Posted on 06/24/2017 7:46:26 AM PDT by Mariner
Two of the Pentagon's specially reinforced "Doomsday" planes, designed to withstand the heat from a nuclear blast, were grounded after being damaged by a tornado, the Air Force said Friday.
The E4-B Boeing 747s, built in the 1970s during the Cold War, are essentially flying command centers that can refuel in the sky and are designed to remain airborne for days on end in times of crisis.
The Air Force has four E4-Bs, which also shuttle the secretary of defense around the world.
Two were damaged June 16 at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska when a tornado whipped through the area with little advance warning.
"Two E-4B National Airborne Operations Center aircraft stationed at Offutt AFB received storm damage," Air Force spokesman Colonel Pat Ryder said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Yeah, but it's a dry heat.
Let’s see, the E4-B is metal, has wheels and you can live in it for days. It might not be a trailer, but I can see why the tornado would think it is when it is on the hunt.
*sigh* Journalist. So ignorant, yet writing so self-assuredly. There is no material on earth that withstand the heat of a nuclear blast. Were basically talking about the internal temperature of the Sun.
Now the plane might have additional radiation shielding, but surviving the blast of a fusion weapon; f'getaboudit.
Most of the weights we use now start at 20 megaton, and go up from there. Here is some information I got from the Office of Technology Assessment, Congress of the United States, Homeland Security on a detonation of one of our average devices, 25 megaton and distances from the initial. And this was an airburst:
25 Megaton Air Blast: Pressure Damage
Radius of destructive circle:
6.5 miles
12 pounds per square inch
The remains of some buildings’ foundations are visible. Some of the strongest buildings — those made of reinforced, poured concrete — are still standing. Ninety-eight percent of the population within this area are dead.
Radius: 10.7 miles
5 psi
Virtually everything is destroyed between the 12 and 5 psi rings. The walls of typical multi-story buildings, including apartment buildings, are completely blown out. As you move from the center toward the 5 psi ring there are more structural skeletons of buildings standing. Single-family residences within this this area have been completely blown away — only their foundations remain. Fifty percent of the population between the 12 and 5 psi rings are dead. Forty percent are injured.
Radius: 20 miles
2 psi
Any single-family residences that are not completely destroyed are heavily damaged. The windows of office buildings have been blown away, as have some of their walls. The contents of these buildings’ upper floors, including the people who were working there, are scattered on the street. A substantial amount of debris clutters the entire area. Five percent of the population between the 5 and 2 psi rings are dead. Forty-five percent are injured.
Radius: 30.4 miles
1 psi
Residences are moderately damaged. Commercial buildings have sustained minimal damage. Twenty-five percent of the population between the 2 and 1 psi rings are injured, mainly by flying glass and debris. Many others have been injured from thermal radiation — the heat generated by the blast. The remaining seventy-five percent are unhurt.
The radius of this is at around 30 miles, which make the diameter a little over 60 miles. So by making it a 60 mile diameter circle it creates an area of a little more than 2800 square miles from the immediate blast site.
But I believe the points within the post are consistent. Wish it wasn’t so.
rwood
The father of my college roomate was in charge of this program during the 80’s. The Colonel was visiting us at college for parents day. In the afteroon two soldiers pulled up and told the Colonel he needed to leave with them. Sure enough, we tossed bombs at Gadaffi about 12 hours later.
“At the time it stimulated improvements in Air Force weather forecasting.”
We were working outside at Homestead after the hurricane (Andrew??) went through and trashed it. The morning’s health and safety meeting at 6:30 included from the military guy “And make sure you are undercover by 5:51 as a thunderstorm will be coming through.” I laughed and said something like “Are you sure it won’t be 5:52?”
He gave me a stern look and said “5:51”. (He may have been using military time, I don’t recall.)
Anyway - almost 12 hours later, at 5:30 you could see it coming with lots of lightening and thunder. At 5:51 the rain started. I’m not sure how they did that.
#9 Here are the 419 photos of the damage.
http://users.waymark.net/proweb/tornado/tornado.htm
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