Operation Tumbler Snapper (1952)

Courtesy National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office
0800011 - Operation Tumbler/Snapper - 1952 - 47:00 - Nevada, Color, Sanitized -
Operation Tumbler-Snapper consisted of eight nuclear shots in two phases. The Tumbler phase was of primary concern to the Department of Defense, which called for airdropped nuclear weapons tests. The Snapper second phase was a set of experiments conducted by the Atomic Energy Commission and the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory to help improve effects of nuclear weapons.
Able, an airdrop event on April 1, 1952, produced a yield of one kiloton. One of the experiments involved an analysis of the shock waves produced by the detonation. The Baker blast on April 15, 1952, with a one kiloton yield, also produced weapons effects data.
The news media was invited to view the Charlie nuclear detonation, a first at the Nevada Proving Ground. They watched from "News Nob," about seven miles away. Also, approximately 2,000 Army personnel, including paratroopers, conducted maneuvers beneath the mushroom cloud. The 31-kiloton explosion on April 22, 1952, was one of the largest ever conducted in Nevada to that date.
With the 19-kiloton Dog shot on May 1, 1952, the Marines got their turn at a nuclear exercise.
They loaded into their trucks and drove toward ground zero until intolerable radiation levels forced them to abort the mission.
The Easy shot of 12 kilotons on May 7, 1952, provided scientists the opportunity to record photographically the birth of the blast measured in milliseconds. That is all the time scientists had before entire top of the tower was consumed by the fireball.
The sixth shot, Fox, was an 11-kiloton weapons development related test watched on May 25, 1952, by about 1,000 military observers from a distance of 7,000 yards. The soldiers were conducting radiation monitor training. A military display area filled by jeeps, tanks, machine guns, and artillery pieces was established almost under the shot tower, and all of the hardware was demolished.
The last two shots in Tumbler-Snapper, both weapons development related, were George, 15 kilotons on June 1, 1952; and How, 14 kilotons, on June 5, 1952

[@northernkentuckydiva]

My father was in this. He is 77 and is one of the only ones left alive from this operation. I will never get tired of hearing him talk about this.

[@morrisp]

Is your father still around?

[@splashkid8410]

@@morrisp probably not

[@Hunter_Nebid]

Respect! 👍🇺🇲

[@mariekatherine5238]

My uncle was involved with this as well. He passed in 2003 from leukemia. Almost everyone in his group died young of cancer.

[@aarx9230]

@@mariekatherine5238serves them well

[@Sonofwill]

The soldiers were experimented on, and when they said about their concerns thinking they might not be able to have children they might go blind, or die, their concerns and fears were 100% correct. Truly one of the most cruel types of weapon. The poor animals that were tested on, and young men.

[@thomasbaker8437]

My father was one of the airmen at the Charlie Shot on 22 April 52. He died in a construction accident building the Titan 1 missile system in August of 61. In '89 I worked on the project to remove chemical weapons from Europe. He was a part of bringing WMD in and I was a part of taking them out.

[@brandonskate1]

that's a really interesting thought. sounds like you had a pretty cool job, any other stories you can give on what you did during that time, i would really like to hear them.

[@buggyapp]

brandonskate1 Finally got this working. Send me an email at [e-mail] and I can forward you the stories.

[@buggyapp]

So if we just went away all the world problems would go away with us. I see, our role was to make the entire world dependent on us and live in rags and fraught with guilt for not doing more. Each culture has vices and great contributions. I am willing to face mine. To just state a problem is without a practical solution is intellectual snobbery and only divides. We both agree there is a major problem, but there aren't other nations culpable in this "problem"? There is no dance without the music.

[@robertdeal410]

Aug 9th 1965

[@trevorhackett8826]

Thomas Baker I think that clearly falls into the category of ‘the job your father would have wanted you to do’

[@possumverde]

9:40 "All our offensive and defensive plans incorporating or considering atomic weapons were based on these curves...These curves are wrong..." I don't know why but that part just cracked me up...

[@Ronbo710]

My Grandfather was TDY'd to a test range there back in the 50's. He made it all the way to age 56 before dying of lung cancer :(. Those poor soldiers ...

[@davelowets]

Condolences... Did he smoke as much as most of those soldiers did back in the day?

[@mariekatherine5238]

My uncle was involved in this. He died of leukemia. Several of my cousins were born with birth defects. Two have had cancer, one died from lung cancer at age five. That is NOT NORMAL. No, my uncle did not smoke cigarettes, although probably a majority of servicemen did. They kept them well supplied. My uncle’s only indulgence to tobacco was on Sunday afternoons, he’d relax with a cherry tobacco pipe, just one bowl because his doctor said he had a slightly enlarged heart.

[@byronyorks9734]

Take a deep breath boys, that's progress in the air.

[@taufactor]

Great vid! Incredible in our current digital day and age to envision this level of scientific research and achievement done with slide rules, pencils, and chalkboards.

[@maherbahjet6543]

9:40

[@shootmeatm9115]

I used to watch these in raw form not news reels..sensor and scammers on 8mm my dad was an engineer ..one of the guys who worked for him in war would bring these in a breif case ... So fun in reverse

[@acidtears]

could you still get them? they would be of incredible value

[@rtqii]

@@acidtears Peter Kuran collected as much material as was declassified, and put in requests to have other unseen footage declassified. He told a story about opening a film can of a shot and red fumes, rust, and cellulose chips came out. They pieced together broken brittle film, digitized it, and restored it.

[@puncheex2]

When you have an especially bright light source, you'll find the body's soft tissues aren't quite completely opaque.

[@brycewilson1909]

thanks for the upload, very cool!

[@frankmccann29]

Thanks for all you do. Been subscribed for a while now.

[@puncheex2]

They are not overly concerned by the contents of teh filter, but more worried about the exterior of the airplane itself, which just flew through a fallout cloud.

[@stephenarling1667]

"Private, is that dosimeter to tell you if you have received a lethal dose of radiation?" - - "Yes, sir!"

[@kellybrutiis]

Hello folks, it was I that commented on this video (used a friend's login name northernkentuckydiva ) saying my father was in this operation and always love hearing him describe the bomb going off, all the preperation up to it and all the aftermath after it. I mentioned to him in passing some time ago that people are interested in hearing his side of the story. I will try to pursuade him into making a video. Currently he is lovin life in Tennessee and Florida for the winter months. Thanks!

[@nycekchojny8047]

is he recorded hes memories?

[@BetaboyBuffet]

awesome footage, love it

[@tedsmith6137]

It is amazing that the explosion of a fission bomb creates a noise a lot like dramatic music.

[@curlyrooster118]

I was waiting for Godzilla to appear

[@DavidLamb-zm2gb]

????

[@IantheCripple]

@@curlyrooster118 I understand that was the next test, still classified i believe.

[@satt131313]

How many generals do you think they put out there 4 miles away with the troops in the trenches?

[@TheSilmarillian]

Fascinating on many levels

[@WobblieSkellie]

Until 2009 United States was the only country to have passed a legislative act concerning the compensation of victims, civilian and military, suffering from the effects of nuclear testing and has paid more than $1 billion to said victims. In 2009 France began drawing up legislation to compensate victims of their nuclear testing programs, almost 20 years after America.

[@ingorichter649]

Very interesting detailed scientific docmentation about the topic.

[@randy109]

Being an American, Child of the 50's, I grew up with the whole "Duck and Cover" point of view. As a small child I clearly remember the Cuban Missile Crisis and seeing my mom almost hysterical is something a 6 year old remembers. I've now worked for the DoD for over 35 years and was deeply involved in several Classified programs in the mid 1980's when we almost went to all-out Nuclear War. When we were deploying the Pershing Missiles in Europe and putting the Trident Subs (Ohio Class) as fast as we could deploy them. I'm still surprised the Soviet Union chose to 'surrender' and threw in the towel rather than launch everything they had when they last had their chance in about 1985. The USA would have fired everything we had before dissolving the 50 states and dismantling our form of government. The phrase; "Better Dead than Red" was more than cliché and was never more true than it was in 1983/84. From early childhood boys like to Blow Things Up, whether it is a firecracker in a soda can, a cherry bomb in the neighbors birdhouse or a Thermonuclear Weapon. These old dudes with the buzz cuts in the 1952 vids like this are just kids with BIG firecrackers. Boys don't just wake up one day and decide that they no longer find it fun to blow stuff up. Thank God that enough 'boys' realized that blowing up the World wasn't a good idea...

[@cybercat1531]

I'm glad that wisdom & cool heads prevailed in the Soviet Union. If an all out nuclear attack ever occurred the wise response would be none at all. With the destruction of one half of the northern hemisphere imminent it would be idiotic to retaliate and destroy the rest of the livable biosphere. Because come to think about it, nuclear weapons are a deterrent, when they fail to act as a deterrent, it is for the best of the rest of humanity not to respond given the imminent destruction. To do otherwise would be incredibly selfish from the perspective of humanities continued existence as a capable species.

[@TruAnRksT]

Relax Miss Foster, the entire cold war was a fucking hoax. At no point was a nuclear exchange imminent or even possible. Yeah we had them and so did they, we actually gave the tech to them to create a situation that could be publicly mined. Bush Sr and reverend moon together did exactly the same throughout South America in support of North Korea's Nuclear program providing nearly a billion dollars to the north at a crucial turning point. Why you might ask? And same as with Saddam they are banking on Korea using WMD's just to excuse a full out invasion using the deluded children of common Americans. Whoever gets killed is of no importance to these people. Now Saddam didn't fall for it but didn't stop the bush family from sending him everything required for it in crates marked Halliburton. Wait for the Korean situation to play out, It's already scripted even if we have to bomb ourselves to make it so.

[@cybercat1531]

Don't feed the trolls

[@TruAnRksT]

Fuck girl don't be so stupid, all that shit is real, only the public reason for it is not. Remember the cold war was a war against the public's of each nation including the majority of elected officials by the intelligence agencies on both sides, not a real thing between nations. What, you want to go to war because some fucktards tell you and the other side to do it? While they sit back and cash in? Fuck that!

[@cybercat1531]

Reported

[@joeanon5788]

Can you imagine, like at 29:33 that the camera man survived. Camera men always live to tell the tale. Hell, that anyone of us has survived this stuff.

[@mixolydian2010]

Very interesting video, thanks. The explanation of the blast wave reflection was very helpful in understanding the mushroom and the shockwave.

[@1972njr]

@northernkentuckydiva I saw that the comment was directed at you but not actually to you so I thought I would send you a comment. It has been said that we would enjoy hearing your father talk about this, myself included. So as another has stated and others have voted up. Maybe you could video him talking of this and post it for those interested in hearing his story. Thanks, Peace to you AND him.

[@IanfromBristol]

The low yield (1kT) weapons seem to produce very dark, sooty mushroom clouds - is this due to the bomb materials such as the HE lens system or is it due to something deliberatly added to the bomb to make the cloud more visible?

[@BigWheel.]

Maybe it's because dust is better able to permeate the cloud without being vaporized. My guess

[@fatjohn1408]

Good, want to hear it too!

[@SmartassX1]

It's nice how both reviewers had ADD.

[@l8tbraker]

The one at 7:42 is an F-80 used for cloud sampling. Other planes used would be B-50, B-45, B-47 and various smaller planes like the F-86, depending on the role played. Drones were used in the early tests, replaced by this time with manned planes.

[@davelowets]

Right. They had determined with the drones earlier on that the radiation that had ended up penetrating the aircraft, that flew through the bomb clouds, was minor enough to put humans in the cockpits. Back then radiation limits that were damaging to a human body weren't as well I understood as they are today, and I have no idea what amounts of radiation those pilots were exposed to at the time.

[@technologic21]

It's amazing how they studied every aspect of atomic energy. Defensive, Offensive, chemical, biological, environmental, engineering, the scientists left no stone unturned.

[@russellking9762]

and left no one ‘unharmed’

[@shootmeatm9115]

My neighbor and friend died from cancer from chem burns and gases inhaled in a titan test launch... Went off relaunch or some terrible accident he survived burns but died yrs later from cancer related to the gases and chems

[@ichiinc]

wow that was the longest cigarette advert ive ever seen

[@sf-jim8885]

I'm pretty sure that's Reed Hadley doing the narration. He voiced a lot of educational & government films back in the 50's

[@rogersmith9579]

Did he just say, camp mercury was a "boom town"?

[@TimperialBroadcastingAgency]

badum-tiss

[@user-js4zx1lr2u]

44:33 What type of chopper is that? never seen that type before. I wonder how many of the guys in the holes ended up with cancer.

[@baitposter]

@northernkentuckydiva Hope you write down his stories for historical, archival purposes.

[@puncheex2]

For cloud penetration or for dropping the bombs? For the former F-86 and the like; for the latter, B-36 until the B-52 becomes available.

[@killerfrank8974]

It's nothing short of sad, scary, and yet somehow hilarious when watching these declassified old nuclear films. The insanity that our government (as well as many others, such as the Soviet gov.) still gives me the creeps, even though I've been interested in this subject for a long time. I wonder how many of those poor soldiers who were suckered into all this are still alive today. Based on what I've read about the atomic soldiers and such, probably not many. For anyone who believes the government has their best interests at heart, I invite them to view this and then read up on what really happened to those poor men!

[@theincrediblecaliph7912]

be glad you still have a free mind

[@rikitikitavi487]

Frank, my father was one of the pilots who flew into these mushroom clouds to collect samples, and he made it to 87 years of age without any cancer. That amazes me, but his VA record says he only received 4 Rem total. I suspect the greater number of cancers were dealt to the millions of Americans who were exposed to fallout from these tests and others.

[@killerfrank8974]

That is an interesting story Riki. I've done a little bit of reading on this subject and found that there were certainly a number guys who were in the thick of it so to speak when those bombs came down and didn't even have the slightest health problems, often times living very long lives like your father. Personally, I think it has something to do with genetics. Just like there are some people who can consume and absorb alcohol better than others, there are some people whose bodies can better resist the effects of radiation better than others can. Either way, it'd be a hell of thing to be up close and personal to something like a mushroom cloud! Thanks for the story Riki.

[@NorthForkFisherman]

Riki Tiki Tavi He probably didn't. As long as he wasn't directly exposed to any fallout products, he was probably ok. Alpha and beta particles can't penetrate skin. If he was on O2 during the entire flight and after landing, he would not have inhaled anything.

[@0MoTheG]

@@NorthForkFisherman That is what I thought. Maybe sitting inside the machine on bottled air only once is not so bad, if you run away quickly enough once you get out and ditch anything that might have touched the machine like the gloves. Later they still did collect samples the same way but used drones and each only once.

[@RaptorGP]

Nuclear weapon is a key factor of self-defenсe of a country.

[@MB-cf5ww]

My butt itches, did raydeeyayshun cauze it ??? I wanna sue the Gubbamens

[@daveb5041]

*I would love to read that book in the beginning. Does any one know where you can read reports on the technical aspect of this stuff? I found one pdf where they wrote scientific paper like format on fallout from trinity with pictures of how the particles would decay into shells. One of the most fascinating things I have ever read*

[@-danR]

The book is simply a narrative prop assembled for the movie. This dissolve is really quite clever 4:11

[@davelowets]

Yep, those weren't "real" books. The info would have been done on classified file formats.

[@Yapper2737]

Soldiers: this went as planed!!! :)

[@puncheex2]

As it turned out, about the same proportion as they do in any other same-dated population - about 30%.

[@MrShobar]

I think these films were produced to show to members of the U.S. Congress that all that moolah they appropriated was well spent.

[@KB4QAA]

MRSHOBAR; Well, that is an entirely reasonable purpose for making a film.

[@Ronbo710]

The "Order of the Mushroom" just sounds a little too festive.

[@teenonator]

@northernkentuckydiva Glad he's still with you. Look at the cast of the John Wayne movie "The Conqueror" and the people of St George, Utah, which were downwind from a test

[@timfronimos459]

What aircraft type is at 25:08? It resembles a P-80 shooting Star.

[@Mitkawatch]

Damn, our blast is not optimal. We need to refine the blast.... MAD MAD MAD

[@Ronbo710]

Was tritium used for boosting this early on? Interesting history thanks!!

[@dale116dot7]

This series had an attempt at deuterium boosting, consistent use of the tritium boosted weapons showed up in the Teapot series a couple of years later.

[@parisTDR250]

What are these stripes next to the cloud?

[@marmaladekamikaze]

@navydoctrinidad You should contact NuclearVault about that he'd be interested in annotating the video! and write a blog of your experience, I think a Cold War and Nuclear testing archive is in the works akin to the BBC 'Blitz' archive

[@puncheex2]

Smoke? No - it disturbed the dust.

[@telesniper2]

why is the mushroom cloud missing from the pan sequence at 46:17 ?????????

[@alexlubbers1589]

ikr maybe a problem with the film when it was first recorded

[@uruiamnot]

Look at the sign at 22:13 or so. The sign says "Atom - Atom - Atom" and "10 mr" for 10 mRad per hour radiation field. Skip to 21:00 for the bomb.

[@mrajczyk]

did anyone get that combination at the beginning of the clip?

[@TheSilmarillian]

Thats the first thought I had lol

[@eskimospy77]

* minutes into the video one man carries smapler paper with a long stick to distance himself from the radioactivity on that paper, but then he walks it to two men and practically sticks the paper in their faces. Am I the only one who notices this?

[@Morkindie]

It's a matter of record.

[@Johnnysynth]

Should be more worried about the "Smoke-em if ya got-em" cigarette attitude of the day than the effects of radiation.

[@davelowets]

"It's a big Fraternity, this order of the Mushroom..." 🍄 😕

[@scarakus]

yea... loyal order of the mushroom.

[@puncheex2]

That wasn't "always known". It was worked out beginning with the Crossroads/Alpha test, and the model developed throughout the whole testing period.

[@repairdrive]

@happyending3000 You know I totally forgot about cigarette vending machines! Crazy how things change with time.

[@perspellman3022]

Even if this must be considered as propaganda, the information is relatively informative. Today there isn't any official information on the effects from nuclear weapons. I think it's very legitimate to ask why. And then again, how aware are people of the dangers really?

[@jrdougan]

I think the US Govt. still sells copies of the 1977 book "The Effects of Nuclear Weapons". For that matter if you google around there may be PDFs out there.

[@repairdrive]

Man, did any one NOT smoke back then???

[@CoolmanJV]

12:35 - Real bursts have curves

[@fitton27]

CoolmanJV burst is thicc

[@theq4602]

And upshot-knothole made this look like childsplay.

[@StereoSpace]

Since the invention of atomic and thermonuclear weapons, there have been no wars between "great powers". The death toll total between WWI and WWII is unknowable, but 100-200 million people, civilian and military, are estimates. That was two wars about 20 years apart. Nothing like that since 1945, or about 70 years. They also greatly reduced total casualties at the end of WWII, saving millions of lives, American and Japanese. Thanks Oppenheimer and Fermi and all the Manhattan Project workers. Job well done.

[@flintdixon1142]

Far more people died from starvation from communism, socialism and dictators than war. Mao starved 38 Million to death to make money off the grain.

[@MichaelSHartman]

In World War II over 60 million people were killed, which was about 3% of the 1940 world population (est. 2.3 billion). Wikipedia

[@flintdixon1142]

"Compiling or estimating the numbers of deaths caused during wars and other violent conflicts is a controversial subject." Wikipedia I know it may seem like semantics but 26 million of those were the from the USSR. 16 million of those were non military dead. To further complicate the matter the USSR had a very strict "no retreat" rule and for every military officer there was another political officer, whose job it was to report or kill anyone who went against the party. So if you retreated you were just another casualty of the war. The democide murdered is 6 times more people than died in combat in all the foreign and internal wars of the 20th century. www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/20TH.HTM

[@bigassdude7856]

StereoSpace greatest generation for sure

[@bigassdude7856]

StereoSpace what the leftists dont understand is that the germans may have been able to develope this weapon if we didnt intervene. the horror that would have produced is untold. america developing and securing the technology was a godsend. unfortunately the Russians stole it from us and used it as a threat ..

[@Ocelllian2]

What is the exact type of jet used? Like the one at 7:42?

[@Bravo2uniform]

Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star...

[@Pyrus335]

Is there an unsanitized, dirty version we can watch?

[@kareemtabsh]

Videotape him talking about it and post on KZbin!

[@PsychoticBitchFromHell]

Anybody else notice the mushroom cloud is edited out at 43:16 when the shock wave hits?? Why did they do that?

[@visionsofed9459]

@northernkentuckydiva You are so lucky. I would love to here what he had to say about this

[@johnkern7075]

That old step side pick-up.

[@puncheex2]

Ah, they only used an area about the size of Rhode Island for all 900+ tests.

[@kaseyines]

This is saddening.

[@marmaladekamikaze]

Guy at 43:35 clearly says 'awesome' very funny. I was wondering, does anyone know if there have been medical followups of these men? and did any get compensation?

[@DjDafader]

24:40 bit left out?

[@uruiamnot]

At 37:25 you can see the troops preparing for an "atomic maneuver." Fast forward to 40:00 for the "indoctrination" of the troops who thought they were going to glow in the dark. I love how everyone in the film smokes like a chiminey!

[@DjDafader]

why is any of this classified? does it talk about how to gain plutonium? just wondering?

[@johnnychambers6969]

I think they forgot a follow up on short and long term effects

[@michaeldique]

It's funny how the narrator says "we" throughout the film. Whether it's scientists or soldiers the narrator is one of them apparently.

[@stephenarling1667]

The narrator is Reed Hadley, an actor.

[@puncheex2]

No, shit's fucked up when anyone thinks they have earned something by right that they haven't paid for.

[@bobthebuilder9553]

My dad would have been about 25-26 years old then. He remembered the nuclear testing, but wasn't present stateside as he was still in Korea fighting the communists.

[@lidarman2]

Wow. @30:45 you would think the cigarette companies made this. Defense from the bomb but smoke up!

[@Ronbo710]

I wonder pilots flying into those clouds even had dosimeters on. Closed circuit breathing can only do so much :(

[@theq4602]

Ronbo710 Those planes were drones (remotely controlled).

[@joeiken3357]

They tested the planes beforehand and found that the pilots would be safe inside. Some of them were also drone.

[@WhiskeyRichard.]

"Then we set out to broaden the foundation of knowledge on which we can reliably base true participation in atomic warfare" Jesus H Christ, industrial films in the 50s

[@LordZontar]

@13:47 "What about Maj. Kong?"

[@eskimospy77]

The * was supposed to be an 8 for 8 minutes.

[@MitzvosGolem1]

Dr Edward Tellar s legacy. A hero .

[@fabrizioruffa7705]

truly a beautiful video: now it is clear why there is a devastating incidence of cancer in the US.

[@benquinneyiii7941]

Type 92 grenade discharger

[@beaviscornholio3430]

YES! cool yeah yeah

[@esathegreat]

Is this a brand new Patton tank they are nuking at 13:20 ?

[@MUJUNKY]

probably, wanted to see if the hardware would hold in the event of a tactical nuclear strike by the USSR

[@tituspulo9187]

It's a m26 Pershing, not a Patton;)

[@cappie2000]

I'm wondering how many of those soldiers died of cancer... not out of spite, but out of genuine interest.. does anyone know?

[@SpaceIntruderDetecto]

Yeah this footage sure was censored obviously. "They" the Govt . cut out the unfortunate incident where many of the soldiers who participated were killed by the rampaging giant mutated Ants, Tarantulas and Scorpions!

[@gbzhemn1]

At 07:15 the narrator talks about how "the dangers of working with high levels of radiation are well understood at this time". Logically there should have been a time preceeding that time. All i'm saying is it wouldn't surprise me a bit if they actually made a couple of mistakes and fried a couple of guys, or maybe gave the staff cancer, stuff like that. Could be some of the films they choose "not to advertise", so to speak =)

[@lanslater]

... sanitised to dullness

[@TheMrcaLu]

43:22.......poor peoples RIP 🪦

[@Im_ugly_898]

Me when i see a nuclear explosion: :mom whats that giant mushroom cloud💀

[@YouWastesTube]

Only if you are over 18.

[@gt6056]

Look Ma! I can get it! I got a real long stick!