Airborne Nuclear Weapons incidents
Yes, accurate meteorology was vital. The mix of skills and duties involved from all over the country in all sorts of specialities fascinated me. A very complex set of problems, and the way possible solutions were developed I found intriguing, as a very tiny cog in a big system.
It led to a lifelong interest in meteorology and aviation amongst other things.
It led to a lifelong interest in meteorology and aviation amongst other things.
That is a fascinating doco on so many levels.
Shows how a task today done digitally was done using people and analog means.
And social mores - no women in roles of authority - all very subservient!
Shows how a task today done digitally was done using people and analog means.
And social mores - no women in roles of authority - all very subservient!
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
That met was known as Blue Met.
Regarding military dosage levels, it was only immediate levels that were of concern. How long could you remain effective for?
Regarding military dosage levels, it was only immediate levels that were of concern. How long could you remain effective for?
On dosage level, my recollection is that we worked on a WED of 75 roentgen for purposes of estimating the worst case usefulness of rescue staff - or the potential for use of various routes for evacuation.
We understood at the time that the armed forces uses the same or similar values; I recall quite a lot of discussion amongst the scientists - almost all the staff were research scientists, some impressively eminent and well known (spending time listening to them was a major upside for an impressionable youth!) - as to how the limits had been derived, and what the experimental evidence backing it up was. The suspicion was that medical tests after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were probably important, plus much extrapolation given the uncontrolled nature of the 'experimental conditions' !
Form what I have seen much more recently, those dosages would have dramatically reduced life expectancy and lifespan, to say the least. Hmm.
We understood at the time that the armed forces uses the same or similar values; I recall quite a lot of discussion amongst the scientists - almost all the staff were research scientists, some impressively eminent and well known (spending time listening to them was a major upside for an impressionable youth!) - as to how the limits had been derived, and what the experimental evidence backing it up was. The suspicion was that medical tests after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were probably important, plus much extrapolation given the uncontrolled nature of the 'experimental conditions' !
Form what I have seen much more recently, those dosages would have dramatically reduced life expectancy and lifespan, to say the least. Hmm.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Biscuit, later on, and I can't remember the year, we were lectured by Wexford-Welch one of 3 wg cdr/cdr who rotated through 3 posts one of which was in the US. He showed us radiated entrails of monkeys.
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Biscuit74
On dosage level, my recollection is that we worked on a WED of 75 roentgen for purposes of estimating the worst case usefulness of rescue staff - or the potential for use of various routes for evacuation.
We understood at the time that the armed forces uses the same or similar values; I recall quite a lot of discussion amongst the scientists - almost all the staff were research scientists, some impressively eminent and well known (spending time listening to them was a major upside for an impressionable youth!) - as to how the limits had been derived, and what the experimental evidence backing it up was. The suspicion was that medical tests after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were probably important, plus much extrapolation given the uncontrolled nature of the 'experimental conditions' !
Form what I have seen much more recently, those dosages would have dramatically reduced life expectancy and lifespan, to say the least. Hmm.
We understood at the time that the armed forces uses the same or similar values; I recall quite a lot of discussion amongst the scientists - almost all the staff were research scientists, some impressively eminent and well known (spending time listening to them was a major upside for an impressionable youth!) - as to how the limits had been derived, and what the experimental evidence backing it up was. The suspicion was that medical tests after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were probably important, plus much extrapolation given the uncontrolled nature of the 'experimental conditions' !
Form what I have seen much more recently, those dosages would have dramatically reduced life expectancy and lifespan, to say the least. Hmm.
One of the problems with their technique was that repeated doses to various parts of the body had the obvious effect of making the patient very ill indeed, sometimes too ill for the treatment (replacement bone marrow) to have any great effect. So, they reasoned that if they could irradiate the patient's whole body in 'one go', they would be in better shape to take immediate benefit. I knew the man who designed the machine they were building and it was scary.
To give an idea of scale, the 'source' for their previous system which irradiated individual limbs and body areas was, the size of a pencil eraser. (The little rubber thing on the end of a pencil?) This was transported in the back of a Land Rover - just that in its containment! The source they would need for the whole body irradiator was the size of a 'D' Cell battery and would need a twelve ton flat bed to transport it.
Now the guy who designed it did admit that when he rang Aldermaston to discuss the delivery of the source, he was told "Not over an open line!" Furthermore, the MOD wanted to install monitoring equipment in the room where the patients would be. When he asked why, they told him they wanted to know what happened when real people got close to an Atom Bomb.
It didn't take Sherlock Holmes to answer your question; "...as to how the limits had been derived, and what the experimental evidence backing it up was. " Probably not much Hiroshima/ Nagasaki, more the Royal XXXXXXX Hospital in Surrey.
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Langley Baston:
My most utterly, absolutely god awful posting. I was working in the SSA the day the final piece of kit left. We knew they were all being shuttled out and had started the transition to WS3 anyway.
Some of the flights were dummy flights, the one in question we had no idea was the last until the boss ambled into the site and told us to stand down. We got on the blower to DB in the tower and told him to come down.. bless him, he requested a duress authentication. He only came down when he saw us playing footy shirts off, below him.
I found an item recently, the old face to face book (if you need to ask etc) which is quite a chilling piece of Cold War ephemera. One of the mugshots was the OC 9 of the time.. chap by the name of Peach. Not sure what happened to him.
As 814man has written about RAFG [thank you!] I was personally involved when the C130s returned weapons to the UK, answering SASO's "what-ifs" regarding the behaviour of any contamination post-crash.
I also checked the route forecast issued by Brueggen before signing it off.
The flight days were a bit tense for many of us.
I also checked the route forecast issued by Brueggen before signing it off.
The flight days were a bit tense for many of us.
Some of the flights were dummy flights, the one in question we had no idea was the last until the boss ambled into the site and told us to stand down. We got on the blower to DB in the tower and told him to come down.. bless him, he requested a duress authentication. He only came down when he saw us playing footy shirts off, below him.
I found an item recently, the old face to face book (if you need to ask etc) which is quite a chilling piece of Cold War ephemera. One of the mugshots was the OC 9 of the time.. chap by the name of Peach. Not sure what happened to him.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
"He only came down when he saw us playing footy shirts off, below him. "
Ah, laughing gas
Ah, laughing gas
