| Intl. Notebook | Feb 23 2010 |
Photo of the nuclear test codenamed Easy, part of the series Operation Ranger, detonated at Frenchman Flat, Nevada Test Site, February 1, 1951. This was the first nuclear blast shown on television—a news program secretly focused a camera on the desert from the top of a Las Vegas hotel and was able to broadcast a distant flash.
| Reader Pulp | Feb 19 2010 |
I thought this might be up your alley, since you post nuclear explosions and cold war stuff. It’s a leaflet dropped on Nagasaki during WWII. I believe we had already hit Hiroshima at this point, and this leaflet is warning the people of Nagasaki that they’re next and had better get out of the city. I thought this might be valuable, but then I saw that a lot of websites had some. And I even saw one on Ebay. I imagine U.S. personnel must have kept these as souvenirs, because I doubt any survived from Nagasaki. Interesting thought. Anyway, I thought you might find this interesting. Nice website.
Submitted by D. Callil
Thanks, D. These are an awesome share. Your scans were huge, but the horizontal orientation of the art in our narrow column crunched the images down pretty small. So, we’ve reposted these vertically for people who want to get a slightly better look. Just drag or save to your desktop and rotate the images.
| Intl. Notebook | Jan 18 2010 |
Telling children to kiss their little rear ends goodbye in the event of a nuclear attack was considered too harsh, so instead these Los Angeles gradeschoolers are being taught how to survive the A-bomb by taking shelter under their desks. They’ve been told that a nuclear bomb “blows up houses and makes the earth wiggle.” The shot dates from 1950 and comes from the Los Angeles Public Library’s collection of mid-century Los Angeles Herald Express photos.
| Intl. Notebook | Dec 27 2009 |
In February 1960 France detonated this nuclear weapon, known as Gerboise Bleue, in the Algerian desert. In so doing the French defied the wishes of the United Nations and came under intense criticism from the Soviet Union and several African nations. The shot was their first of three in Algeria that year, with the goal of creating a compact nuclear warhead that could fit atop a missile. But it also happened to occur during the Algerian War and was clearly meant to terrify Algerians, who were fighting for independence. In 1999 France admitted it had exposed the local population to nuclear radiation and agreed to pay compensation.
| Intl. Notebook | Dec 10 2009 |
American nuclear test codenamed Arkansas, detonated on British-controlled Christmas Island, Indian Ocean, 2 May 1962.
| Intl. Notebook | Nov 22 2009 |
Photo of Soviet nuclear test RDS-37, a multi-stage hydrogen bomb similar to Joe 4, airdropped at the Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakhstan, U.S.S.R., today 1955.
| Intl. Notebook | Oct 31 2009 |
American nuclear test Ivy Mike, Eniwetok Atoll, conducted today, October 31 (some sources say November 1), 1952.
| Intl. Notebook | Oct 15 2009 |
British nuclear test Totem I, conducted at Emu Field, in the desolate south desert of Australia. British military experts expected the radioactive cloud from the test to disperse, but it instead blew across inhabited regions of northeastern Australia. In addition, no precautions were taken to protect aboriginal populations living in the test area. It all happened today, 1953.
| Intl. Notebook | Oct 7 2009 |
Photo of the American nuclear test Baker, July 23, 1946, part of the series Operation Crossoroads, staged in the Marshall Islands, Micronesia. The test was designed to measure a nuke’s effectiveness on naval vessels (as well as about 400 live pigs and goats aboard the ships). Surprise—it was very effective.
| Intl. Notebook | Sep 14 2009 |
Photo of the American nuclear test codenamed Fizeau, part of a series of tests named Plumbbob conducted at the Nevada Test Site. This one was fifty-two years ago today.
