MetaFilter posts tagged with bomb and WWII

Home on the Range

Horace Rumpole — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 10:22:22 -0800

Los Alamos National Laboratory has posted 10 minutes of newly discovered color home movie footage of the scientists of the Manhattan Project, at work and at play, shot by physicist Hugh Bradner. Restricted Data: The Nuclear Secrets Blog notes some highlights and adds context.

“The purple glow in the sky — that was so eerie”

zarq — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 11:48:53 -0800

Lookout Mountain Laboratories (Hollywood, CA) was originally built in 1941 as an air defense station. But after WWII, the US Air Force repurposed it into a secret film studio which operated for 22 years during the Cold War. The studio produced classified movies for all branches of the US Armed Forces, as well as the Atomic Energy Commission, until it was deactivated in 1969. During this time, cameramen, who referred to themselves as "atomic" cinematographers, were hired to shoot footage of atomic bomb tests in Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and the South Pacific. Some of their films have been declassified and can be seen here. Two new cautionary documentaries also include materials produced by Lookout Mountain: Countdown to Zero and Nuclear Tipping Point. (Trailers can be seen at the last two links. A free DVD copy of Nuclear Tipping Point can be ordered at their site.) Many of their still images were included in the book "How to Photograph an Atomic Bomb", which can be ordered from Amazon.) The film Military Participation on BUSTER-JANGLE can be seen in its entirety online. Background:

The studio was secretly established in 1947, though the Air Force has since stressed that the facility was used solely for the Atomic Energy Commission. While the Air Force contends that these atomic features were the only movies made, it is believed that some 19,000 "films" were produced on Lookout Mountain between 1947-1969. That's 500 more films than Hollywood produced during the same period, and only a few dozen of them have been declassified. Less scandalous, there is evidence that the military conducted many advanced research experiments for Hollywood studios, such as developing 3-D techniques and Vista Vision. Employees from big studios, such as Warner Brothers and MGM, were also known to frequent the lot. Additionally, Hollywood stars like Walt Disney, Marilyn Monroe, and even Ronald Regan were given special clearance to use Lookout Mountain's facilities, though the reason for their visits remain undisclosed.

* On Wikipedia * The Center for Land Use Interpretation * PDF: US Department of Energy, Nevada Office: The Nevada Test Site's Secret Film Studio: Lookout Mountain

Lethal harvest

fearfulsymmetry — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:46:57 -0800

"When you’re on your own in that pit with the bomb in the middle of a city, it’s strange how everything suddenly goes totally quiet..." Interview with one of Germany's most experienced bomb disposal experts as he retires. Photogallery.

Eyewitness to History

zarq — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 08:34:27 -0800

American's censored Nagasaki A-bomb report unearthed after 60 years: The first reporter to reach Nagasaki following the August 1945 “Fat Man” atomic attack had his newspaper stories censored and banned by US General Douglas MacArthur’s office. The reporter, George Weller, who worked for the (defunct) Chicago Daily News, was prevented from reporting on a mysterious “Disease X” out of fear that the stories of radiation poisoning would horrify the world and shift public attitudes regarding the bomb.

Weller died two years ago. Carbons of the articles were discovered by his son, Anthony.

Four of them were published today for the first time by the Tokyo daily Mainichi Shimbun, which purchased them from Anthony Weller.

Hitler's nuclear program

matteo — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 19:17:29 -0800

Hitler's bomb. Adolf Hitler had the atom bomb first but it was too primitive and ungainly for aerial deployment, says a new book by German historian Rainer Karlsch. The book indicates that Nazi scientists carried out tests of what would now be called a dirty nuclear device in the waning days of World War II. US historian Mark Walker, an expert on the Third Reich's atomic weapons program, supports Karlsch's claims: "I consider the arguments very convincing". More inside.