Dogsauce
I’ve got Skol but I’m not a Scholar
Just what it looks like, not a technical term!
Cold War Aviation Porn
- Thread starter JuanTwoThree
- Start date
T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
What were the orders or advice for the Vulcan crews in case of being deployed during a nuclear exchange situation whereby the UK was expected to be destroyed by Soviet nukes? Head to any friendly country within fuel range that was likely to have not been nuked? Or was it pretty much a one-way mission?
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
IIRC it was to head for Scandinavia or a number of diversionary airfields scattered around the northern North Sea and simply dump the planes - The large but barely-ever used airfield at Dounreay in Caithness was one and I think Iceland was another option.
But I think most pilots realised the chance of actually making it that far was slim.
But I think most pilots realised the chance of actually making it that far was slim.
T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
Yeah, and I can imagine if it’d got to a full nuclear exchange between the West and the Soviet bloc, which pretty likely would mean there’d be no loved ones, army, war to fight or country left to fly back to, the pilots would be as tempted to ditch into the sea as anything else
I might have mentioned it here already but a friend of mine, now in his 70s, was a Vulcan ground crew back in the day and IIRC, he used to say there were no specific orders for the ground staff after they’d managed to see the Vulcans off. Three minute warning, nukes heading directly to their base, no nuclear bunker... enjoy your last 180-odd seconds in this world.
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
Yes, early in the Cold war, when it was likely that only the most major/highest value targets were likely to be nuked, there was some obvious thought put in to survivability and continuance but as nuclear weapons technology progressed more rapidly than anyone expected and the yields and numbers of weapons proliferated, the thinking fairly quickly became redundant and really only served to save face or offer a forlorn hope that crews might survive.
The US/Germany developed a strategy that accepted their airbases would all be destroyed in a first strike but then went-on to assume they would simply regroup - The US to their large "ghost" airfields in the Low Countries (essentially just runways/hardstandings with few other facilities that would be brought rapidly to readiness in times of war) and the Germans would operate their new generation of vertical take-off aircraft out of car parks and runway strips. Some of it lumbered-on to the early 1970s but by the late 1960s, it was obvious that the idea had had its day. I think the Harrier was the only aircraft from that generation of thinking to see any service - nothing else got beyond the prototype stage.
The US/Germany developed a strategy that accepted their airbases would all be destroyed in a first strike but then went-on to assume they would simply regroup - The US to their large "ghost" airfields in the Low Countries (essentially just runways/hardstandings with few other facilities that would be brought rapidly to readiness in times of war) and the Germans would operate their new generation of vertical take-off aircraft out of car parks and runway strips. Some of it lumbered-on to the early 1970s but by the late 1960s, it was obvious that the idea had had its day. I think the Harrier was the only aircraft from that generation of thinking to see any service - nothing else got beyond the prototype stage.
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A380
How do I change this 'custom title' thing then?
What kind of twat would do that?
Those nuclear bombs look awfully fragile
2hats
Dust.
Understandable - US eggs kill around 70 of their own citizens annually. (DOI: 10.3201/eid1101.040401).
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
Not without cracking some eggs.
Idris2002
canadian girlfriend
I think we're more or less done here.
DownwardDog
Riding a Brompton with a power meter.
Nuclear powered Tu-95LAL. Radiation levels in the cockpit were 'acceptable' apparently.
A380
How do I change this 'custom title' thing then?
The USSR and successor states having a more robust approach to radiation exposure.Nuclear powered Tu-95LAL. Radiation levels in the cockpit were 'acceptable' apparently.
I once saw a video of Russian technicians decommissioning a soviet era nuclear powered beacon with the aid of a white line painted on a hanger floor, a stop watch and a whistle….
Idris2002
canadian girlfriend
Not actually nuclear-powered though, just carrying a reactor onboard? With acceptable radiation levels in the cockpit, naturally.Nuclear powered Tu-95LAL. Radiation levels in the cockpit were 'acceptable' apparently.
DownwardDog
Riding a Brompton with a power meter.
The reactor powered the samovar.
likesfish
You can't park here sir
Eviromential exercise briefing in the Ukraine.
The locals need 24hours notice if you want to use nerve gas!
Don't go in the (Lakes they glowed at night).
The nbc team did some tests on the water it was positive for everything!
A380
How do I change this 'custom title' thing then?
Oh go on.
DownwardDog
Riding a Brompton with a power meter.
Total fuck up that managed to combine all of the worst features of post war British aircraft procurement in one project. It had ludicrous requirements that went far beyond what the technology of the day could deliver, the government micromanaging the entire industry and a role that changed from tactical to strategic while it was being developed.
The RAF should have just bought the A-5 instead and got 90% of what they wanted but 100% of what they needed for a fraction of the cost.
The consensus among 10 year old boys at the time was that flying very low and very fast in a British 'plane was it, of course. Issues like procurement and inter-service rivalry went right over our tousled heads.
Andegraf Rockets
rockets.andegraf.com
From Boing Boing
