Wondering about the F-102...

All y'all worrying about air defense nuke missile airbursts ought to
get a copy of "The Effects of Nuclear Weapons" and in (my 1957 copy)
Chapter 9 you will learn a lot about fallout. The drift of the fallout
in a wind is something quite disturbing, even in a 15 mph wind, which
for a 1 MT fission weapon results in lethal dosages hundreds of miles
downwind. That was why NORAD went to 'bombkiller' nuclear missiles, to
try to prevent that from happening.
Walt BJ

The drift of the fallout
in a wind is something quite disturbing, even in a 15 mph wind,

And at 35,000 feet, isn't the wind more typically 100 mph--or is that
only occasional?

I pay attention only to the winds up to say 5000 feet, and even at
those levels the speed increases dramatically with every 1000 feet.

I suppose it would have been better than the alternative, but still
....

all the best -- Dan Ford
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see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

Cub Driver wrote:

The drift of the fallout
in a wind is something quite disturbing, even in a 15 mph wind,

And at 35,000 feet, isn't the wind more typically 100 mph--or is that
only occasional?

I pay attention only to the winds up to say 5000 feet, and even at
those levels the speed increases dramatically with every 1000 feet.

I suppose it would have been better than the alternative, but still
...

But at altitude, there is next to nothing to make fallout from, so any
kind of high airburst would be relatively clean.

"steve gallacci" wrote in message
...


Cub Driver wrote:

The drift of the fallout
in a wind is something quite disturbing, even in a 15 mph wind,

And at 35,000 feet, isn't the wind more typically 100 mph--or is that
only occasional?

I pay attention only to the winds up to say 5000 feet, and even at
those levels the speed increases dramatically with every 1000 feet.

I suppose it would have been better than the alternative, but still
...

But at altitude, there is next to nothing to make fallout from, so any
kind of high airburst would be relatively clean.

I believe that was part of the original poster's intent; his comment
regarding a "high yield nuke" creating a great deal of fallout was in
reference to what happens if the bomber gets through, versus the effects of
a very small yield nuke used to kill same said bomber at altitude.

Brooks