Science: Pacifying Ginger

PACIFYING GINGER For two weeks, Hurricane Ginger moved erratically east and west in the mid-Atlantic. Then it stalled, 650 nautical miles off the Florida coast. For the scientists of Project Stormfury, a long wait was over: now they had an opportunity to experiment with and perhaps partially tame a major hurricane while it was a safe distance from populated land areas.

As Ginger hovered indecisively, Stormfury's scientific director, a soft-spoken meteorologist named R. Cecil Gentry, recommended an attack. Taking off from fields along the East Coast, Bermuda and Puerto Rico, 16 planes...