No sunbject that I can remember has generated so much dicussion as that of the power of the biggest American bomb (USMA 16590, 16592, 16599, 16601, 16603, 1604, 16606, 16607, 16608, 16612, 16613, 16614, 16615, 16616, 16617, 16618, 16619, 16620, 16621, 16627, 16636, 16637, 16640, 16644).
Mu own contribution was USMA 16599, in which I wrote: I suspect that the area of devastation caused by the big bomb was 4 square kilometres and that an ignorant scribe thought that was the same as a 4 kilometre square. In which case, by another error by another scribe, the correct result of 1.5 square miles was produced. I apologize for reopening this theadbare subject, but the November 19 Canadian edition of Time stated that the big bomb can kill everything within a radius of 1/2 mile. A circle of radius 1/2 mile equals an area of 0.25 pi = 0.79 square miles. Joseph B.Reid 17 Glebe Road West Toronto M5P 1C8 TEL. 416-486-6071
