Ti- DECLASSIFIED Authority 14 ESISG 20 1 SEE BOTTOM OF PAGE FOR SPECIAL CONTROLS IF ANY This latch contains blur-lotion sheeting the Nissan - 91 name sum a null-9 1i Espionage Lows nu n 0 13 loco 3 and 704 he wall-Son or revolt PREPARED AND DISSEMINATED BY I 7 e which I - cly manner to as unauthorised pen CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY - I e COUNI szponr 1 SUBJELT NO OF PAGES NO OF ENCLS Raam class's Changelclasswy Io 3' 4 Wm concuuence ol suppuum To Declasnry In par aI arose DATE DISTRIBUTED Reported Air-Drop and Explosion of MW 11 Ma 1957 Atomic Bomb DEPARTMENT OF STATE 7 012 INFORMATION Dan at 0 - wit-cheeses er eosdmsu described 1- report - scsronsw YO 0 I mm 1956 - - 2 3 1 We PLACE AND DME ACQUIRED I ism 3' THIS Is UNEVALUATEDHNFORMATION SOURC 025x CIA Between 13-youp gunmen warfare officers assemble their rotec vs 0 ng and gas masks and 1 me We were metqry a number of officers fran other branches of arm assembled into a group totalling 50 Our group boar a four engine plane and was flown to the USSR The flight lasted 16 hours with no refueling stops enroute We landed at an airport in a large city the name of which I did not learn however I believe it was in We We arrived at night and were billeted in local hotels assent Source was rather vague about the details of the opera on including the actual date place etc He reported that he did not recognize any landmarks QVJJ enroute or when he landed There were no signs on the hotel or in the area which could help him to identify it 0 About 0700 hours the following morning we were loaded into buses and after a long ride arrived at our destination at about 1500 hours We were told that we were to witnes bomb At this site there were ficers already assembled I do no eve ere were am 0 ovBloe countries represented there were definitely no Chinese present For each 3E officer from the SovBloc present there was one Soviet officer in attend- once We were permitted to mingle freely and to talk with each other We were instructed to don our gas masks and protective clothing and were issued binoculars I do not know whether the binoculars had been specially treated to protect the eyes from flash effects however there were no dark glasses issued After about one-half hour of waiting a plane appeared at a distance very high altitude and I was unable to identify it by size or type The plane dropped a parachute to which the bash was attached and continued on in straight and level flight until it disappeared When the parachute dropped to an altitude of #00500 meters the explosion occured I had been instructed during my training at the Tancsics Military Acadenw that this was the optimnn altitude for an A-bcmb explosionJune 111nm lassg ed Amho ty 33546 By wd orothy Johnson Date 02 09-201 DocId 31432689 DECLASSIFIED contaminate it were not permittedrto the radio active top soil and dust We area see the team in action or inspect the target 5 indthe area for three hours were taken back details of 1 1 We were not given any technical up 8 On 0 the weapon used We all specu- I ha 7e no idea as to the force or the explosion but estimate that but I do not doubt that it was an atomic device ocndc E025x1 CIA DocId 31432689' w# 33546 latively small banb my e ak unuv                     National Security Archive    Suite 701  Gelman Library  The George Washington University    2130 H Street  NW  Washington  D C  20037    Phone  202 994‐7000  Fax  202 994‐7005  nsarchiv@gwu edu