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:22,000
but I don't think that nobody ever reached
the critical point.

399
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:29,000
Somebody was telling me the other day that
there were probably 300 and some odd that...

400
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:35,000
and I missed the first five that went off was
crossroads and sandstone.

401
00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:43,000
And then I missed several others because when
you got too much radiation for that year,...

402
00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:49,000
And I don't know how many times I was sent
home and I don't know how many weapons I...

403
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:52,000
but I would say I probably saw 80% of them.

404
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:59,000
But let's interrupt such an unforgettable
tableau and first discover what went on...

405
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:05,000
Let's examine the planning and the
preparation that made such a film record...

406
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:09,000
This tower was part of elaborate photographic
instrumentation

407
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:14,000
to record the detonation of three newly
designed and greatly improved atomic weapons.

408
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:22,000
These were standard motion picture cameras to
produce documentary footage in black and...

409
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:27,000
This camera was capable of making 15 million
pictures a second.

410
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:33,000
At Lookout Mountain, the camera department
had a variety of cameras, both 16 millimet...

411
00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:38,000
We had 16 Mitchell cameras. We had the 35
millimeter IMO.

412
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:46,000
And from that, we went to the 35 millimeter
Mitchell high speed and the BNC blimp...

413
00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:04,000
On nearly every type of airplane which
carries armament, flying with the pilot or...

414
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:08,000
is a third eye, the lens of the Army-Navy gun
camera.

415
00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:13,000
This camera records permanently the split
seconds of gunfire during training or combat.

416
00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:19,000
The Gunside Aiming Point camera referred to
as a gun point camera,

417
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:22,000
was developed just before World War II.

418
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:27,000
It was a 16 millimeter camera that had a 50
foot film magazine.

419
00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:34,000
It was mounted usually in the wings of an
airplane and was hooked up to operate when...

420
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:40,000
In nuclear weapons testing, the GASAP camera
was used quite widely because they were...

421
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:43,000
and they were very light.

422
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:49,000
In nuclear weapons testing, the GASAP camera
was used quite widely because they were...

423
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:56,000
could run at 64 frames a second. They had
their own motor, so you could set it up an...

424
00:30:56,000 --> 00:31:00,000
and they turned out good footage if you put
in better lenses.

425
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:33,000
The Gunside Aiming Point camera would be no
more than maybe a mile away from the blast,

426
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:39,000
and it took pictures of buildings coming
apart and houses coming apart.

427
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:45,000
When the blast was too strong, it just lifted
the camera off its mount, and the camera k...

428
00:31:55,000 --> 00:32:01,000
Finally, the biggest challenge was what kind
of exposure do you use, but really, whatev...

429
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:06,000
you're going to be okay because the light
intensity goes way up and then it graduall...

430
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:11,000
So whatever your exposure is, it's going to
be okay because somewhere in there it's go...

431
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:23,000
We had people at Lookout Mountain who were
very innovative in developing camera...

432
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:28,000
and different kinds of unique equipment for
the atomic test.

433
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:37,000
The difficulties in obtaining this type of
air-to-air footage led to the development ...

434
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:44,000
adaptable to several supersonic aircraft,
allowing our technicians to use a variety ...

435
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:48,000
without additional modifications to the
aircraft or camera pod.

436
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:52,000
Here is a sample of the type of footage being
obtained.

437
00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:57,000
Like all good cameramen, ours do almost
anything and go anywhere to get the shots...

438
00:32:57,000 --> 00:33:02,000
The EG&G did all the instrumentation work and
we did the documentary work.

439
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:09,000
And in addition, they made training films of
different nuclear natures, how to load a b...

440
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:16,000
Mostly the analytical type film was shot by
an organization called EGG,

441
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:21,000
and they did all the super high-speed stuff
with timing and everything.

442
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:27,000
Technical photography on most atomic and
nuclear tests was handled by a company cal...

443
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:30,000
or Edgerton, Girmischhausen and Greer.

444
00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:37,000
EG&G was founded by Harold Edgerton, a
pioneer photographer and father of the...

445
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:42,000
Alumni of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Edgerton, Girmischhausen and...

446
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:48,000
were responsible for the many hundreds of
cameras which provided the technical and...

447
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:53,000
as well as providing the timing and firing
circuits which set off the bombs.

448
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:59,000
Charles Wyckoff, a member of the EG&G team,
was the founder of the EG&G.

449
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:04,000
In cooperation with the Eastman Kodak
Company, Wyckoff developed a special black...

450
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:09,000
which was resistant to the dangerous gamma
rays of an atomic blast.

451
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:14,000
The EG&G team was responsible for the
creation of the atomic blast.

452
00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:19,000
The atomic blast was a very important part of
the atomic blast.

453
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:24,000
The atomic blast was a very important part of
the atomic blast.

454
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:27,000
The principle behind the XR film is twofold.

455
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:34,000
First of all, you've got several different
emulsions of different speeds all put...

456
00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:39,000
And when you develop it, of course the
density becomes very, very high.

457
00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:45,000
So in order to get away from that heavy
density, I introduce color into the film,...

458
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:48,000
And of course color is a transparent thing.

459
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:50,000
It's clear, it's transparent.

460
00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:55,000
And so you can make the arrangement of
anything you want, but in XR film I happen...

461
00:34:55,000 --> 00:35:00,000
the most sensitive layer, as a yellow image,
and the intermediate sensitive layer as a...

462
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:03,000
and the slowest layer as a blue image.

463
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:07,000
And we learned a lot from this emulsion. In
fact, Kodak learned a lot from it.

464
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:12,000
And so later on when NASA was getting ready
to go to the moon,

465
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:15,000
they had me develop a color film for it.

466
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:21,000
When NASA was getting ready to go to the
moon, they had me develop a color film for...

467
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:24,000
which was really based upon this principle.

468
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:29,000
In fact, all of the modern day color films
are now based on this principle.

469
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:42,000
A special camera called the RapidTronic was
developed at EG&G to photograph the initia...

470
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:48,000
Six cameras simultaneously captured the
progression of the fireball as it vaporize...

471
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:52,000
Here, these images are combined to give the
impression of motion.

472
00:35:55,000 --> 00:36:01,000
The cameras were mounted on racks up on top
of a 300-foot tower in a cab.

473
00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:10,000
And so usually in each tower we had six
cameras, and they were stacked one on top ...

474
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:16,000
And this is so precise that we can have two
cameras sitting side by side or 600 meters...

475
00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:20,000
and have them go off within a millionth of a
second of each other.

476
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:26,000
And that way we can make these diameter
measurements to make the efficiency...

477
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:34,000
Have you ever seen a river of molten lava?

478
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:37,000
Or the catch of an Agena capsule high above
the Pacific Ocean?

479
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:39,000
We have them all on film.

480
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:48,000
This was the only self-contained studio, so
to speak, but they had many detachments or...

481
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:53,000
that did work for the Air Force, did
documentary work for the Air Force or...

482
00:36:54,000 --> 00:37:00,000
A blend of precision flying by the United
States Air Force Thunderbirds and the peop...

483
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:04,000
produced an Academy Award nominee called
Breaking the Language Berry.

484
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:09,000
There were detachments around the country to
cover different projects for the Air Force.

485
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:13,000
We used to go and photograph the Thunderbirds
Air Force demonstration team.

486
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:16,000
They'd go on and put it on air shows, so we'd
photograph that.

487
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:28,000
The 1352nd Motion Picture Squadron Detachment
2 was headquartered at Colorado Springs,...

488
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:36,000
at the Air Force Academy, and they handled
photographing all the missile silos in the...

489
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:02,000
During joint exercises like Desert Strike and
Photo Siege,

490
00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:10,000
photographic personnel are deployed and work
closely with units in the field to obtain...

491
00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:17,000
It was at the Holloman Test Track where we
photographed this chimp's preparation and...

492
00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:05,000
for the Air Force's

493
00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:10,000
During joint exercises like Desert Strike and
Photo Siege,

494
00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:20,000
photographic personnel are deployed and work
closely with units in the field to obtain...

495
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:27,000
It was at the Holloman Test Track where we
photographed this chimp's preparation and...

496
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:32,000
for the accelerated G's with which man has
moved out into space.

497
00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:40,000
Using a special mount developed at Lookout
Mountain, we recorded his high speed run o...

498
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:50,000
At times, cameras are run at high speed to
record spectacular events like this napalm...

499
00:38:53,000 --> 00:39:00,000
The result? Slow motion photography for
operational analysis personnel of the...

500
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:04,000
Here it is at normal speed.

501
00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:13,000
700 pounds of napalm per tank.

502
00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:39,000
There were so many of them that were
spectacular, but the one that I remember w...

503
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:46,000
that Dr. Teller was just running a test.
Before it was really a bomb, but it was a...

504
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:50,000
and I think that was probably the most
spectacular one I remember.

505
00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:30,000
Music

506
00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:36,000
With the big weapons in the Pacific, we would
sometimes be as far as 20 miles.

507
00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:42,000
However, there were some of the last big
thermonuclear weapons that went off.

508
00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:53,000
I was photographing B-57s flying as close as
they could, was four miles, and then we'd...

509
00:40:53,000 --> 00:41:01,000
as rapidly as possible so that when the shock
wave got us, it wouldn't hit us broadside,...

510
00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:15,000
Music

511
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:23,000
There only one time I was leery, was when a
device was tested in Bikini Atoll, and at...

512
00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:33,000
operated by radio control on the island, and
I would load the film in the camera, close...

513
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:41,000
into an aircraft carrier where I'd stay there
overnight, and then the next morning you'd...

514
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:46,000
Music

515
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:54,000
We got later and later and the helicopter
didn't show up to pick me up, and the guy ...

516
00:41:54,000 --> 00:42:02,000
because it's going to be, 430 comes around
pretty quick, and they're on a roster, so...

517
00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:11,000
They have a roll call every time before to
account for everybody, and if they went...

518
00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:23,000
they would cancel the shot until I was found,
so it was pretty safe, but still you don't...

519
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:34,000
We will now examine the Wahoo and Umbrella
Studies on visible surface phenomena, the...

520
00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:39,000
I believe Wahoo and Umbrella were the first
two underwater shots that I ever observed...

521
00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:45,000
It was more amazing in some ways than an
above ground nuclear shot.

522
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:56,000
The rockets were set up at various angles and
fired before the shot so that by the time...

523
00:42:56,000 --> 00:43:07,000
so when the shock wave came up through the
water, they could tell how long it was for...

524
00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:10,000
I was about two and a half miles from them.

525
00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:19,000
The rockets went off, and then suddenly this
gigantic column of water shot straight up...

526
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:32,000
and at two and a half miles, it's hard to
judge how far away it was from surface zer...

527
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:45,000
After the shot, it seemed to be a couple of
minutes or so before the first wave came i...

528
00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:58,000
and then the first wave came in, then
receded, the second wave came in a little...

529
00:43:58,000 --> 00:44:08,000
and after about ten minutes, the water
subsided, we could get down out of the tre...

530
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:14,000
and throttled back his edge and said, Robert,
are you all right down there? So we waved ...

531
00:44:38,000 --> 00:45:06,000
Music

532
00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:18,000
Most of the times in the Pacific, they would
send the footage, we had a courier, would...

533
00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:33,000
because we were usually out there three
months, you know, sometimes longer. On the...

534
00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:50,000
to see what the effects would be of an atomic
blast at super high altitude, and they ble...

535
00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:19,000
Music

536
00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:29,000
We had to do it lots of times on these tests,
they would come in and we'd work around th...

537
00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:46,000
The most spectacular were in the Pacific,
these hydrogen bombs, they normally went o...

538
00:46:46,000 --> 00:47:08,000
you could see the mushroom cloud developing,
and you could see this eerie ultraviolet g...

539
00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:20,000
Music

540
00:47:46,000 --> 00:48:05,000
Music

541
00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:29,000
I think a lot of us felt that what we were
doing was very important to capture the...

542
00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:34,000
I think that things take a natural course,
and they're going to happen anyway.

543
00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:50,000
You know, I think that Truman was absolutely
right in using the bomb, it ended the war,...

544
00:48:50,000 --> 00:49:07,000
The only thing is, could he have asked to
drop a bomb 20 miles off the coast of Toky...

545
00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:17,000
Knowing how dangerous it could have been,
there's no need to take that kind of a...

546
00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:30,000
Things have changed since then, you know,
it's what, 50 years later, and who knows w...

547
00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:37,000
Vietnam turned out to be a bigger problem for
the country, and they're happy and unhappy...

548
00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:57,000
I think it's very important, yes, to preserve
the records, but as far as additional...

549
00:49:57,000 --> 00:50:09,000
I communicate still with quite a few of the
people there from Lakau Mountain. I think ...

550
00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:37,000
We have no pictures.