Other pigs were placed in pens behind large sheets of glass at measured distances from the hypocenter to test the effects of flying debris on living targets. As shown and reported in the PBS documentary Dark Circle, the pigs survived, but with third-degree burns to 80% of their bodies. Some pigs were placed in elevated cages and provided with suits made of different materials, to test which materials provided best protection from the thermal radiation. On shot Priscilla (37 kt), 719 pigs were used in various experiments on Frenchman Flat.
The military was interested in knowing how the average foot-soldier would stand up, physically and psychologically, to the rigors of the tactical nuclear battlefield.Īlmost 1,200 pigs were subjected to bio-medical experiments and blast-effects studies during Operation Plumbbob. Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines participated in exercises Desert Rock VII and VIII during Operation Plumbbob. nuclear testing.Īpproximately 18,000 members of the U.S. One nuclear test involved the largest troop maneuver ever associated with U.S. nuclear testing program as well as high-altitude balloon tests. Operation Plumbbob had the tallest tower tests to date in the U.S. They included forty-three military effects tests on civil and military structures, radiation and bio-medical studies, and aircraft structural tests. While most Operation Plumbbob tests contributed to the development of warheads for intercontinental and intermediate range missiles, they also tested air defense and anti-submarine warheads with smaller yields. Twenty-one laboratories and government agencies were involved. The operation consisted of 29 explosions, of which only two did not produce any nuclear yield.