28-08-2014, 02:21 AM
Drew Phipps Wrote:I have the same objections to a bullet (only) throwing Connally forward as I have to a bullet (only) throwing JFK's head back and to the left.
Excerpts from testimony of Alfred G. Olivier, DVM to Rockefeller Commission, April 18, 1975. Transcript of testimony taken beginning at page 21 of the testimony. Dr. Olivier, (A.) a wound ballistics scientist, is being questioned by Robert Olsen. (Q.)
"Q. Do you have an opinion, then, based upon your work in this field over the years, as to whether President Kennedy's body would have moved in the fashion that it did after the fatal shot in the head, that movement being a consequence of the impact of the bullet?
A. As a result of the momentum imparted to the body by the bullet?
Q. Yes.
A. No, it wouldn't.
Q. Are you saying --
A. The President weights a lot more than a 100 pound goat, and if a bullet wouldn't move a 100 pound goat it isn't going to move the President. This just doesn't happen. "[end excerpts from Olivier testimony]
(emphasis added)
Dr. Oliver is a bit disingenuous in his answer. However, the physics of the event can't be approximated by the transfer of momentum from a bullet that exits the skull to the skull itself without more. A lot more.
http://www.kenrahn.com/JFK/Scientific_to...-film.html contains a mathematical analysis of the motion of JFK's head. At frame 313, the head has been accelerated forward at 56.4 ft/sec2 (somewhat higher than absorbing all the momentum from a 10.5 gram bullet moving at 2100 ft/sec). The next frame, the head is accelerated at -75.88 ft./sec2. That requires far more energy than is available from a bullet transfer. It requires an explosion.
The one thing Olivier never mentioned, much to his discredit, is that different bullets behave differently in wounds, and some transfer far more energy to their victims than others. For example, a FMJ bullet travelling through a victim without stopping will not be able to move a victim much. But, a hollow point or frangible bullet coming to a complete stop a couple of inches into the wound will transfer ALL of its energy to its victim. As an example, I have seen a deer shot in the head with a hollow point .308 calibre 110 grain bullet literally lifted off its front feet by the impact. Perhaps this is the type of "explosion" you are thinking of.
That being said, I agree with you that there was a lot more going on in the limo at the time JFK and JBC were shot. JBC may have felt he was knocked over by the force of the shot but, by strange coincidence, Greer was applying the brakes at the very moment JBC was shot in the back, and Nellie, Kellerman and Greer can be seen being propelled forward as the limo came to a stop. What is really strange, and smacks of alteration to me, is that JFK and Jackie seem to be unaffected by the braking of the limo. Anyways, I believe the bullet that struck JBC in the back may have moved him a little, but it was Greer's braking that bowled him over.
I have always felt that JFK fell back and to the left, and was not propelled by the force of the bullet. In the film, you can see the brief recoil of JFK's head, followed by a long slow descent as his body lost all muscular support.
Mr. HILL. The right rear portion of his head was missing. It was lying in the rear seat of the car. His brain was exposed. There was blood and bits of brain all over the entire rear portion of the car. Mrs. Kennedy was completely covered with blood. There was so much blood you could not tell if there had been any other wound or not, except for the one large gaping wound in the right rear portion of the head.
Warren Commission testimony of Secret Service Agent Clinton J. Hill, 1964
Warren Commission testimony of Secret Service Agent Clinton J. Hill, 1964