Operation Chrome Dome and the Palomares Incident
Vložit
- čas přidán 31. 07. 2018
- Operation Chrome Dome, one of the most ambitious operations in U.S. Air Force history, defined the Cold War, and underscored the dangers of the nuclear age.
As many viewers have mentioned, the Boeing KC-135 was not derived from the 707. Rather, both models were developed from the Boeing 367-80 "Dash 80" prototype.
The History Guy uses media that are in the public domain. As photographs of actual events are sometimes not available, photographs of similar objects and events are used for illustration.
Facebook: / thehistoryguyyt
Patreon: / thehistoryguy
The History Guy: Five Minutes of History is the place to find short snippets of forgotten history from five to fifteen minutes long. If you like history too, this is the channel for you.
Subscribe for more forgotten history: / @thehistoryguychannel .
Awesome The History Guy merchandise is available at:
teespring.com/stores/the-hist...
The episode is intended for educational purposes. All events are portrayed in historical context. Historic photos of airline wreckage are included, but there are no depictions of violence.
#history #thehistoryguy #militaryhistory
"Now, boys, we got three engines out; we got more holes in us than a horse trader's mule; the radio's gone and we're leakin' fuel, and if we's flying any lower, why, we'd need sleigh bells on this thing. But we got one little bulge on them Rooskies, at this height, why, they might harpoon us but they dang sure ain't gonna spot us on no radar screen
Toe to toe nuclear combat with the Ruskies!
Is that from the movie Dr Strange Glove? If you have never seen that movie I recommend it. 👍👍
@@327JohnnySS Yep
I picture a Texas pilot sitting backwards on a nuclear bomb waving a cowboy hat just dropped from a bomber.
@@erbewayne6868 remember the list of survival gadgets? Chewing gum and prophylactics. 😂 I have to check out Dr. Strange Glove again. Definitely probably the best Peter Sellers roll ever. Way better than the Pink Panther rolls that he is best known for. Definitely a lost classic like It's a Mad,Mad,Mad, Mad World. . . . The big W. Lamo 😂
I like that you listed the names of those who died carrying out this operation. They, too, should be remembered.
I suspect the names may be classified, maybe?
the names are given at the at
@cmonkey63
I am glad that someone comments that they are glad that the names of the dead are listed in the end of the video :Þ
The "History Guy" is such a classy gentleman.
They were stupid enough to join a club that only exists to kill people...
The closing screen is a very classy touch. Those men served and died during one of the human race's closest approaches to self annihilation. They deserve to remembered and their sacrifice honored. Thanks for that.
Yeah, because it's really applaudable to wanting to join a group of murderers. Sacrifice? Good riddance.
It is brave and applaudable to put your own life in danger so that others can live in peace. These people's (and others) sacrifice ensured an era of relative peace in america and europe for roundabout fifty years. Compare that to the fiftiy years before that and you might want to think about your comment again.
@@Rudirudel you mean a relatively constant stream of oil. The American army, which is an offensive army, not a defensive one, serves to protect the oil industry. Why are the Americans constantly making war in the Middle East, but never get involved in the 20+ dictatorships in Africa? Oil. Oil. Oil. Relative peace in Europe and US, but at the same time causing wars about everywhere else. Great accomplishment. If you would spend the money you spend on bombs and other weapons on schools and healthcare, everyone would be better off.
@@nomen.nescio You are mixing different things together here... Operation Chrome Dome was set up as a deterrence for the Soviet Union during the cold war. It had nothing to do with the middle east conflict or oil. It was started in 1960, the Palomares incident was in 1966, the operation ended in 1968 (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chrome_Dome)
The first oil crisis was in 1973. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis)
Honestly speaking, I think nobody even thought about the arabs when they started Operation Chrome Dome. They just weren't a factor back then.
Same goes for the dictatorships in Africa. These are in no way connected to the topic here. And by the way, spending billions of dollars development aid in the past decades isn't exactly 'not getting involved', is it?
The other wars of that era (Korea, Vietnam) also had nothing to do with oil, but were proxy wars between the soviet union and the U.S.
And concerning the money for bombs... Buying fifty years of peace with nuclear bombs and fear was a bargain for not having war. I come from germany. When I was a kid, my grandfather and other old people often used to speak about the Second World War. He told me about how he as a kid had to sleep in a bunker each night during the war, hearing the sirens and hugging with his mother while the bunker was shaking from the explosion of bombs. I couldn't imagine living in such a world. Could you? Because, if there had been no nuclear deterrence, that is what would have happened finally. The Third World War. A total war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Watch some videos of Cologne or Berlin after the war and imagine these destrucions in Washington or Moscow. Is it still all about the oil?
@@nomen.nescio Exactly! What a bunch of dangherous nutters!
Thank you. My father was a B-52 pilot and flew those missions. The names of those that died was very nice touch, thank you again.
As an old B-52 pilot, I appreciate your review of these incidents....enjoy your channel very much!
Thank you for your service.
What I find amazing is there are still young B-52 pilots.
There are no B-52 pilots now flying that are older than the B-52 they are flying. Even more amazing. the Air Force expects the upgrades performed from 2013 to 2015 to allow the aircraft to remain in active combat service until at least 2050, when the youngest plane will be about 85 years old and the eldest near 100 years old. No other aircraft has even come close to these records.
Indeed, the DC-3/C-47 has now been in service for for nearly 75 years. It's doubtful any will remain in military service more than the next 20 years from now just because so many surplus twin engine turboprops and jets will be available at attractive prices. Still, that would put them at 90-95 years old. However, I was careful to protect myself by stipulating combat aircraft. Transports tend to live more sedate lives than combat aircraft, and the idea of a combat aircraft that might be 90-100 years old and still in effective military service is really astounding.
Since someone mentioned the C-47, I also flew the EC-47 in SEA prior to being assigned to the B-52....I did not want to go to B-52’s or SAC, because it was hard and the locations were not good, but after I started flying the aircraft and matured as a pilot and a person I was able to enjoy what I was doing and ended up spending 12 years flying and training other pilots
Having been raised as a Air Force brat and my father flying Chrome Dome his whole career starting with the B-36 then transitioning to the B-52 I can tell you these guys were incredibly motivated not only the flight Crews but the ground Crews I think it's remarkable that more accidents didn't occur!
It's cool/ intriguing that in the comments you can find someone with real ties to the story. Hope the holidays find you well and in good spirits. Best wishes
I wouldn’t say “remarkable” to the events, more over, I’d say the airmen involved were remarkable men and women.
A B36 went down on a flight from Alaska 1953 or so . The plane crashed in the mountains near Smithers BC .. Got a lot of people very excited . took a while to find the wreck . Crew bailed out and plane flew on auto pilot for 15-20 minutes .. Just another OMG event . The crews did a difficult job but there is eventually a failure of something , somewhere , somehow .
You ought to be so proud of your dad. Protecting us from hostile countries who on different occasions said they would bury us.
Aim High. ✌💜🇺🇸
I was involved in that fifth Operation Chrome Dome incident. I was stationed at Thule Air Base in Greenland from Sept '67 to Sept. '68. On Jan. 21, 1968 I was getting ready to go to work at the comm center when the barracks shoot. We all looked toward the bay and saw an orange ball of flame rising. It was the dark period so, even though was technically "daytime" it was completely dark. Long story short, we later learned a B-52 had crashed and the next morning they asked for volunteers to go help build pre-fab huts with kerosene stoves for the SAC teams who were one their way to clean things up. Even though I was just a teletype repairman, I volunteered for that job. I spent two days on the ice, having my mukluks taken each day after they made the Geiger counter click. That was nearly 53 years ago and I'm still here. That's my closest brush with the Cold War.
My father (9 y/o at the time) was living in MD at the time of the 3rd crash. An escape hatch from the aircraft ended up in a scrap yard near his house. He took it home and kept it hidden in the basement for a month or so before my grandfather discovered it and made my dad return it. Great channel, I subbed!
Pretty cool. Sounds just like something that I'd do as a kid.
Whit a name of Garrett I'll and that the crash was on savage my. That you are from Garrett county, md.
@@erbewayne6868 I am not, but my father skied in MD's western most county growing up and it certainly helped inspire my name.
Having spent time during the mid 60s in the eastern Arctic of Canada, I occasionally saw those highly swept winged B-52s overhead, northward bound over the general vicinity of the DEWline radar bases at about 69 degrees North latitude. That is, on those Chrome Dome North American circumnavigational flights, as well as heading for Operation Hard Head picket duty transits across the northern Greenlandic & Canadian latitudes of the USAF SAC base at Thule Greenland. (I was participating in an Arctic Wolf Research Project on west central Baffin Island at the time, so I always had binoculars & a spotting scope available when I heard the high altitude rumble of those eight engined heavy bombers high overhead.)
You mentioned very quickly in passing a 'broken arrow' B-52 crash "in Greenland" where the four hydrogen bombs detonated their high explosives. They contaminated a large area of the sea ice, ocean waters & bottom, & also some land around the SAC base there with plutonium, ETC!!. Perhaps one of the four fissile units has never even been recovered to this day! As you mentioned, this 1968 event, two years after the Polmares (sp?) Spain event, spelled the end of Operation Chrome Dome. To my understanding the details of that final broken arrow story (AKA the Thule Event), is best told in summary so far on Wikipedia. it is fascinating & truly deserves to be remembered! It's replete with military ops such as Operation Hard Head (the High Arctic picket patrols associated with Chrome Dome); Operation Crested Ice, the cleanup mission also dubbed 'Dr. Freezelove' (for obvious Kubric-ian reasons). Then there's the associated Danish political scandal of 1995 that the Danes dubbed Thulegate!
Also since NASA's New Horizons space probe recently reached an icy space rock six billion kilometres beyond Earth (& a billion miles past Pluto in the Kuiper Belt), known as Ultima Thule, there's also that tie in as well!
As you are no doubt aware, Ultima Thule (pronounced Too-lee) was that mythical northern-most & remotest place beyond the realms of the known world, to ancient & medieval scholars. Perhaps a kind of circular island continent surrounding an ice free sea by some ancient Greek accounts, if memory serves. (This alone is also worthy of a ten or fifteen minute presentation in my humble opinion.)
In any case a Greenlandic Dane, about a century or so ago, named Knud Rasmussen established a trading base & Arctic exploration outpost near Cape York (as I vaguely recall the Anglo nomenclature & known to the local most northerly Inuit peoples of the world as Quaanaaq) & Knud named his High Arctic outpost Thule. (I believe that the USAF SAC base was established there about three decades later at about the time of the first Russian nuclear weapons test in 1949.)
Knud Rasmussen also probably deserves to be remembered in perhaps a parallel item. He was what we'd now call not only a polar explorer (first across the Greenlandic ice cap as I recall & across the Canadian Arctic several times all the way to Alaska too), but also as an ethnologist & anthropologist. In his day he was celebrated as 'the father of Eskimo-ology'! (sic) He conducted at least five Thule Expeditions.
My former neighbour in Igloolik Nunavut, Zacharias Kunuk made a film about Knud Rasmussen's Fifth Thule Expedition & its one or two years with Awa & the Igloolingmuit (the people of Igloolik Island & northern Foxe Basin) during the early 20s. 'First European contact in that area for 100 years. The feature film is entitled The Journals of Knud Rasmussen & was filmed during 2004 to 2006. I lived year-round for more than 11 years in Igloolik working for the Nunavut Wildlife Service, which had its territorial wildlife research & management programs based there. I moved back south late in 2015. Chilly cheers & warm regards to you History Guy from Canada!
P.S. Three or four suggested topics, perhaps interrelated, all in one submission! Cheers! 🐾🦌🐾
PPS I'm not old; I'm retro! I'm also a DEWline, Pinetree & Mid-Canada radar lines history geek. 'Now they've been supplanted by the largely automated North Warning System. They all fed into the NORAD command headquarters at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex & at nearby North Bay Ontario where the cavernous underground bunker command centre has also been mothballed. I.e. 'in care & maintenance' only.
I could provide some original contemporary photos of the Igloolik area for any of these possible items, as well as of the current North Warning System base at Fox Main - Hall Beach Nunavut. Also I've got excellent contacts with the ultimate DEWline historian Brian Jeffrey of Carp Ontario. He's also one of the custodians & tour guides for our nation's capital's Cold War bunker near the former RCAF base at Carp near Ottawa. It's generally referred to as The Diefenbunker after the Prime Minister of the day, George?? Diefenbaker.
Whew! 'Better sign off for now! Reading you five by five History Guy! Over & out for now!
Interesting info. You should do your own videos!
The Danes were pissed off over the Thule Event and when they discovered an attempt at making an ICBM base under the Greenland glacier. The experiment was a flop when they discovered that the ice still is moving, causing corridors to become disconnected in fairly short order and to further enrage the Danes, the reactor that powered the debacle repeatedly sprang leaks.
There isn't enough money in existence that could make me want to be the ambassador to Denmark! He probably brought his own carpet, to avoid wearing theirs out.
I'm an American, but from Canadian stock and it sure is nice to find someone else who remembers so many of these details that I somehow never managed to forget. No, I wasn't doing research of any kind in the north country but read more than was supposed to be healthy and found the little interrelated bits to make an exciting picture. Kind of like more said in the silences than in the voices. And the "Diefenbunker!!? True northern wit!
I helped build the new north warning system in the early and have been on all the sites from Baffin Island to Alaska. There was lots of papers and information left behind when the old bases where closed.
The photo of the B-52 missing its vertical stabilizer is not the actual plane that crashed over Savage Mountain, but, instead is another B-52 that had suffered similar damage. The picture is used for illustration, as no actual picture of the B-52 that crashed is available in the public domain. The plane pictured was being operated by a Boeing crew and was successfully landed.
The episode includes many public domain images of B-52s from all eras of the plane’s long service history.
I mention that planes had to raise flaps in order to slow for fueling. In fact, flaps are extended to slow the plane.
I say that the KC -135 was derived from the Boeing 707. In fact, both the KC-135 and the Boeing 707 were derived from the same prototype.
Some viewers have complained that I left out various crashes of nuclear armed bombers. To be clear, this episode was not intended to cover every instance when a bomber crashed. Rather, it talks about the unique circumstances caused by the operation to keep B-52 bombers constantly airborne.
The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered 👍Thank you for the clarifications. Your attention to detail is part of what sets you apart from other channels.
There is a full video report by the pilots taken back in the day of that plane with the tail ripped off. Oh and they flew the plane for something like 2 hours with that tail like that.
What about the one in GA?
The KC-135 is based on the Dash-80. The 707 totally different all around. I have been around they both and work on the 135. If you are ever at an air show and they have a KC-135 and an E-3. Take a look at them. Other then changes made to the wing with the flight controls. It's almost the same as the Dash 80 where the 707 is not.
I used to work at a pharmaceutical plant just a mile or two from the site where a fission bomb (minus the fissile material) was accidentally dropped over South Carolina in 1958. While the fissile component was not in the bomb, the conventional explosives went off, destroying one building and leaving a sizable crater that is now a small (but deep) pond. We used to take new employees at the pharmaceutical plant to the crater site for kicks. :-)
A very fine video. It was day in my life that will long be remembered. I was the gunner on the crew of the other B-52G commanded by Captain John F Wylam. We had breakfast with the other crew before the mission began. I knew all of them well especially fellow gunner Ron Snyder and the young navigator Steve Montanus. There was some disciplinary action taken as a result that the Aircraft Commander Charlie Wendorf allowed Major Messinger to occupy the pilot's seat and attempt to refuel. It was not in accordance with SAC Policy at the time since he was not a combat ready pilot assigned to a numbered Combat ready crew. SAC Policy at the time for Chrome Dome Operations stated "Only combat ready numbered crew personnel can occupy the pilot seats during critical phases of flight (takeoff, air refueling and landing". Messenginger was a trained pilot and had previously been an aircraft commander on a B-52G. He was however not currently a certified combat ready pilot and his normal duties was a command post controller. It was normal to have a spare pilot along that could occupy the pilot or co-pilot seat during time that the could rest. Being 81 years old today and the incident 53 years ago has not faded in my memory.
Thank you for your memories of that time. I was a baby gunner for H models and graduated in 77 out of Castle.
'To err is human; to forgive is not SAC policy.' :) :) !!
Col. Charles Wendorf was our neighbor in Florida. It is interesting to hear a first hand account. I believe he indicated the disciplinary action was dropped after the review.
The Palomares incident and subsequent recovery operation was also where Carl Brashear (the Navy's first African American Master Diver) injured his leg. Having to eventually be amputated . He Served an additional ten years as an amputee Master Diver.
Neil Anderson Meaning what?
WALTERBROADDUS some people can't simply recognize what a tremendous accomplishment it was. Hes hateful that the history of my AA brothers in arms should be celebrated during any other month but the one he ordains for you. That and hes a troll...😄
Really? You had to go there......
...a troll and a moron.....
Neil Anderson He was a greater man than you ever will be
I was in Lisbon Portugal when Palomares happened. My dad was naval attache. He came to breakfast grim faced and announced the news. Years later at Kirkland AFB my wife and son went over to the Atomic museum and saw the casings of the lost weapons. History guy, I get the impression you were an airman! Like me!
I thought it was Kirtland. Am I wrong?
@@dougball328 you're right it's Kirtland.
I was stationed at Moron Air Base, Spain when the Broken Arrow at Palomares occurred. I was a first responder, radiation detection and decontamination. 67 days on site, Air Force Commendation Medal.
I know an old boy who started flying the B-52D in 1958. He did Chrome Dome and similar missions. Also did the transition between the KC-97 and the KC-135. He's very proud of his time in the Cold War and the 25 years he flew the B-52D. I'm proud of him too.
My ship USS Cascade AD-16 took part in the Palomares bomb recovery incident in 1966. Jon Lindbergh (son of the aviator) was one of the Alvin pilots in the search. We had him to the wardroom for dinner one evening and I donated a pair of my working khaki trousers and a shirt to him. They finally found the bomb in 8,000ft of water. Pulled it up with grappling hooks manufactured on board by its still attached parachute. We took it back to the states enclosed in a DASH helicopter container strapped to the deck. We were there for 77 days til they finally located it right where a Spanish fisherman told them it dropped in the beginning.
Thank you for your service! Yes, the sea recovery was extraordinary in a number of ways. I am sorry that I was only able to give it a brief mention.
That fishermen tried to got salvage rights paid to him and got nothing I think.
mogaman28 he got paid for giving correct information. also he was paid for by the USAF for giving valuable service for recovery of this bomb.
Seems to be the attitude of the military across the world: "What do you civvies know of anything anyway?!" ;-)
I hope that fisherman was wearing brown pants the day he saw that bomb hit the water.
As an Air Force fighter pilot veteran and retired Airline Pilot I love your frequent lessons on Aviation and Military topics. Well done Sir!
The list of names at the end of those who died was a nice touch.
I’m impressed that the B52 is still flying
That machine was built before "engineered obsolescence" was thought of. B-52's will fly forever, with just a few tweaks. American made, when that meant something.
You Sir are the new Paul Harvey of the new generation. Information, Creative Captivity, Entertainment and Passion for History. Thank You for re-igniting the flame of interest in history. Well done.
You're making me love history even more, thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.
I have read about these accidents quite a few times over the years. Your video for them was very well done. I will definitely be sharing this one with my friends.
As usual, another fantastic quick lesson of history..
best subscription I have~!
Agreed! Another great video. I'm often surprised how little I know of the information presented in these videos. *Keep up the good work The History Guy!*
When I was 10 years old, my family lived on Loring AFB - my dad was Army Air Defense - I still vividly remember the almost non-stop take offs and landings of those B52's and the fighter and other aircraft that supported them... One of my most vivid memories of childhood along with the Cuban missile crisis and the assaination of JFK - at those times we lived near Nike Hercules missile sites (near Niagra, New York for the missile crisis and Loring AFB for JFK) where my dad worked. I can still recall the sirens going off and thinking WWIII had started...
Practicing air raid drills in elementary school... Getting under your desk and covering your head. We we scared that we might be bombed, but didn't understand the reality of a nuclear or thermonuclear weapon that would be dropped by the communists Russians. People today who haven't been in the military don't understand the scale or scope of available weapons; of ours or potential enemies. God forbid we ever use these or have them used on us, or by an accidental detonation. Only the people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki truly understood the cost in lives lost or ruined, nevermind the physical property losses.
I primarily guarded KC-135’s for 26 years and I’ve been on a refueling sorted with a B-52, it’s an amazing experience.
honestly out of thousands of missions over a 10 year span, 5 accidents is a great track record. Shows just how reliable the B-52's were and how well trained their crews were.
Agreed- it is a rather astounding record if you thunk of it.
alas it only takes one crash and all previous safety records mean nothing . There are 5 fail safe triggers on a Hydrogen bomb in a couple on incidents 4 were enabled in the crash , Disaster postponed . In the 50;'s Eisenhower was given a report on the effects on one hydrogen detonation over Maryland . The destruction would have been beyond horrendous .The land contaminated for centuries . He ordered iit filed away from all prying eyes never to be seen again [ Annie Jacobsen - Darpa , The Pentagon's Brain describes it all . and how the first hydrogen test at Bikini atoll almost killed the watchers ] And there is a President who makes comments ' We need more Nukes ' Ronald Reagan tried ti get rid on nuclear bombs alas he did not succeed . Apparently he watched the Movie The Day After . Trump likes TV he should watch it as well .
@@TheHistoryGuyChannel I wonder if the weapon dropped north of Goldsboro, NC might still be able to detonate? Or the bomb dropped near Tibbie Island, Georgia? What if either one is recovered by a group that is not associated with the US... Terrorists either foreign or domestic? We went to great lengths to recovery the weapon in 1966, not because it was potentially dangerous, but to keep it from being found and inspected by the Soviets.
@@danielwaters6131 there were definitely be a uranium core that is still extremely dangerous. Terrorist would be able to use it for a dirty bomb. But as far as the functionality of the weapon it be ruined from the years in the water would have ruined all the electronic components and if it hit the TNT it would make it inert after Time
@@TheHistoryGuyChannel And the irradiation that resulted from these accidents was potentially disastrous and was absolutely NOT necessary. This was a provocative act by an aggressor USA which had actually invaded Russia once before. This operation nearly triggered a nuclear war MANY times by violating Russian airspace with nuclear weapons. The Danish demanded that the USA NEVER again fly such weapons over Danish airspace (as did the Spanish) for OBVIOUS reasons. Why would the Russians be inclined to behave any differently? Mutually Assured Destruction was created by a PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENIC named Edward Forbes Nash who later admitted he was WRONG. The entire episode is shameful, hardly "amazing".
Your videos are awesome. Very well done and cleanly produced. Thank you for making these.
I was a Crew Chief of the KC-97L pictured at 5:38. We flew out of the 180th Aerial Refueling Group based at Rosecrans ANG St. Joseph, MO during the 1960's to the late 70's. I was part of the 139th CAM (Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Sq.) I got to be run-up and taxi qualified on her. It was a hoot. 283 was reassigned to Texas before it was de-commissioned. She was later purchased by the Raddison Hotel people and it now sits at the Raddison in Colorado Springs still bearing Texas Air Guard markings. I was told they removed one of her wings. Hard for me to think about as she was a great aircraft and I loved flying on her. Thanks History Guy for honoring the fallen Airmen at the end of the video. I knew several fellow airmen who was part of Chrome Dome.
I hit the like button before watching, I'm that confident it will be excellent !!
Your channel is my favorite on CZcams! I learn so much. I remember when you barely had 1000 subs. I am so happy to see your channel over 60000 now. Most excellent! Fantastic video as always.
The video states B-52s would "raise the flaps and lower the landing gear to refuel with the slower tankers" . Raising the flaps would increase the airspeed required to maintain control of the aircraft. Lowering the gear increases drag and does not increase the stall speed. I have over 1000 hours as a B-52 tail gunner. The greatest job I ever had. Your videos are well done and very interesting. Thank you for your work.
Well darn, I was sure I was correct, but when I looked again it did say "lower their flaps." Thank you for the correction. And thank you for your service!
Stephen Timmons Do 52's still use gunners?
According to Wikipedia the tailguns were removed from B-52s some time ago, but in Vietnam there were two or three enemy fighters shot down by B-52 tail gunners, depending on whose records you go by (US and NV records differ, as is common in all aerial wars), supposedly the last planes shot down by a bomber. It must be immensely cool to fly around in a strategic bomber that has a MiG kill painted on its side.
Absolutely correct, Stephen, I was stationed at Castle AFB, 4017th CCTS, 1967-71, I salute your service in the B-52D...Peace was our profession...WWG1WGA
Steve Summar You Left just before I got to Castle. I was in a class of 8. Four of us straight out of basic. I was stationed in Grand Forks.
Your channel is awesome. Thank you for bringing to light all sorts of historical events I didn’t know that I didn’t know. Your contextual analysis is great as well; thoroughly providing the viewer with the important facts so that he or she may understand the full scope or impact of the event. All of your videos are so well done.
👏👏👏👏👏 Exceptionally well done.
This is such a complex subject that to present the background and incident in 13 minutes and to do it so completely is an accomplishment worthy of note. Hats off to you, Sir.
Carswell AFB my Junior High was situated completely under ground.
Lake Worth Independent School District (1959-today)
By the 1960s, noise from air traffic at Carswell Air Force Base caused the district's schools to lose 10 percent of teaching time each day. To mitigate this problem, Lake Worth Junior High School was built underground; this 1964 construction project included 18 rooms at a cost of $495,000.[5]
Carswell AFB/Naval Air Station Joint Reserve base is still a noisy place, granted that the B-52's no longer fly out of that base. The rumor as I recall it was that they kept the nukes in a hardened shelter under the old base hospital
The "Q Area" for nuke storage at Carswell seems to be northwest of the main base on the north side of White Settlement Road roughly 4 miles away. I don't see the typical double fence but the site was decommissioned for special weapons storage a long time ago and is Army property today. The remote location was likely because there was a Convair aircraft manufacturing plant colocated on the base and it was home to lots of bomber assets. The old hospital lacks the necessary security perimeter but I wouldn't be surprised if a loading dock were pressed into temporary service for storage or transfer at one point with sufficient guarding. I would sooner suspect the use of the ammo storage area.
I guess they didn’t have to worry about tornadoes...
Earl el-amin
It is possible that the nukes were either removed or entombed when the old base hospital was overhauled and remodeled as a federal medical womens prison. Google Federal Medical Center, Carswell. Interesting set of prisoners reside there even now. Grew up within 1/2 a mile from the base, under the Sansom Park water tower & spent many a day exploring the many wooded areas around the Lake Worth Dam during my years of of 8-15. Caught lots of fish from the dam & got run off of it several times by the Lake Patrol. 8118
5Rounds Rapid Indeed not.
There were storage rooms of fresh drinking water & rations as well under each stairwell. The floor plan was such, as it had 4 entrances, an equal distance apart for rapid ingress & egress. It could contain much more than just the normal student's capacity & would serve as a local shelter in most any disasterous event. It's currently being used as a School Administration Facility. When the lights were off, you could only feel, but not see your own face in front of you. And the quietness was so strong, that many of us growing adolescents would often fall into nap within seconds of the teacher's voice ceasement. 8118
Great job as usual!
May millions of people fall in love with history because of you!! 🍀🍀
This was a really good episode and very interesting. Thank you for sharing this.
Excellent video as usual. This is quickly becoming my favorite channel on CZcams.
This one touched close to home... sorta.
My father was the Air Police Sergeant that took the initial call of a plane down and the Broken Arrow in Spain. He coordinated the security personnel at the land-based recover sites during the operation.
On the Navy side, the techniques used to locate the weapon lost at sea were later used to create a program called "Ivy Bell's". I was fortunate enough to participate in this operation when I was in the Navy.
Thank you for your service!
Since I was on a sister ship, I looked up the sub rescue ship, USS Petrel in Wikipedia. It is worth going there to read about an interesting ship. In addition to helping with the broken arrow incident, the Petrel had several other adventures, including helping get the battleship Missouri off a grounding.
Our little ships were slow, some with a top speed of 16 knots, downhill. But we did some surprising work. It just took a while to get to any scene where we were needed.
These and similar ships were so valuable in their day, that we (US Navy) gave two or three of them to the US Coast Guard to help in their work, in the ATF format.
It's hard to think of such a slow ship as a "cutter". Maybe more of a slow ripper, LOL. But very valuable once on station.
You don't know what a slow ship is until you've served on one off the coast of Africa that when going full speed forward was going backwards as dad's did. On a good day it could do 15 knots. On a bad day it could do -5 knots. On a really good day it could move at its rated speed with the engine shut down as long as you wanted to go South.
I grew up living about 55 miles from Loring AFB, Limestone, Maine. It was quite common to see B52's in the air on a regular basis back then. As a young adult I had the privilege of touring Loring AFB and actually getting up into the cockpit of a B52. And the bomb bay was gigantic. I was also able to lie on the bench in the KC-135 and hold the controls that guided the boom to accomplish the refuleing process. Thanks for the fascinating account.
As usual - EXCELLENT and interesting information. Very well presented..
Another great episode (you hit this out of the park)! B-52s have proven to be a great weapon over the years, but one thing is for sure they weren't built for comfort. I have heard a lot of crew members talk about what it was like to be in the lower positions on long flights and low-level missions. Great respect for them.
It was, I learned in this episode, not easy for some of the crew to bail out.
(Following the tune of the final fanfare from 'Stars and Stripes Forever') -
"Oh be kind to your near-sighted friend:
For he may be a radar observer,
who sits in the bowels of the plane,
where the bullets fall like rain.
And you might think that he would be killed:
Well, he will."
@@TheHistoryGuyChannel Lower compartment crew had the best egress equipment in the service because.............When you pulled the D-ring or handles you were subjected to 9 negative Gs. You immediately went into red-out, and passed out. The seat did everything for you. All automatic.
The main thing was using the seat before you got too low to use it. At climb-out, at 18000 feet, one of the checklist items I always heard was: Nav and Radar seat pins pulled.
Not really fun when your topside crew has a seat that will function at zero feet and 90 knots.
B-52H Gunner at KISAFB from 77- 80.
I really enjoyed this history lesson as well as all of the other ones I have seen so far. I remember the fear that living through those times brought to everyone. My neighbor made the biscuits that were distributed and stockpiled in the "bomb shelters" seen everywhere and marked with the atomic energy symbol. He would bring samples of the emergency stockpiled biscuits over to our home for us to try out and inquired which ones did we think were the most tasty. None were very good to say the least. Some were downright awful. There were several underground shelters built in my neighborhood by some of my neighbors. We had weekly safety drills in our schools and there were civil defense movies instructing us on what to do in the event of a nuclear strike. I was a child actor in Chicago and was in several of the Duck and Cover instructional films shown to the public during the time. I am most noticeable in the one with the young boy on the bicycle who jumps off of his moving bike and runs over to the side of the road and lies in area next to the curb. They had numerous retakes of the clip requiring me to perform the stunt until the director was satisfied. I remember being extremely banged up for several days following the shoot. My schoolmates really enjoyed making fun of me whenever they saw one of the films.
You sir, are a piece of living history. Thank you for your service to the western world of the 60s. I remember the video and your scene.
Now if only the modern world would see this and THINK about what could happen.
I think too many people have been sitting around the campfire and singing kumbaya.
I love this channel and THIS is one of my favorite pieces ever...
Beautifully, and respectfully, done. Thank you for the quality of your work. Cheers.
I didn't know how much I didn't know about Chrome Dome! For one thing, I had always assumed it was LeMay's idea, and learning that he actually had grave concerns about it has complicated my image of LeMay as a mad dog with nukes.
Read Daniel Ellsbergs' book ' The Doomsday Machine - Confessions of aNuclear War Planner ' and all your worst fears about lLeMay and the people inside the Pentagon who were willing to plan the destruction of ALL life on the planet will be realized . No one ever raised their hand and said this is crazy beyond all understanding . Thamk Elllsberg for having the courage to reveal the truth .
Great job History Guy, a very well done video. I flew B-52s for SAC and ACC and have several thousand hours on the airframe. Although I did not participate in Chrome Dome, I've done my fair share of alerts and nuclear generations over my career with actual weapons. The American public has no idea how often we pulled nukes out of their bunkers and loaded them onto our bombers. I vividly remember generating full lines at Barksdale and Minot AFBs and walking out to the jet to see dozens of B-52s up and down the flightline. Each B-52 had a full load of 20 ALCMs (8 internal, 12 external) so there were literally HUNDREDS of nukes sitting out in the open ready to go.
A little known fact is that we were in the midst of a nuclear generation (Global Guardian) on the morning of 9/11. We were sitting alert watching the first tower burn. As soon as the second plane hit the klaxon went off and we did an alert response to the jets as the Emergency Action Messages (EAMs) started coming in over the TAAN radios. As we got to the jet, applied power and went through the decode sequence I was sure we were going to do a launch for no other reason than to disperse the weapons and prevent an airliner from crashing into such a large concentration of bombers/nuclear weapons.
My longest mission was 36 hours as part of a Global Power mission and it took me days to recover. Unlike modern aircraft, there is very little room in the B-52 cockpit and the vast majority of your time is spent sitting in an extremely uncomfortable, hard, ejection seat. Temperature control sucks and your head will be freezing while your feet are burning up. Food and bathroom accommodations are a joke and the noise is unbearable without constant use of hearing protection. I give credit to the guys who flew Chrome Dome for no other reason than having to endure such long sorties on a regular basis.
A final bit of trivia, the Thule crash was due to the inherently poor cockpit temperature control of the aircraft. The pilots set the overall temperature with the other crew compartments having a rudimentary open/close pull/push control at their individual vents. On this particular sortie, the navigators were burning up and tried to stop the heat coming into their compartment by stuffing a seat cushion into the vent. This eventually caught fire and attempts to extinguish the fire failed. Eventually the fire spread and consumed the cockpit forcing the crew to eject and the plane to crash. To this day there is a warning in the Tech Orders to not put anything in or near the vents. One of the greatest nuclear accidents in US history because the USAF couldn't figure out how to keep their aircrews comfortable.
The SAC Aircraft Alert Force stood down in 1991. The "9/11" tragedy occurred in 2001. No bombers were on hard alert at that time. They had not been on alert for a decade.
I love the detail you've put into these videos! Love the delivery, too. I've never before so quickly subscribed to a channel.
No doubt, one of the best channels on YT. Thank you.
Palomares was a brief name in the news when I started high school in Canada.Thanks for the nuts and bolts details skillfully married to strategic history of the cold war.The other name in the news was Thresher, perhaps you could do a segment on that sometime.The average newspaper reading civilian at the time was encouraged not to ask too many questions.I have read Rhodes trilogy so have some rough idea on the basics, still....Thanks for the timely series.
When you swear the oath of enlistment to serve this country you know of the sacrifices which are bound to come. Deployments, missing your son learning to walk, missing Christmas, birthdays, funerals, just being away from your family etc. These men who died to preserve our freedom didn't plan on losing their lives. This is why we the living honor those who gave their all on our behalf, on my behalf. Thank you History Guy for honoring their memory too in your forgotten real-life stories.
🗽🗽🗽👍👍👍
History Guy, Old SAC guy here. The KC-135 was based on the Boeing 720. A shorter fuselage version of the 707. I was at Beale AFB, and remember hearing about the B-52F crashing. However, we were more concerned with the SR-71 and a KC-135 that crashed into a gas station just outside the Main Gate on
No. Beale Road. Good stuff! Hammer
Appreciate the memorial remembrance at the end. And as always thanks for bringing history to life/light
"Where the hell is Major Kong?!"
"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"
That is one of the greatest movies of all time in my book!
"I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, communist subversion, and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."
"Well boys I reckon this is it. Nuclear combat toe to toe with the Rooskies"
"Thats private property"
I was in the USAF from 1963 through 1967. In 1964, I was in SAC as a nuclear weapons loading crew member on the B-58A at Bunker Hill AFB in Indiana. None of our 18 alert aircraft flew "hot" (with nuclear weapons). Chrome Dome was expensive but kept the Soviets away until we were able get enough missile launch satellites and ICBM's to counter their missile threat.
It was intended as a stopgap until BMEWS was operational.
Paul; I understand you want to pay respects to the program, but we all know that this was not THE thing that kept the nuclear exchange at bay. Firstly, these aircraft would have achieved some damage, but were not enough to prevent an attack if the other side had been hell bent on it. In addition, Soviets flew their own 24/7 long range bombers with "hot" payloads.
The bottom line is that Soviets had no plans or ambitions to strike first. In short, both sides were petrified of being targets of such attacks.
Hence, despite the Crome Dome program, Americans deployed MR nuclear ballistic missiles to Turkey in mid 60's. The Soviet screamed a bloody murder, and decided to deploy their own missiles to Cuba. In the end, US admin agreed to pull back its missiles from Turkey, and the Soviets gave up on deployment in Cuba. This event is known as the Cuban missile crisis.
Mr.Searls. I pray this message reaches you in good health and high spirit. Thank you for serving this country. Thank you for aiding in her protection sir. God bless you and your family.
Thank you for your kind comment.
Hustlers were the sexiest things in the air. I remember. Thanks for your service.
Important information, thank you for time putting this information together and posting it.
You deserve so many more subs. Amazing content, and so much of it! I'm delighted to have found your channel to say the least.
Another excellent presentation! As somewhat of a "broken arrow" buff, I was aware of this and the other events and you covered it all very well. For those interested, a detailed account of the Palomares incident and subsequent operations can be found in the book "One Of Our H-Bombs Is Missing, by Flora Lewis...out of print but used copies can be found through Amazon.
Thinking the Bond movie Thunderball..1965 Bond recovers stolen nukes..But that was written in 1961..
Thanks for this video!
Another excellent piece! Thank you.
...if the B-52 had to drop the landing gear to create enough drag so that it
could fly slowly enough to keep formation with a KC-97...it would need to
lower the flaps [not raise them (5:40)]
You are correct- my mistake. they lowered flaps, not raised them.
Dropping the gear adds drag and requires the engines to be kept at a higher power setting. Those older jet engines had very slow acceleration from idle so they didn’t like to operate in that range when keeping precise station.
OK, I'm going to end this B-52 discussion with a B-52 joke regarding how many engines they had...almost as many as the B-36. It goes... A B-52 pilot loses an engine and calls the tower declaring an emergency with an engine out. Another pilot on frequency wryly says, "Ah, the dratted seven engine approach..."
@@kcouche For commercial aircraft with a single engine out, a twin operating on one engine has more margin than a tri or quad. Why? The FAA requires second climb gradient capability of 3.0%, 2.% and 2.4% for twin, tri and quad jets. This also means that when all engines are operating the twin is the hotrod, not the quad. All due to the FAA's design requirements. And yes, demonstrating this 'second segment' climb gradient is required during certification.
Can you do a video on that telegraph line laid across the Atlantic ocean during the 1800s?
Ethan Fallert yes!
Second cable that lasted for a while. czcams.com/video/IAaTGMm4X_I/video.html
I love your channel, History Guy...I've learned so much...Man, you rule...
As always, well done.
A family friend swung by the house a few years ago - elderly lady, nice as can be - "Oh, Andrew! What are you doing there on your computer?"
(always stand in the presence of your elders, kids. Show proper respect.)
"Oh, nothing much, Mrs. ----, just playing a game."
She continued to inquire, so I gave her a brief run-down of the Fallout franchise.
"Remind me, young man, what year were you born?"
"'87, towards the end of the Cold War - I still remember, somehow, watching the Berlin Wall come down. Why?"
"Well, I spent all of World War 2 in an internment camp because my parents were from Japan and I then spent the rest of the century expecting to see the world turn to ash in front of my eyes. Have fun with your little 'Fallout' game." and she walked away.
I have never felt so small, and she was absolutely justified in what she said. This is why history deserves to be remembered. Lest we forget, 'lest we forget!
r/thathappened
We learn history so that we can learn from history.
She can be pissy about that all she wants. I won't justify someone's desire to play a game that involves themes common to the Fallout franchise. It's fiction, it doesn't need a justification. For all she knows, Fallout might have more to do with preventing nuclear annihilation.
"Nice as can be" you say? She still sounds like a bitch.
Matthew VandenBerg - And you missed the message, getting triggered by truth instead.
@@md_vandenberg
Dip.
A nitpick: the KC-135 was not derived from the 707. The 707 was derived from the KC-135. But a very minor error in the context of a truly excellent presentation.
Actually, they were both derived from the Dash 80.
The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered >>> FWIW: I'm an 'AVIATION NUT', but I ALWAYS thought the KC-135 was developed from the 707, not the Dash 80....
You are correct. The 707 and KC-135 do not have the same fuselage. The model 367-80 has a smaller diameter fuselage. The KC-135 uses the -80 fuselage. The 707 (and hence 727 and 737) have a larger diameter fuselage (upper lobe) I find these videos both interesting and informative. I would suggest that when 'we' see/hear something that we know is incorrect that we provide the correction gently. It can be very difficult to have all the information on any one aircraft or situation. Even as a 37 year Boeing aero guy I don't know everything about events surrounding all Boeing models. However, I am absolutely certain about the KC-135/707 difference ! !
I have seen air force manuals for the kc135 showing the Boeing number as being the 717. Not the 707
That's curious because after the merger of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas the last version of the DC-9 was designated the 717. In my 37 years at Boeing I never saw the KC-135 referred to as the 717. That doesn't mean the Air Force didn't create manuals and call it that . . . .
i am glad you got away from the five minute history stuff, I love that you still keep it relatively short but are not running out of breath! you have an awesome channel and fill a nice gap in history channels (yes that was intentional)
I always thought operation chrome dome meant something entirely different. I learned something today!
Yes, Chrome Dome was the undercover name for my ole boss.
Chrome Dome was an insulting way to refer to a bald man (chrome = shiny).
Jacob Zondag >>> AFAIK, the name of their system uses the name {in Hebrew} of the traditional yamakes [sp???] they wear.
Jacob Zondag >>> I read that a few years ago in an article about that system....
SAC air bases were always "very interesting" places during the Cold War.
To err is human.
To forgive is not SAC policy.
Dave Pratt being a sack brat that statement is very true this even applied to us kids
Dave Pratt Loring AFB in Maine was enormous.
They were very interesting places indeed something always going on all the time. Us kids were always up to something once we covered a kite with aluminum foil and due to the coastal winds in New Hampshire at they would fly great until a big old chunky helicopter came and blew it all the way to the ground we were afraid to fly kites for a while I guess it interfered with the radar
When I was 10-12 years old my Grandfather lived in a remote area of Southern Aroostook County in Maine. It was common to see B-52s out of Loring in low level flight. By the time you heard them, they were over head and then gone.
I found your channel a few days ago and been loving your content . Keep of the good work . I have learned more from your channel in the last few days then the history channel in the last 10 years
These events were discussed in Eric Schlosser's book "Command and Control". However, you do an excellent job of covering them here as well. I find it very fortuitous that none of our H-bombs detonated and went critical. In one case, a simple .49 cent on/off "air burst/ground burst/off switch" saved the day, even after 4 or 5 sequence switches in the bomb activated. The Captain had the instrument panel switch set to the "off" position. Had it been set to "air burst or ground burst" the remaining triggers would have set off the bomb, according to Schlosser.
It has been proposed that if the Carolina bomb had detonated, most of Washington, D.C, N.Y.C. and parts of New England would have been exposed to deadly radioactive fallout.
As with other commenters, I like that you added the names of those who died so that they would not be forgotten. Thank you.
The deep submergence vehicle Aluminaut was also used in the search for the bomb. In Oct of '68, a launching accident resulted in the sinking of the Alvin in 4,900ft of water. The Aluminaut was used in Sept of '69 to attach recovery cables to the Alvin, which was raised, refurbished/refitted, and as of 2017 was still in use by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Aluminaut was retired in 1970.
The Aluminaut is now on display at a museum, although at the moment I forget where....
RocKiteman _ 2001 The Science Museum of Virginia, located in Richmond, where it is maintained so as to be available if needed for active service
Son Of Sobieski >>> Thanks. I *thought* it might be in Virginia somewhere, but I COULDN'T remember for sure.
Thank you Sir for a well produced documentary. I understand there is a great deal of research, Editing and so forth.
Good job of reporting and the detailed information you have given us. Thank you.
The US Navy was told were the bomb had hit the water off Spain by the local but they thought they knew better so ignored him. But eventually they had to get him to show them where it had landed and sure enough there it was.
As a child I used to watch the British Royal Air force's Vulcan bombers fly over, they were based in Lincolnshire to the south. I used to watch these huge white triangles fly to and from their bases. I sometimes heard them fly over at night time when I was in bed and, oddly enough when you realised what they would be carrying if we went to war, I always felt safe knowing they were there.
The local claimed salvage rights and sued. The Air Force settled for an undisclosed sum.
The Navy was following standard procedure to mount an under water search. They were also trying to locate wreckage of the aircraft and the dead airmen. The technology was limited at the time. The Navy was pushing the edge of the technological envelope and using systems that were not fully developed.
You have to wonder what he was going to do with it if he had salvaged it.
Probably sell it back to the Air Force for a fortune. But you never know.
Matt Boggs Now you would probably stick it on eBay or Craigslist.
My grandpa was in the room when they were planning all this out. Someone said they should call the strategy, “Operation Up-Skirt”, They all laughed, and then decided on ‘curtain’ instead. Levity, even then. That’s a true story.
Another great History video!
Very unbiased presentation of the material. The recognition of the deterrent effect of Operation Chrome Dome is appreciated.
The pressure to remain airborne advanced systems pioneered their ability in service for extended periods, and for those of us in extended services, learning to remain awakes days at a time. In a coordinated group, I can do with naps every 6 hours of 20-30 minutes for up to a week coordinated. But eventually you will sleep off the napping.
I did not have time to include all the logistics of how it was accomplished with the pilot rotation, but it was interesting to read the descriptions by pilots of the era.
we lived frightened of our own weapons. i was wondering if you would mention NC and Calif. as if having attack drills and fear of russia weren't enough. yeh, i'm that old. thank you for baring this complete, total, american deep dread of those years. good vid.
Sane, rational, non-partisan recap of historical events that SHOULD be remembered so that we may learn from them.
Thank you. Subscribed.
I sincerely hope that if something can be learned from it that stacking up weapons on both sides is the stupidest thing you can do. And anyone who tries to make anyone (including themselves) believe that this somehow induces peace is sick in the head.
I don't know if you can tell, but I've been watching a lot of your videos lately. Your work is fantastic.
My friends dad Col. Arns flew these bombers..had a lot to say about how lucky the Soviet union was .....not to have gotten nuked..he was General Doolittles pilot in ww2
Stirling Worden US was also lucky not to have gotten nuked.
I would say the entire world was lucky no one got nuked...especially after seeing the results of the two unlucky cities that got nuked in Japan.
But we wouldn't have gotten nuked as well? That whole missile gap bullshit was to get more orders for our military industrial complex. The CIA has a less than stellar record. Failure to predict the collapse of the USSR and nine elegen for instance. Right now thde Russians maY have more nukes than us. The human race despite our technologies is a collection of violent and savage tribes. Someday
Correction- nine eleven. I served in the US Navy but I can clearly see where the human race is headed unless there is an exponential leap in spiritual development and a genetic upgrade but I don't see this happening. Time will prove me right.
@@wa1ufo The US has 3-4 times more nukes than Russia ,.. The current budget for Military is 700 Billion a year.. Madness beyond reason .
Excellent video, I was stationed at Carswell AFB, Loring AFB and Seymour/Johnson AFB during my time in SAC. I've red about the accidents involving nukes several times. I had to learn about the code words used involving an aircraft accident with nukes and what to expect if the weapon were to detonate. Thank God nothing happened. I also know that there are several Nuke bombs that were ejected on purpose during flights, due to problems and have never been recovered. One was lost from a B-47 bomber that ejected a 7,000 pound nuke bomb into the waters off Tybee Island, Ga., after it collided with another Air Force jet. To this day it has never been found.
The other interesting part for me was the B-52D that lost it's vertical stabilizer and crashed in MD. I only knew of 2 B-52s that had lost there vertical stabilizers and neither had nukes on board and both incidences happened on training flights. The first was a B-52C out of Westover AFB that crashed in Maine on Elephant Mountain in 1963, only 2 of 9 crew members survived. The second is the B-52H that you show in the video. That one happened in 1964 and was on loan to Boeing for tests and made it back to Wichita, Boeing headquarters because they found that by lowering the aft main landing gear it kept the aircraft stable and the Boeing crew all survived. From what I read about the two aircraft, they were not sure as to what caused the vertical stab to come off. They did learn why on the second one that it was caused by increasing turbulence and heavy gust loads on the tail section as they were flying low through the Rockies. After that Boeing came up with a fix for that. I did know of the B-52D that had crashed in Maryland with the nukes but I only read that it was due to mechanical problems, not thee loss of the vertical stab.
Very interesting, informative and short videos, hope you can do more on some of these with a little more detail. Maybe one on the lost nukes.
Another outstanding video
Superb reasearch and delivery!
Can you do a video on history of Diego Garcia Island?
Alex Burris nice man. Must have been cool.
Alex Burris
I was sent just the opposite way in 1979, from CBMU-302 Subic Bay to Diego Garcia, B.I.O.T. For only 3 months though...
ORANGE MAN BAD
I hope this isn't a stupid question, but if the goal is to be just outside of Soviet airspace with plenty of fuel to penetrate it if necessary at all times, then why are the routes shaped the way they are? Why would any point of the route be in freaking Texas, thousands of miles from where you wanna patrol? Why would you ever even come close to Spain? Wouldn't it have been more effective to just stay in the arctic circle, based of off Alaska, and thats basically it, saving huge amounts of fuel and possibly an aircraft off the route? Maybe another base in Germany of a Scandinavian country? Or Japan?
The simple answer was because the airbases were there. The planes had multiple targets, and those would shift based on where they were in the route- so their attack target would have depended upon where the plane was when the call came.
The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered Thank you for your reply! Quite something considering the amount of comments. I still don’t get what target would’ve been close to for example Spain though.
@@sphericalsphere Generalissimo Francisco Franco. Caudillo's of Spain. Say is he still dead? Seriously, maybe due to better weather near the Iberian peninsula it was a good place to race track around and burn holes in the sky until a strike order was issued.
We had treaties with some countries that stated we would not land or fly over their countries with 'Special Weapons'.
Therefor the convoluted flight paths needed to be able to strike certain targets in the Soviet Union.
You have to remember also the fuel load and range of the aircraft. Missions were always meant to be flown to get you back to a base .....somewhere.
Where you might refuel and reload to fly another strike mission.
Excellent work!
Thank you for another excellent video History Guy! This one took me down memory lane. I served in the Air Force Reserves. I used to catch hops whenever possible. The military allows active duty and reserve members to fly on a military aircraft for free, if there was space available. One time I caught a hop on a C-135. I dosed off after takeoff. When I woke up, everybody was gone. A fighter jet was off our right wing, and another was off our left wing. I found all of the other passengers back in the tail area. They had a birds eye view of the refueling of the fighter jets, and someone stepped aside so I could see it too!
"We must not allow a MINESHAFT GAP"
"Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water, or rain water, and only pure grain alcohol?"
"Well it did occur to me, Jack, yes."
"Have you ever heard of a thing called fluoridation? Fluoridation of water?"
*"Our source was THE NEW YORK TIMES."*
I was searching for the first Strangelove reference
Top ten best film of all time.
You're going to have to answer to the Coca Cola company....
Minor note: B52 would have lowered its flaps and landing gear for low speed flight. Not raise its flaps.
Correct- my mistake.
More history that deserves to be remembered. 'Props' to the Air Force. Nice you acknowledged those affected to include the air crews by name.
So well done. Thank you!
The "Cold War" was a very tense time to be serving in the military. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the USSR, it seemed life became a bit easier.
"The fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the USSR" got me kicked out of Germany. I loved being in the US Army in Germany. I hated being in the US Army back in the USA. I'll take the cold war any day.
With the constant threat of mutually assured destruction hanging over your head? No thanks.
Ever heard of the 1958 Tybee Island mid-air collision? Scary stuff.
I remember my parents driving to Tybee so we could watch the Navy hunt for the bomb. It is still out there somewhere.
It sure is.
As others have said, the bomb is still out there, somewhere. It was never recovered. Or so I have heard.
Dear History Guy:
In the parlance of today, you are 'killing it.' The QUALITY of your content is beyond all reproach. Please keep up the good work!
*I would like to suggest/request a future topic: The Battle of Athens, Tennessee 1946. The returning citizen soldiers of McMinn County who stood up to corruption deserve to be remembered.
Great episode. It really brings home the seriousness and intensity of the Cold War.
Does anyone know a good support group? I'm addicted to this guy.
Nun Ya
Yeah we meet in the basement of the Presbyterian church on Thursdays. New guy brings the cookies and/or donuts...
Emil Lerp
🤨🤭🤭😂😂🤣🤣
Just give in already...=)
We have a great support group. We get together and watch more videos! Hey, we're airplane guys!!