In the year of 1953 on March 17, a nuclear bomb test called ANNIE had been done. It was the first nuclear test in Operation Upshot-Knothole where reporters were permitted to see the explosion in first hand.We’ve found a video footage capturing the blast in 1953. And, unlike most videos of the nuclear blasts, this one is raw and edited to the least degree. You are going to see the real blast and hear the real sound.
This footage is really phenomenal. It was shot over a distance of 11 kilometers from the explosion site. And, as per the rules of physics, the sound is heard a few seconds after the blast was seen (light travels faster than sound). The footage resurfaced through an unnamed Russian correspondent and blogger Alex Wellerstein.
Be noted that Annie was a weapon development test. It was shot openly. Civilians were permitted to have the view of the blast from News Nob, which was 11 kilometers away from the south of the shot-tower. “Annie was a weapon development test, it was an experimental device (code named XR3) that provided additional information to normalize the yield-vs-initiation time curve. It was a Mk-5 HE assembly using a Type D pit, and used a betatron for external initiation (the third such test). Total device weight was 2700 lb, predicted yield was 15-20 kt.”
NB: Some people doubt about the authenticity of the video, and believe it to be filmed later and edited heavily.
Source : Nuclear Weapon Archive
Special Thanks To : Nuclear Secrecy
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