Area 51_ An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base - Annie Jacobsen [215]
7. dispute was over eight dead cows: The University of Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station, Knoxville, November 30, 1953, #404942, Stewart Brothers, Las Vegas, Nevada. Through courtesy of Joe Sanders of AEC, 1–5.
8. The commission had paid the Stewarts: Memo to Dr. W. S. Johnson, Section Leader, Test Operations Section, University of California, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, October 20, 1953, #4049641.
9. aerial inspection of Groom Lake: Col. E. A. Blue, DMA/AEC; J. D. Shreve Jr., SC, W. Allaire (ALO), M. Cowan (SC) all inspected the area from the air on a special flight prior to January 18.
10. “60 to 80 cattle who hadn’t gotten the word”: Minutes, First General Meeting, the 57 Project, January 18, 1957, at Sandia Corporation, Red. Sym 5112-(127), 3.
11. excluded from official Nevada Test Site maps: Ref. Sym 5112-(127) Appendix A, Administrative Committee Report, J. D. Shreve Jr., Sandia Corporation (seven pages, no date). “It remains undecided whether Area 13 is considered on-site or off-site so far as NTS is concerned… This is very important to rule on soon.” Ultimately, it was decided to exclude Area 13 from all maps and it remains this way on declassified maps today because Area 13 lies inside Area 51. Denoting it on a map would lead to questions that the Atomic Energy Commission does not want asked.
12. nuclear warhead was flown: Ibid., 6. “It will be requested that weapon be flown to Yucca Lake air strip March 15, transferred to Building 11 for storage awaiting ready date for the shot. Checkout would be done in Building 10 and the unit moved from there to Area 13 (requested designation for site) for firing.”
13. Richard Mingus was tired: Interviews with Richard Mingus.
14. America’s first dirty bomb: Operation Plumbbob, Summary Report, Test Group 57, Nevada Test Site, Extracted Version, May–October 1957, ITR-1515 (Extracted Version), 85 pages.
15. Pacific Proving Ground: General information comes from Buck, History of the Atomic Energy Commission; O’Keefe, Nuclear Hostages; Fehner and Gosling, Battlefield of the Cold War.
16. made its zigzag course: Fehner and Gosling, Origins of the Nevada Test Site, 39.
17. arguing for an atomic bombing range: Ibid., 46–47.
18. Armed Forces Special Weapons Project: “History of the Air Force Special Weapons Center 1 January–30 June 1957.” Department of Defense, DNA 1. 950210.019, declassified with deletions 2/2/95.
19. code-named Project Nutmeg: Bugher, Review of Project Nutmeg, #404131.
20. “The optimum conditions”: Fehner and Gosling, Battlefield of the Cold War, 37.
21. the goal of fostering competition: Interview with Dr. Bud Wheelon; also see Nevada Test Organization, Background Information on Nevada Nuclear Tests, Office of Test Information, July 15, 1957, #403243, 25.
22. most ambitious series: Plumbbob Series 1957, Technical Report, Defense Nuclear Agency 6005F, DARE Tracking 48584, 60–75.
23. Delta, nothing more: Interview with Richard Mingus.
24. scientists really had no clear idea: Safety Experiments, November 1955–March 1958, Defense Nuclear Agency, United States Atmospheric Nuclear Weapons Tests, Nuclear Test Personnel Review, Report Number DNA 6030.
25. Workers set up: Ref. Sym 5112-(127) Appendix B, Particle Physics Committee Report, M. Cowan, Sandia Corporation Presiding (nine pages, no date). This document refers to various objectives of the particle physics program, an “experimental approach” to fallout collection, “balloon born precipitators,” air samplers on the ground, collection of fallout trays. It described how “some small plywood shacks with open windows and doors will be constructed in the fallout array. Air and surface contamination levels will be measured within the structures and compared to readings on the outside.”
26. “stocked with radiation equipment and protective clothing”: Plumbbob Series 1957, Technical Report, Defense Nuclear