Strong & Weak Bombs

The fourth atom bomb blast at Frenchman's Flat, Nev. was the biggest of the series. It lit up the sky brightly at San Diego, 300 miles away. At Los Angeles, 250 miles away, the light was strong enough before dawn to take a dramatic picture (see below). Earth tremors shook Las Vegas (about 70 miles away), where the air blast broke a plate-glass window in Marjer's department store.

A much more distant effect of the explosions was a radioactive snowfall in the northeastern U.S. University of Rochester scientists boiled snow water and found the residue radioactive. In other cities, scientists got similar results, but all agreed that the radioactivity was much too weak to be dangerous.

The complete absence of scientific information about the Nevada bomb tests makes guessing about them hazardous. One thing seems certain: that the bombs were of several types. More interesting to scientific guessers than the powerful final bomb were the earlier, weaker ones. An urgent project of the AEC has long been the development of a "tactical" atom bomb small enough and cheap enough to be used in considerable numbers against enemy troops.

The weak bombs exploded in Nevada may have been this long-sought-for weapon. They may have been dropped from small aircraft or even fired from something resembling artillery. If such weapons lave been perfected, they will be a powerful addition to U.S. military strength.

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