... counterbalanced and designed to be operated by one man, huge solid doors protect the 'command capsule' of an underground missile complex.
... how to get out!
... underground missile complexes had an emergency escape shaft which was back-filled with several tons of gravel to protect from blast and radiation effects.
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1959 ... sneak attack!
... early submarine launched nuclear missiles were clumsy, inaccurate and short ranged.
Usually only one could be launched from the deck of a surfaced submarine. But as the illustration shows; just a few subs could do a lot of destruction!
(The Soviet 'trawler fleets' mentioned were supply and spy vessels posing as fishing ships.)
(The Soviet 'trawler fleets' mentioned were supply and spy vessels posing as fishing ships.)
1961 ... North American 'Vigilante'
... originally designed as a long-range carrier based nuclear bomber the 'Vigilante' was used mainly as a Navy reconnaissance aircraft.
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1954 ... Avro 'Vulcan' strategic bomber (UK)!
... the delta winged Vulcan, from a time when British aerospace was equal or superior to the United States. A sports car of the big bombers she could do rolls and maneuver like a fighter.
1974 ... B-1 (A) strategic bomber!
... original plans for the Rockwell bomber called for supersonic speed.
Ironically, her "B" predecessor has been deemed too unreliable for the nuclear deterrent role that she was built for.
Ironically, her "B" predecessor has been deemed too unreliable for the nuclear deterrent role that she was built for.
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1975 ... the eye of 'Safeguard'
... a remnant of the now defunct 'Safeguard' Anti- Ballistic Missile System huge phased array radars were built in the 1970's on the plains of North Dakota. This structure is 129 feet tall with 7-foot reinforced concrete sides.
[photo: Paul Shambroom]
[photo: Paul Shambroom]
1992 ... missile room - 'Ohio' class sub
... densely crowded with machines and vital connections this is only a view of a small part of a space that stretches over a hundred feet!
[photo: Paul Shambroom]
1998 ... talking to the deep!
... part of the equipment used to communicate with United States Ballistic Missile Submarines (boomers) hiding in the ocean depths across the globe. VLF (Very Low Frequency) radio station in Maine.
[photo: Paul Shambroom]
[photo: Paul Shambroom]
1974 ... airborne ICBM's
... in the never ending search for a 'survivable basing mode' for nuclear missiles the US Air Force considered launching Minuteman missiles from aircraft! The concept was that a portion of the ground based ICBM force could be converted and carried aloft in giant cargo planes. Through aerial refueling and rotating crews these flying missile bases could stay airborne for days at a time. Such a system would be almost impossible to track and target. Since 'airborne alert' flights of bombers, on routine patrol carrying nuclear weapons, had been discontinued in the 1960's because of accidents; this would likely have been a system used only in a 'heightened state of readiness' alerts (as in: we think WW3 is goin down).
Although never adopted, feasibility tests were carried out and a missile was launched from C-5 'Galaxy'. image credit- upship
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1952 ... US Navy "Cutlass'
Regarded as a radical departure from traditional aircraft design, the Cutlass suffered from numerous technical and handling problems
throughout its short service career. The type was responsible for the
deaths of four test pilots and 21 other U.S. Navy pilots.
Over one quarter of all Cutlasses built were destroyed in accidents.
The poor safety record was largely the result of the advanced design
built to apply new aerodynamic theories and insufficiently powerful, unreliable engines. wiki
