Engoulevent Test

Chosen by French meteorologists, the test location in French Sudan, far out into the Sahara Desert, would see any potential contaminants blown out to sea by the West African monsoon, which saw hot, dry winds blowing west and south out of the great desert.

Construction was not easy, nor was it cheap. The French government had spared no expense on the construction of the Bomb, though. A new road wound across the Sahara from Elkhalil, just over the Algerian-French Sudanese border. Builders had put together infrastructure to maintain the road and allow vehicles to traverse it, but the primary means of transportation was an airstrip built near the test site using perforated steel planking and maintained by the French Air Force.

Borrowed from the Groupe de Bombardement 2/26, a Handley Paige Halifax delivered the test device to the remote location. A subsequent transport plane delivered members of the press and military, who crowded the bunkers arrayed around the site. It was insufferably hot for February, with those cramped into the low, concrete structures sweating quite a lot. Aides to the military officers moved back and forth, passing out water to the assembled onlookers. A fan whirred in the corner, achieving practically nothing.

Scientists, chief among them Dr. Frédéric Joliot-Curie, discussed the process of building the bomb, machining the interior components within an ultra fine margin of error, generating the fissile materials. They spoke at length about the potential yield, with the set goal of 70 kilotons of explosive force. Warnings were issued: turn away from the window when the red flare was fired off, wait for the blast, shield your eyes with your hands or forearms. The final point was stressed and stressed again: Do not look at the explosion.

At last the appointed hour arrived. Dr. Joliot-Curie disappeared with his fellow scientists, retreating to the command bunker. A few final photographs of the steel tower holding the 4,500kg bomb were snapped from this extreme distance before the flare fired into the air, carried south towards the test site by the winds of the Sahara.

The tension in the bunkers was thick. The clock’s second hand ticked towards 12, seemingly in slow motion. It passed 10, 11….

Almost right on time the room flashed white, the light shining through the viewing slit quite literally blinding. It swiftly faded, followed almost immediately by an almighty crash as the shockwave washed over the facility, jarring all into startled focus. Photographers were allowed to turn around and begin taking pictures, and across the dunes in the command bunker measurements of explosive force (77kt, a resounding success), radiation, and other such metrics were being taken down.

Outside, the sight was awe-inspiring. A great fiery cloud roiled toward the sky, seemingly rolling out a bent black stem. The meteorologists took note, it was being blown south-southwest by the prevailing winds as it flashed into the sky at an astonishing pace. The physicists applauded each other, the military men looked on furtively. France had done the impossible at extraordinary cost, they had followed in the footsteps of the Americans, Soviets, and British: France now possessed the atomic bomb.