Operation Totem Operation Totem Operation Totem was a pair of British atmospheric nuclear tests which took place at Emu Field in South Australia on 15 October 1953. They followed the Operation Hurricane test of the first British atomic bomb, which had taken place at the Montebello Islands a year previously. The main purpose of the trial was to determine the acceptable limit on the amount of plutonium-240 which could be present in a bomb. In addition to the two main tests, there was a series of five subcritical tests. These did not produce nuclear explosions, but used conventional explosives, polonium-210, beryllium and
Radar, Anti-Aircraft No. 3 Mk. 7 ten years off suggested no major production should take place, as developments in the interim would render any radars built in that period obsolete. However, various events in 1949, notably the first Soviet atomic test, led to sweeping upgrades, including the first contract for production Mk. 7's. These began to arrive in 1952. The Swiss Air Force received twelve Mk. 7's in 1958, which they referred to as Feuerleitradar ("fire control radar") Mark VII. They combined them with their own predictor, the Hasler-built "Kommandogerät" ("command device") 43/50R. Like its British counterpart, the 43/50R could be fed information directly from the