This black and white edition of a 1951 United States Air Force (USAF) Special Film Project (S.F.P. 281) uses the format of an instructional documentary to offer support for the United States Atomic Energy Commission’s continental atom bomb tests, held from 1949-1951. Aircraft depicted include: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Boeing B-50 Superfortress, Boeing B-47 Stratojet, Convair B-36, Douglas C-47 Skytrain, Lockheed XF-90, North American B-45 Tornado, North American F-86 Sabre, Republic F-84 Thunderjet, Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and a Sikorsky S-52 helicopter (TRT: 14:10).

Opening titles over a Boeing bomber. “Target Nevada, the story of United States Air Force Support to the Atomic Energy Commission on Continental Atomic Tests” (0:08). Frenchman Flat in Nevada. “This is the valley where the giant mushrooms grow.” A montage of atomic bomb explosions (0:52). A mushroom cloud (1:44). Signage outside “Headquarters, Special Weapons Command.” Air Force Major General John S. Mills (2:15). Planes on a tarmac. Bombers and the Boeing B-29 Superfortress in flight (2:40). Women read a printout of the meteorological reports. Men circle a blast zone on a map. A blast on the horizon. Spectators watch the atomic cloud from a dangerously close distance (3:09). A Sikorsky helicopter surveys the zone after a blast (4:02). Cloud sampling for analysis. A pilot flies through a cloud of radiation (4:33). A Convair B-36 “Peacemaker.” An observation crew, a flight control team use monitoring devices to track the cloud (5:31). A sign: “Danger, Radiation.” Contaminated aircraft are hosed down (6:17). Men don goggles, eye patches, and breathing apparatus in order to find out whether or not they will go blind after viewing an atomic blast (6:42). Decommissioned aircraft are put in place to be subjected to further tests, depicted in slow motion (7:24). Some fighter planes show less damage than bombers (8:20). A B-45 Tornado in flight. Other aircraft take off from a runway (8:50). A briefing with nuclear physicist Alvin C. Graves and Test Manager Carroll L. Tyler. Aircraft crews get a final briefing (9:16). “Rosebud” prepares to drop an atomic bomb. The pilot, navigator, and bombardier (10:38). Charting a course. A final countdown. Bomb bay doors open. The target area, six miles below (11:14). The target approaches. “Bomb’s away.” Spectators apply protective eyewear, smiling. A bright blast and aerial photography of a mushroom cloud (12:50). “The End, produced by United States Air Force Air Photographic & Charting Service, Lookout Mountain Laboratory, Hollywood, California” (13:55).

This documentary established a timeline for the early history and development of nuclear weapons, beginning at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and following through to the Pacific Proving Grounds in the Marshall Islands and the Nevada Test Site. Air drops were led by Major General John S. Mills out of Indian Springs Air Force Base in conjunction with the United States Atomic Energy Commission. The film was produced with the “security guidance” of the United States Department of Defense, and it depicts the first actual atmospheric detonation of a 1-kiloton atom bomb, which occurred on January 27, 1951 over Frenchman Flat, dropped by “Rosebud,” a Boeing B-50D Superfortress bomber (the B-50 was a post–World War II revision of the Boeing B-29). The dawn test was codenamed “Ranger Able” as part of Operation Ranger. Due to the lack of knowledge about the long-term effects of exposure to radiation, military personnel and civilian observers remained in close range of the bomb blasts.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com