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Show Banks Reports On Atomic Bomb Test Made Last Sunday By Karl Banks Las Vegas, Nevada A blinding flash; a slight concussion; and a mushroom of yellowish - grey smoke billowing upward into the clear desert air, marked the 22nd detonation since man began to play with the power of atomic fission. Enroute to Death Valley for a day of relaxation and a visit to Scotty's Castle; the writer, with a : party of four, left town at 7:00 a. m. last Sunday morning. Traveling Travel-ing North on the Tonapah highway high-way we observed a huge airplane possibly a B-29 ' circulating over Frenchman's Flat at an altitude alti-tude of approximately 10,000 feet. The weather was perfect no wind, a cloudless sky, and brilliant brill-iant sunshine making visibility almost limitless. The plane by this time was out of sight beyond the mountains which encircle the atomic proving grounds. Since Exercise Desert Fvock had been postponed so many times, we all agreed that perhaps the B-29 was just engaged in a routine flight; and then at 7:21 came the vivid flash of white light, which for an instant outshone out-shone the brilliance of the desert sun: Traveling at 60 miles per hour, we felt no shock, but in a few seconds time a huge mushroom of yellowish-grey smoke billowed up above the purple mountains. The B-29, visible again as it winged its way Westward to land at the military base near Indian Springs, just ahead. Detonation Number 22 was over. I . |