Priscilla

Operation Plumbbob

June 24, 1957 · Nevada Test Site (NTS) · Balloon · 37 kt

A nuclear device suspended from a balloon and exploded in the atmosphere.

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Atomic Energy Commission (U.S.A.E.C.)

Printed in 1957

Silver gelatin print

4x5 in (10.2x12.7 cm)

Handwriting, Stamp

U.S. Army

Printed in 1957

Dye transfer

11x14 in (27.9x35.6 cm)

Stamp

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Unknown

Printed in 1957

Silver gelatin print, contact copy

4x5 in (10.2x12.7 cm)

Handwriting

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Unknown

Printed in 1957

Silver gelatin print, contact copy

4x5 in (10.2x12.7 cm)

Handwriting

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Unknown

Printed in 1957

Silver gelatin print, contact copy

4x5 in (10.2x12.7 cm)

Handwriting

Shot Priscilla was the fifth nuclear detonation of Operation Plumbbob, fired on 24 June 1957 from a balloon at 213 metres above Frenchman Flat, Nevada Test Site. It was a DOD-sponsored weapons effects test using a stockpiled LASL-designed boosted primary — a device of 27.1 inches diameter and 581 lb total weight — producing 37 kilotons. This AEC press photograph — AEC-57-5794, credited to Lookout Mountain Laboratory, USAF — was officially distributed as documentation of Shot Priscilla. However, research by nuclear historian Chuck Hansen and others has established that AEC and DOE photographs identified as Priscilla are in all likelihood misidentified images of Shot Grable — the sole test of a nuclear artillery shell, fired on 25 May 1953 during Operation Upshot-Knothole from the M65 280mm gun known as Atomic Annie. Both shots were daytime airbursts over Frenchman Flat in a similar yield range with nearly identical scaled burst heights, making the misidentification easy to produce and difficult to detect within the original security-restricted archive chain. This print is presented here as an official AEC document under the identification it carries.