Trinity Site

In 1985, after stepping out of our Air Force Huey helicopter, I stood right in front of that black lava obelisk with that plaque describing the first atomic explosion. I've touched that plaque and the obelisk. I have seen part of the tower that was thrown over a hill about a half mile away toward the SouthEast of that site not visible if your on the ground at Trinity, crumpled and partly melted. I have stood at the McDonald ranch house where the bomb core was assembled. I was on a privileged tour of White Sands Missile Range with a Col. Smathers, the range commander at the time.

We flew en-route to the Trinity site in a Huey helicopter that had taken us to research buildings that were on a mountain crest nearly ten miles East of Trinity. We were on a general aerial tour of the entire range complex which included Trinity site, several locations throughout the range, and the missile launch facilities at the Southern end of White Sands.

At that place on the mountain crest ten miles East of Trinity there were buildings with large concrete patios that opened out to a clear view of the valley below and a thousand foot drop straight down. The elevation was around twelve thousand feet. The purpose of those buildings was to contain recording equipment to evaluate air launched missiles dropped from various aircraft shot directly at the top of the mountain. High speed cameras were deployed by rolling them out onto those concrete patios in order to photograph every aspect of the missile launch, release, and its flight across the valley.

To see the Trinity site from the air was not all that impressive. I was looking for a deep crater but there was hardly any depression at all. Much of the landscape was overgrown with the natural plants of the area so the only thing that stood out when we got close was the chain link fence, observation bunkers, and the obelisk. No green glass was present and were told any fragments that may have remained were probably buried several feet by dirt and sand that had drifted in on the wind.

This movie/documentary is well done. But, to actually have been at Trinity, stood there, and seen the things I saw from my vantage point from the air in an Air Force helicopter on a military guided tour, the experience was quite impressive and made this movie even more memorable.