OPERATION CROSSROADS
FORMERLY CLASSIFIED FILM.
16 mm film, 1946, on 10 1/2-inch reel labeled "Raygram Corp, USAAF," about 500 feet of film on reel, metal canister with identification in marker: "ABLE BAKER." Restoration to film, but with beginning of film somewhat cockled.
Provenance: Lt. Col. James Gaylord, Commander of Lookout Mountain Laboratory (identification on the cannister).
Operation Crossroads was the second nuclear weapon test conducted by the Unites States. It included two devices: Able and Baker and were the first of many held in the Marshall Islands at the Pacific Proving Grounds. Likely filmed by the United States Air Force 1352nd Photographic Group, but predating the Lookout Mountain Laboratory facility by a year so MGM was likely contracted for this purpose and appears in the opening credits. A rare Cold War artifact.