1954 ... 'ooo, look at the colors!'


... LSD was also seen as having great potential for psycho-therapy and Vincent Price can be seen shooting-up a big hypo of the stuff in the horror movie 'The Tingler'. LSD was made illegal in 1968.

... bomb and balloon!


... effective, cheap and reliable; a big balloon can lift your 'test device' to a height well above an expensive 'shot-tower'. Just make sure that it's well tethered and doesn't go floating off!

1950's ... 'military effects' test


... my guess is that this a 20 kiloton 'Hiroshima size' weapon detonated from a tethered balloon. Those little specks are various unoccupied tanks and other armored vehicles being sacrificed.

1981 ... 'boomer'



... 'Ohio Class'  Ballistic Missile submarine. One of the three legs of the 'triad' nuclear deterrence force.

1989 ... Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-2_spirit

all images- Right click- open in New Window= super colossal size!

... US Strategic Nuclear Weapons



... excellent series prepared by Sandia and Los Alamos National Labs.

1962 ... Oct. 22, 7:00PM, President Kennedy- Live Television address to the Nation... please stand by




"It shall be the policy of this nation - to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba - against any nation in the Western Hemisphere - as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States... requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union."

... The Armageddon Letters



... interesting, and a little off-beat, multi-media website, dedicated to 'The Cuban Missile Crisis'

1962 ... JFK- Cuban Missile Crisis


... full 18 min live address to the nation via television on October 22nd, 1962. John F. Kennedy President of the United States.  This is the view from the 'newsreel' camera and the not the straight on image that the television camera was seeing.

1974 ... 'Missiles Of October'



... stage play, ABC TV broadcast, 1974 production of the events of 'The Cuban Missile Crisis'

1960 ... radar lines!


... DEW Line- Alaska


... brrrr- I have to go get some hot chocolate just looking at this picture!

... home, home on the range!



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... science to the rescue!



1954 ... friend or foe?


1949 ... who goes there!



... it's 1949 and the Russians have the A-Bomb! Americans start looking around and wondering about 'another Pearl Harbor!'

... better than nothin'


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1952 ... Duck And Cover!




1951... early Defense Wi-Fi


... as a child, I remember looking up at these looming towers as we drove by them along the highway. I knew they has something to do with 'Defense' and that they relayed radio messages

( Giants, in the twilight. Whispering to each other about the end of the world.)

... here's a cool link to a pamphlet from the Bell System

all images- Right click- open in New Window= super colossal size!

1962 ... 'Red Nightmare'





... depending upon your politics, level of paranoia and the era you saw it in; the 1962 docu-drama 'Red-Nightmare', made for the US Armed Services and introduced by tough-guy actor Jack Webb, is either chilling or humorous.

1973 ... 'Red Nightmare!' National Lampoon





... the National Lampoon can always be counted on hilarious satire. This is a send-up inspired by the 1962 US Army educational film 'Red Nightmare' hosted by Jack Webb.

Okay kids- make sure to check under your bed for Commies before you go to sleep!

... see the next blog entry for video link to Jack Webb's version