The larger steel frames were used to hold window frames containing glass and the smaller frames were used to hold pigs wearing American military uniforms during atomic weapons tests. They were testing resistance to blast waves to judge damage. I thought any idiot would know that the pigs would die horrible deaths.
Not to make light of the situation, but as nobody offered to show me photographs of the results, I guess they got sliced pork.
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Sedan Crater was the result of a thermonuclear test on July 6, 1962. The crater is on the National Register of Historic Places and is in Area 10 on Yucca Flat of the NTS. Sedan subjected more Americans to radiation than any other nuclear test; approximately 13 million people were directly affected, as the contents of the crater drifted on the wind and dropped fallout in 13 states as far away as North Carolina.
Behind the crater on the other side of the mountains is Area 51, the secret test facility run by the CIA.
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When one is in the Army and looking for targets, I guess one building is as good as another. The Army, for reasons unknown, chose to use these historic structures for target practice sometime during the 1960’s and 70’s. This is why there is the National Trust for Historic Preservation: it attempts to keep destructive fools at bay.
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The first atomic bomb was exploded here on July 16, 1945, in the presence of hundreds of scientists at distances of 10,000+ yards. My father’s premature death from radiation poisoning is what fuels my photography of atomic weapons test sites.
In visiting the site, it looks as though a giant boxing glove punched the ground to create a bowl. The melted legs for part of the original tower are behind the monument, and a short distance away is a piece of preserved ‘Trinitite’ glass made when the heat of the bomb melted the sand. My Dad the geology professor had a small piece of it on his desk.
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When the AEC was forced to take atomic testing underground due to the Limited Test Ban of 1963, they drilled mile-deep holes into which they lowered tests and instrumentation. This hole was 88″ (223cm) in diameter and 5000+ feet deep. This is not a hole into which one would like to fall. So the crews built ‘shaft collars’ and some got festooned with humorous signs. This one sits in Area 25.
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This Apple-II house was constructed 7,500 feet from ground zero, and while our guide claimed the house is relatively undamaged, I’m glad I was not in attendance. The bomb blast burned off the shingles, tar paper, and the roof.
The house was furnished with a family of mannequins at a dinner party while outside the AEC had set up an atomic bomb. For this test, a car was outside this residence. Reputedly the Army borrowed cars from Las Vegas dealers and wanted to return them after the test. But they were destroyed.
After the test, the ‘family’ was strewn about or missing. My favorite photo is of the mannequin with a 2-foot shard of glass sticking out of his back.
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