The Drones of the Atomic Age
By Dan Gettinger Eight minutes after the detonation of Gilda at Bikini Atoll on July 1, 1946, a fleet of U.S. B-17 Flying Fortresses and F6F Hellcat fighters approached the rising mushroom cloud. The first B-17 entered the cloud at 24,000 feet and, minutes later, three more B-17s and three Hellcats …