When a USAF F-84 Pilot Flew Into a Nuclear Test In 1956 #shorts
9,367On July 3rd, 1956, Norvin "Bud" Evans, a USAF test pilot, piloted his F-84 into the blast zone of an atmospheric nuclear test to observe the effects on the aircraft. Despite being a 360-kiloton bomb in contrast to the 15 kilotons of Little Boy dropped over Japan, Mohawk was only thought to pose little threat to pilots flying close to its point of detonation. Evans claimed that I lowered the black goggles down over my eyes as the zero neared and blocked the lenses with my gloved left hand. When the bomb went off, fragments of blinding brilliance broke through every safety measure and, for a brief period, severely hurt my eyes. I could see the bones in my hands as the brightness started to disappear. I immediately experienced the sensation that my body was being pierced by many lengthy, burning needles. Evans goes on, After learning about the flight, I discovered that my F-84's skin had been burned off by the heat that the overcast had reflected back onto it. Evans concluded that I was never permitted to view any of the mission-related info, and that possibly this excessive exposure was a factor in the life-threatening melanoma that I went on to get seven months later.
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