Preliminary Planning 



Tke following conditions were specified as necessary for successful 

 execution of operation SWOP; (1) fully developed sea with significant 

 height of 12 feet or greater, (2) ceiling in excess of 3000 feet, (3) excellent 

 visibilityj and (4) proper illumination level for aerial photography. 



The request for selection of a site for SWOP, and prediction of occur- 

 rence of situations where the specifications could be met, were made early 

 in September 1954. The planes necessary to carry out the stereo=photography 

 were made available to the SWOP project for a ten day period in October 

 1954. The original plans were to carry out the operation in the Berm^uda 

 area. An analysis of historical wind and wave data at the Hydrographic 

 Office indicated that there was an extremely low probability that the re= 

 quired conditions could be m.et in October in the Bermuda area. It was 

 recommended that the operation be carried out off the east coast of the 

 United States in the general area of 40N=65W. The statistics indicated 

 that there was a high probability that at least one meteorological condition 

 would occur during the ten day period in October with the potential of gene= 

 rating a 12 foot sea. 



New plans for carrying our operation SWOP were formulated in ac- 

 cordance with the above reconamendations. The photographic planes w^re 

 now to be based at the NAS, South Weymouth, Mass. The WHOI ship 

 ATLANTIS went to the area around 40N=65W to perform its functions in 



connection with the stereo=photograpMc project and to take wave obser= 



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