... in 1971 somebody goofed and instead of testing the nationwide Emergency Broadcast System; they put in the tape that told all the radio stations in America that a Nuclear Attack was underway! Follow the link to CONELRAD Adjacent to get the full story!
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1957 ... KC-135 'Stratotanker'
... Q. what finally killed off the dreams of nuclear powered flight? A. the only slightly less crazy sounding (but proven practical) practice of in-flight refueling.
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Vietnam era Air Force promo film about in-flight refueling.
... here's Ivan!
... more from our buddy 'Ivan' and his hip 1970's tour of Warsaw Pact forces for the benefit of all the young dudes in US/ NATO.
all images- Right click- open in New Window or Tab = super colossal size!
1961 ... oh boy- what's for dinner?!
"Served hot or cold, wet or dry, three scoops of MPF were all shelter
occupants needed to meet required daily nutrients and caloric intake.
General Mills recommended adding MPF to other foods, such as tomato
juice for breakfast and peanut butter sandwiches for dinner, suggesting
the product's flavor may have been less than desirable. If requested,
General Mills would even supply innovative recipes for cooking the
post-nuclear apocalypse staple."
1957 ... 'R-7' 1st ICBM
... although it did not work out in the long-term for reliable nuclear delivery service; the 'R-7' launched Earth's first satellite and went on to father a family of space launch vehicles which are still in service today!
1970 ... nuke in a knapsack!
... weighing in at 90lbs this is a Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM). Designed to accompany special operations teams parachuted behind enemy lines this luggage sized hunk of destruction was intended to blow-up bridges, dams, factories and etc. An ultimate expression of a 'tactical' nuclear weapon a squad of guys with a couple of these could be very inconvenient for Soviet forces invading Europe. Yield of 1 to 10 kiloton.
...heck- you could even take it with you swimming!
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1958 ... 'Oak' shot: Operation Hardtack 1
... there is no way that we can truly sense any of the mind-boggling scale of this mushroom cloud from a small two-dimensional photograph. In 1982 I saw a Shuttle launch in person. Watching the same event on a television screen is about 1% of the live, be there, experience.
... detonated on a barge at Enewetok Atoll in the South Pacific, this 9 megaton weapon produced a cloud of steam and gas which fills the sky and reaches more than twenty miles high!
all images- Right click- open in New Window or Tab = super colossal size!