Do the planes that go to take pictures of the atomic bomb tests or to drop the atom ever end up getting hit?

Question

From what I've seen in atom bomb test videos, the blast is huge, in it's base and in elevation. So when the plane goes to drop the bomb, how does it not get it as the blast goes up? And exactly how far away do the other airplanes that tape it have to be to avoid getting hit?

Answer 1

I assume you mean from the shock waves? They have a special method to drop it which I am sure is obsolete now but it was like throwing it then beat it away. Now they can use missile so there is no problem. Just so you'll have something new to think about they used to wear an eye patch over one eye in case they were blinded by a blast too close that way they still had a good eye, then they had a visor that was suppose to be better, During the Cold War both the Russians and us had two men teams which carried a small nuke so in case of attack they allow the enemy to pass then run out and make resupply impossible.

Thank-God they never got a chance to use it I hope the Taliban never get their hands on one.

God Bless You and Our Southern People.

Answer 2

As an example, I'm using the B-29 drop of Little Boy on Hiroshima.

The bomb was armed 31,000 feet above the city, about 6 miles.

The average cruise speed of a B-29 is 220 mph.

The bomb has to travel 6 miles, starting from 0 mph down(terminal velocity for a streamlined subject is 200 mph). Let's say that it started out at 200 mph, just for kicks.

That would mean it reached detonation (~1/2 a mile) in about 1.65 minutes. The Enola Gay woul have traveled 6.05 miles in a straight line away. Making a triangle, the distance between the Enola Gay and the detonation point is 8.52 miles. The blast radius (I'm making an inference from the drop of Fat Man, which caused fires about 11 miles out. It was a larger bomb, but it was also in a valley, whereas Little Boy was on a flat plain) is about 12 miles, let's say.

So if the bomb was dropped, already at the maximum terminal velocity of 200 mph, the Enola Gay probably would have been hit. However, the maximum terminal velocity of this bomb would most likely would have been less. And, it would have needed to accelerate from 0. Doubling the time required to detonation, from 1.65 minutes to 3.3, gives the Enola Gay enough room to get out. Of course, it took much longer to drop the 6 miles.
This is very simplified, as the physics would have given me a headache this late.

Not to mention that cameras have very powerful zoom, enough so to get the spectacular pictures we see.

Answer 3

The time from weapons release to the primary blast wave hitting a strategic bomber is the question that you are asking.

Within a millisecond after detonation, the diameter of the fireball from a 1 megaton air burst is 150 m. This increases to a maximum of 2200 m within 10 seconds, at which time the fireball is also rising at the rate of 100 m/sec. The initial rapid expansion of the fireball severely compresses the surrounding atmosphere, producing a powerful blast wave. The primary blast wave travels at approx a speed of around 30km/s, which is 100 times faster than the speed of sound.

The 390 or so B-52s and 21 or so B-2 strategic bombers have speeds up to 700 km/hr (at least for the B-2s). I don't have my calculator, but the distance from release to initial impact of the primary blast wave can be computed. Suffice it so say, the bomber crews will be miles away at the time of detonation, altho they will still feel the blast wave..

They'll need to worry about their eyes ...to block the view of the detonation as the air becomes ionized and has a brilliance that is many times brighter than the sun.

Answer 4

Atomic bomb tests are usually not air dropped, but already on the ground when they are detonated. But if they want to do an air drop test the bomb is dropped from very high altitude giving the aircraft time to clear the blast zone not to mention the bomb has to be a relatively small nuclear bomb. This is why the preferred delivery method for nuclear weapons is missiles. Missiles can deliver a larger payload or even multiple payloads without having to bother with what altitude to drop a bomb from to have an aircraft clear the area before detonation.

As for the observation aircraft, They are usually several miles away and use very large lenses on their cameras.

Answer 5

The point of impact is far from the plane that dropped the bomb because there is a lot of time from the time of of dropping until the detonation. Planes taking the pictures use zoom lens and need not be near the blast.

Answer 6

Not you that posted the question but man do we have some stupid people on here. One dummie says a B-29 could fly at 600mph and perhaps the stupidest of them all refers to them as being jets. Where do people like that come from? Mom and Dad should off each other for raising such stupid kids. Specifications (B-29) Powerplant: 4× Wright R-3350-23 and 23A turbosupercharged radial engines, 2,200 hp (1,640 kW) each Performance Maximum speed: 357 mph (310 knots, 574 km/h) Cruise speed: 220 mph (190 knots, 350 km/h)

Answer 7

Good question. Actually sometimes they do. I've read some interesting historical reports about this.

Answer 8

Rarely, and nowadays there's the advantage of satellites.