and opened up with his twin .50-caliber machine guns. "A dozen
scientists, ... under the plane and out of the gunner's line of
vision, dropped their instruments and hugged the ground in terror as
the bullets thudded about them."[5] Later a number of these
scientists threatened to quit the project.

Workers built three observation points 5.68 miles (10,000 yards),
north, south, and west of Ground Zero. Code named Able, Baker, and
Pittsburgh, these heavily-built wooden bunkers were reinforced with
concrete, and covered with earth. The bunker designated Baker or
South 10,000 served as the control center for the test. This is where
head scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer would be for the test.

A fourth observation point was the test's Base Camp, (the abandoned
Dave McDonald ranch) located about ten miles southwest of Ground Zero.
The primary observation point was on Compania Hill, located about 20
miles to the northwest of Trinity near today's Stallion Range Gate,
off NM 380.

The test was originally scheduled for 4 a.m., Monday July 16, but was
postponed to 5:30 due to a severe thunderstorm that would have
increased the amount of radioactive fallout, and have interfered with
the test results. The rain finally stopped and at 5:29:45 a.m.
Mountain War Time, the device exploded successfully and the Atomic Age
was born. The nuclear blast created a flash of light brighter than a
dozen suns. The light was seen over the entire state of New Mexico
and in parts of Arizona, Texas, and Mexico. The resultant mushroom
cloud rose to over 38,000 feet within minutes, and the heat of the
explosion was 10,000 times hotter than the surface of the sun! At ten
miles away, this heat was described as like standing directly in front