Tony Buttler sheds light on a little-known aspect of the Victor's service life - sampling fallout from nuclear tests
Collecting air samples after a nuclear test was an important task – not just for the nation causing the explosion but also for allies or rivals trying to gain intelligence. During the 1950s and through to the 1970s, atmospheric sampling by specially configured aircraft to monitor levels of radiation was standard procedure.
Such sorties required flying through the ‘debris’ or fallout from the detonation. This was a hazardous task for the crew, not least because of potential exposure to radiation and its possible effects in later years. For the British trials held in the Pacific in the mid-1950s, English Electric Canberra PR.7s were fitted with special filters to collect post explosion radioactive samples.
The RAF also took specimens from the nuclear tests of other nations. In the late 1960s, Canberra B.6s of 45 Squadron deployed to Kai Tak, Hong Kong, to monitor Chinese bombs. Within the RAF such sampling work was known colloquially as ‘sniffing’.
Between May and September 1971 Operation ‘Attune’ covered upper atmospheric sampling of debris produced by French tests in the Pacific. The Fr…
