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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (April 2, 1954)
1 1MJ FRIDAY, APRIL 2. 1954 HERALD AND NEWS, KLAMATH FALLS, OREGON PACK SEVEN Rims of Hydrogen Bomb le Blast lest Reveal Hut By ELTON C. FAY Ap Military Affair Reporter WASHINGTON W-The govern ment disclosed today details of the world's first hydrogen explosion a searing and crushing fury that wiped out an Island in the twinkling of an eye and spawned a gigantic fireball big enough to engulf the heart of New York City. The official motion picture film of the thermonuclear test In No vember 1952, conducted by the Atomic Knergy Commission and Defense Department at Eniwetok Atoll, was made public In some what censored form by the Fed eral Civil Defense Administration. ' That agency said it "firmly be lieves it is necessary for the Amer ican public to know the facts about the destructiveness of 'nuclear weapons." And it quoted from the speech of President Eisenhower before the United Nations Assem bly last December which said, "Clearly, If the peoples of the world are to conduct an intelligent search for peace, they must be armed with the significant facts of today's existence." Awesome as it was, the 1953 test has been described by Eisenhower as only a first step in this- nation's hydrogen weapons program. There have been two announced thermonuclear blasts in the Pacific proving ground since . then, and both have been semiofficially de scribed as much more powerful. One was set off March 1, the other , last Friday. Here are some of the things the motion picture of -the 1952 test and the official narration accompany ing' It disclosed: 1. ; The test device was explod ed In a "cab," a "small workshop Jammed with recording and deto nating gadgets, on the Islet of ERUlab. at the northern rim of Eniwetok Atoll. 2 The Island, about a half mile long and a Quarter mile wide and protruding from the barrier reef of the atoll, vanished. In the place where it stood there was a crater 175 feet deep, a mile in diameter. 3. Created was the largest fire ball or the more than 40 atomic explosions set off until that turn 3'4 miles In diameter. The heat at the core of that churning, bril liant manmade star presumably shot to a momentary temperature like the body of the sun. The picture Included an imposi tion of the fireball on a drawn outline of Manhattan's skyline. It overwhelmed about one quarter of Manhattan. The official estimate was that the area of "complete annihil- tion" extended outward in a three- mile radius: that severe to mod' erate damage reached out to seven miles: light damage as far as 10. The damage as applied to Wash ington, D. C, would have looked like this: If an H-bomb had been exploded at the Capital, the zone of utter annihilation would have reached west to Arlington National Ceme tery (across the Potomac River from Washington.) Eastward it would have touched the Anacostia River. Northward the edge would have been' soldiers' home, the farmlike place in the heart of mod ern Washington. Southward it would have engulfed Boiling Field, the Air Force's base at the nation al capital. - The motion picture, as well as still photographs taken from it, is to be released next Wednesday. Accounts were to have been with held until then too, but some broke into print ahead of time. ' The New York Times, publish ing an account in today's editions, - said it did so because a descriptive review by a syndicated columnist appeared in newspapers a few hours after a special press show ing. In his column in some newspap ers today. Drew Pearson noted that "the veil covering the H-bomb will be lifted next week," and he added: "However, this column is able to give a word preview of the horrible holocaust." Following publication of these accounts, the major news services decided to go ahead with their own reviews. Two factors should be noted about this 1952 test and the theo retical application of them to big cities like New York and Wash ington: , 1. The 1952 explosion of the "device," while the mightiest up to then, was of substantially lower order than the shattering detona tion at Bikini Atoll last March 1. The latter is assumed to have been on the order of 16 megatons the equivalent of energy produced by explosion of 16 million tons of TNT, 2. The 1952 blast was exploded at ground level, which probably would not be the method used in a wartime attack unless a specific, pinpoint target was the objective. Exploded In mid-air alter oeing dropped from a plane, with the point of burst at several thousand feet altitude, the area of total de struction and severe damage would have increased by several multi ples. The power of the blast might have been diminished, out tne zone increased. The destruction pro duced by heat and the Injury by the intense, instant radiation of the fusion bomb would have been correspondingly increased in area, only slightly diminished in intens ity. The nlcture disclosed another peculiar characteristic of the hy drogen bomb, a pronounced lateral blast effect. The ugly, aeaaij "base surge" cloud of the bomb and the racinir shock front flashed out to far gteater width than any standard atomlo fission bomb. Aloft, the sight was equally astounding. The thermonuclear ex plosion, like any atomic bomb, pro duced the too-familiar picture of a giant mushroom. But this time the stem of the mushroom grew and grew and grew until it had poked 25 miles into the stratosphere. Even in the early stages of it development, in the first two min utes, the cloud column shot upward t,i dti nnn feet. The lens of the camera -Couldn't encompass It all, so an artist's sketch was displayed to show an other fantastic dimension: the musnroom-wp poiuvi. w "J nn reiu-Jiinr an altitude of about 10 milen. beean spreading out later. ally near the base of the Btrato- snhere. It eventully attained a diameter of 100 miles. In this upper air phenomenon, there seemed to be an explanation of the recent troubles ol tne atomic test force with the spreading raoia tlon from the March 1 test.. In his White House news con- fcrmre discussion yesterday. rhuirmiin Lewis Strauss of the Atomic Energy Commission attrib uted most of the trouble to a re versal of predicted wind direction. But the fact that the 1952 cloud stem blew to the entirely unpre rpriented heiaht of 25 miles, well up into the stratosphere, suggested that the recent cloud might have pushed up into the region of "Jet stream" flow of air and other high altitude air mass movements. Air "Z. . .. t 4u JT ..?' - ,i lit i I ,V'!' STAGE IN THE HYDROGEN HAST This is a stage in the development of the cloud forma tion after the pioneer hydrogen blast in the AEC Pacific proving grounds in the fall of 1952. Photo made at a height of 12,000 feet,' and SO miles from the detonation site. The mushroom portion went up to 10 miles, .and ipread for 100 miles. Two minutes after lero hour, the cloud rose to 40,000 feet. ; ' . ,' .' ,, v ''?'' H . . fyome Extension ;.' CliaOQt'IN , By Darlene. Wolff , As the Chlloqoin Home Extension unit plans Its last project, "Stor age Planning,", to be held Thurs day, April l, at the, home of Mrs. Fred Markwardt with county borne demonstration agent, Dolor es Bracken leading the discus sion, a committee has reviewed projects undertaken earlier this year. ; The January meeting was led by Miss Bracken at the Harold Wing residence in Klamath Agen cy. Emphasis was put on the fact that many bomemakers do not eat well balanced meals even though they may feed them to their families. Low cost plans of correctly' balanced meals were given. In February Mrs. Edmund Stanton was hostess, when Mrs. Walter Zimmerman and Mrs. Lyle Haas led the demonstrations. What To Do Until the Doctor Comes." The modern method of artificial respiration, care of the eyes, treatment of sprains, use oi tourn auets. making oi applicators. and correct contents of medicine cabinet were all discussed and snown. Care of the Skin" was the March, project.- with the meeting held at the home of Mrs. Friedman Kirk. Mrs. Ruth Doling and Mrs. H. T. Williams were project lead ers. .They ' had the ' group make cleansing, ' foundation and tissue cream, gave recipes for deodoriz ers, let those attending go through a Complete skin cleansing rou tine with mud pack; and concluded by discussion of makeup for fa cial types, r.v Mrs. Lyle Haas, president, pre sided at all business meetings, and each session has opened with safety tips given by Mrs. Edouard Prlaulx and with a timely game. Each meeting has been an all Jobless Lists Said Lowering WASHINGTON V-Several econ omists said a new govermnt survey due late today may show! a slight but nopeiui crop in we number, .of the - nation's unem ployed..; i . ". . V The Jobless total has swelled for severar; months,, mounting slowly but steadily to the 3,671,000 re ported by the," Census Bureau for reoruaf y. . mo .rvporii uuo wuy will be lor'March. . . , Ewan Clague, commissioner of labor statistics, who keeps close tabs on the unemployment situa tion told reporters last week he believed unemployment had eased a little in; March and the number ot employed also bad Increased. Several other economists said privately they felt as did Clague that the whole employment picture would brighten a bit when the March figures were announced by the Census Bureau. k - President Eisenhower has said he will take a close look at the March employment ' figures In planning economic policy. Federal Reserve Board figures. yesterday showed department store sales last week It per cent below the corresponding week In 1953. The board raid the lata Zaater date could be expected to cut March sales, i per cent, : day one with sack lunches and one course served by the hostess. ' The spring festival this year is scheduled for May 4 and a large number of local women are plan ning to attend. i. i, AND SIDING $$$ SAVE $$$ Demi .with flit man wk tl Wtj W. S. "BILL HEIMANN hut tiU '. SIS Hltcklll O'HAIR'S Memorial Chapel rUNIRAL SERVICES FOR ALL INCOMES , . NON-DENOMINATIONAL SERVING) ALL RELIGIONS Klamath Falls S49e " CIwcmI ' tjf Red ' XJIBf5' Mm For 'Mother : or : Daughter AY ISPADtlUU are Kedettes you'll m in all the unarteat . places this summer. But you don't have to be mort-bound to need tbeie sprightly casuals. Cork 'n Crepe Soles, euinion duoIm make walking a pleaaure, anTtthere. 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