THIS SEARCH BOX CAN FIND OLDER BLOG POSTS,LINKS,AND INTERNET INFORMATION

ATTENTION!!!! PLEASE READ BEFORE ENTERING SITE

ATTENTION! ATTENTION! ATTENTION!
*** its been brought to my attention that some of the embedded movies are not downloading when opening this blog. There are literally hundreds of embed movies and they are there, So please reload the blog and you will find your movie or picture that did not load, Contact the Fallout Shelter Warden @ falloutshelternyc@gmail.com we are still down here waiting and since TRUMP became POTUS it won't be long....
THE LAYOUT OF THIS BLOG IS ODD , PUNCUATION AND SPELLING HAVE SUFFERED AS MOST OF THIS BLOG WAS DONE ON A TABLET AND CELL PHONE, YOU CAN BE AN ELITIST AND SAY ITS THE WORK OF A CHILD OR YOU CAN ENJOY IT. THE VARIOUS POSTS YOU WILL SEE ARE SEMI PERMANENT, MOSTLY THE FILMS,THE MONTHLY POSTINGS ARE LOCATED MID WAY DOWN AS YOU SCROLL TOWARDS THE BOTTOM, USE THE DIRECTORY OF POSTS TO FIND A PARTICULAR POST AND IT WILL BE FOUND MIDWAY DOWN AS YOU SCROLL DOWN TOWARDS THE PERMANENT DECLASSIFIED ATOMIC FILM COLLECTION. IT IS A LITTLE DIFFICULT TO NAVIGATE BUT THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF POSTS ON LOCAL NEW YORK / LONG ISLAND ATOMIC HISTORY LOTS OF ATOMIC AGE ART AND PROPAGANDA, NEVER SEEN ATOMIC KITSCH AND MORE! BE PATIENT, USE THE POST DIRECTORY, SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM TO SEE IT ALL AND YOU WILL BE REWARDED WITH A TRIP UNDERGROUND IN FALLOUT SHELTER NYC , AND PLEASE FEEL FREE TO LEAVE COMMENTS, ENJOY, SHELTER WARDEN0910

THE FALLOUT SHELTER STARTS HERE SIGN IN WITH THE FALLOUT SHELTER OFFICER UPON ARRIVAL

THE FALLOUT SHELTER STARTS HERE SIGN IN WITH THE FALLOUT SHELTER OFFICER UPON ARRIVAL
WELCOME- THIS BLOG HAS MANY POSTS THAT CAN BE FOUND ABOVE IN THE TABLE OF CONTENTS, I TRY TO ADD THINGS MONTHLY SO ALWAYS CHECK BACK. THE MAIN SECTION OF FALLOUT SHELTER NYC DOES START HERE AND YOU CAN SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE AND FIND DOZENS OF DECLASSIFIED NUCLEAR TEST MOVIES AND CIVIL DEFENSE FEATURES, THERE ARE LOTS OF POSTS TO GO THROUGH AND YOU WILL FIND SOMETHING GUARANTEED THAT WILL HAVE YOU COMING HERE MORE, SO DECONTAMINATE ,FIND YOUR BEDDING AREA AND RECEIVE YOUR SHELTER RATIONS WHO KNOWS HOW LONG YOU WILL BE HERE FOR.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

THE SIXTH AIR DEFENSE MISSILE SQUADRON (BOMARC TYPE A) NUCLEAR AIR DEFENSE

USAF VEHICLES PASS BY BOMARC SUFFOLK CONTROL  AND ASSEMBLY BUILDING AT LAUNCHING AREA 1960's



BOMARC MISSILE IN LAUNCH SHED WARHEAD ATTACHED AT SUFFOLK COUNTY BOMARC LAUNCH SITE








SUFFOLK COUNTY AFB THE PRIMARY AIR DEFENSE CENTER FOR PROTECTION OF THE NEW YORK CITY METRO AREA AND THE REGIONAL TARGETS FOR SOVIET BOMBERS AND ICBMS


THE 1961 AERIAL OF THE BOMARC SITE AT SUFFOLK COUNTY AIR FORCE BASE LAUNCH AND TRACKING FACILITIES AND COFFIN TYPE LAUNCH SHEDS 1961


THE LAYOUT OF THE BOMARC SITE

THE INSIGNIA OF THE 6th ADMS WAS THE BACKGROUND OF BUILDINGS AGAINST A BLUE BACKGROUND AND BOMBERS BEING MET BY AIR DEFENSE THE ABOVE MISSION STATEMENT AND INFORMATION ON THE AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM IS REALLY THE ONLY INFORMATION OR HISTORY OF THE EVENTS AT SUFFOLK COUNTY AFB AND THE CRADLE OF AVIATIONS ACCOUNT OF THE BASE WAS THE ONLY HISTORY THAT WAS AVAILABLE FOR SOME TIME. THE LACK OF PICTURES AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS OF THE MISSLEERS ISHARD TO FIND SAVE THE INFORMATION FOUND AT RADOMES.ORG IF ANYBODY HAS PICTURES OF THE BOMARC DAY TO DAY ACTIVITIES PLEASE CONTACT - falloutshelter6@gmail To Liam Gibson , I WOULD LOVE TO SEE AND HEAR MORE ABOUT THE BOMARC MISSION OTHER THAN OFFICIAL FACTS AND 5 PICTURES AND AERIAL SHOTS OF THE CURRENT STATE OF THE ABANDONDED BASE I THINK THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO SERVED OUT HERE ON LONG ISLAND AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD DURING THE COLD WAR DESERVE THE RESPECT AND CREDIT AFFORDED EVERY COMBAT VETERAN IN THIS COUNTRY AND I TIP MY HAT TOO ALL OF YOU THAT SERVED KEEPING THE THREAT OF SOVIET AGGRESSION FAR FROM THE UNITED STATES, THANK YOU.














BOMARC REFUELING TYPE A BOMARCS WERE LIQUID FUELED UNKNOWN BOMARC LAUNCH HUT SUFFOLK COUNTY AFB 1960


Saturday, January 22, 2011

1968 USAF "SURVIVE TO FIGHT" NUCLEAR COMBAT OPERATIONS AT SAC/ADC BASES POSTATTACK


USAF AIR DEFENSE COMMAND OPERATIONS DURING NUCLEAR ATTACK "SURVIVING TO FIGHT" (1968) STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND AND NORAD TRAINING FILM
THIS FILM SHOWS A SMALL BOMBER INTERCEPTOR BASE DURING  DEFCON 2 STATUS THE SCRAMBLE HORN SOUNDS  (F-101 VOODOO) FIGHTER INTERCEPTOR AIRCRAFT GET AIRBORNE TO ATTACK INCOMING BOMBERS AS DEFCON 1 IS DECLARED. SHORTLY AFTERWARD THE BASE IS HIT BY A NUCLEAR WEAPON DAMAGING BUT NOT KNOCKING OUT ITS COMMAND AND CONTROL. THE USAF SHOWS THE IMPORTANCE OF PREPARATION PREPARDNESS AS THIS FILM SHOWS THE DAYS BEFORE AS WAR IS IMMINENT BASE OPERATIONS START DISPERSAL OF ASSETS AND THE BUILDING OF EASY TO BUILD SANDBAG CONEX CONTAINER FALLOUT AND BLAST SHELTERS WHICH SAVES THE OPERATIONS STAFF WHO MAN THE AIR BASE COMMAND CENTER. THEY GO ABOUT BATTLING BASE FIRES AND RADIOLOGICAL OPS, DECONTAMINATION, ALL IN PREPARATION FOR THE RETURN OF THE INTERCEPTOR OR OTHER USAF AIRCRAFT TO MAKE IT TO THE BASE FOR REARM AND REFUEL AND BATTLE THEY DO FIXING THE PRIMARY ALERTING AND COMMUNICATION LINES KNOCKED OUT DURING THE DETONATION OF A SOVIET WARHEAD, THE FIRE DEPARTMENT BATTLES THE FIRESTORMS AROUND THE BASE AND GETS TOO MUCH OF A DOSE REQUIRING MEDICAL AID, AS WE SEE THE WEARY FIRE CREWS HEAD TO THE COMMAND BUNKER THE f-101s ARE ABLE TO MAKE IT BACK AND HEAD OUT TO FIGHT AND PROTECT SOME MORE SHOWING THE VALUBLE SACRIFICES OF THE AIRMEN WHO MADE IT POSSIBLE.
        GREAT COLD WAR DOD TRAINING FILM BUT IN 1968 THE USAF WAS CUTTING BACK SAC AIR DEFENSE COMMAND BASES (SUFFOLK COUNTY 1969)AND WAS CUTTING THE AIRBORNE ALERTS ETC,THE FILM SHOWS AIRMEN OPERATING IN OD FATIGUES WITH MASKING TAPE AROUND POCKETS AND ZIPPERS TO KEEP OUT RADIOACTIVE PARTICLES, KINDA NOT TOO SMART BUT IT IS ONLY A TRAINING FILM ALTHOUGH THE TRAINING FILM IS TEXT BOOK USAF NUCLEAR ATTACK OPERATIONS AND A GEM IN THE COLD WAR HISTORY OF THE STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND AND SHOWS THE DETERMINATION OF US MILITARY FORCES TO SURVIVE THE MISSION THAT BACK THEN WAS THE USE OF THIS NATIONS NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND PROTECTION OF AMERICA FROM THE SOVIET UNION AND ANY ENEMY DUMB ENOUGH TO ATTACK IT.

 
USAF STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND "SURVIVE TO FIGHT" POST ATTACK OPERATIONS
AT A AIR DEFENSE COMMAND BASE OUTLINING CLASSIC COLD WAR BATTLE PLANS

Monday, January 17, 2011

EASTERN SUFFOLK COUNTY MONTAUK AIR FORCE STATION (NEADS 140 miles east of NYC 15 fron SCAFB)

MONTAUK AIR FORCE STATION WAS THE NORTHEAST EYES AND EARS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE UP TO THE MINUTE REPORTS TO NORAD (North American Air Defense)Command Cheyenne Mountain Colorado AND SAC (Strategic Air Command) Offut AFB Omaha Nebraska THE RADAR SCANNED 200 MILES OUT THE REAL DISTANCE IS STILL CLASSIFIED IT ALSO WAS THE PRIMARY CONTROL OF ONE OF THE TEXAS TOWERS (radar stations on oil platforms miles off thr U.S. coast) MONTAUKS MISSION WAS VERY IMPORTANT AND AFBs LIKE SUFFOLK ALSO DEPENDED ON THEM THE VARIOUS SAGE RADARS LOPAR,IFF DEPLOYED BY THE US ARMY AIR DEFENSE COMMAND ON DEFENSE HILL IN ROCKY POINT COULD NOT GET ALL THE RADAR COVERAGE NEEDED BY THE USAF THEIR SYSTEMS WERE BUSY WITH THE NIKE/HERCULES MISSILES DEPLOYED UP THERE SUFFOLK USAF DEPENDED ON BOMARCS GAT SITE AND OTHER RADAR INSTALLATIONS AROUND THE TRI STATE AREA BUT MONTAUK AIR FORCE STATION WAS EQUIPPED WITH THE STRONGEST ARRAY OF RADAR RECIEVERS IN THE NORTHEAST AND THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE USAF MONTAUK DID THEIR JOBS CONFIRMING ANY BREACH OF US AIRSPACE OR OBJECT WITH NO IFF TRANSMITTING (identification friend or foe) AND GET THAT TO SUFFOLK AND OFF THE INTERCEPTORS WENT LOOKING FOR THERE PREY HERE IS A LITTLE MORE INFO ON MONTAUK -
In the 1950's, the Cold War was on and the big concern was Soviet long-range bombers armed with nuclear weapons, so the Army gave over the western portion of the military reservation to the 773rd Aircraft Control and Warning (AC&W) Squadron. There job was plane spotting and aircraft identification. During this time the military reservation was run jointly by the Army and the Air Force, with the Air Force in the western portion and the Army in the eastern portion. In 1952, the 773rd was transferred to the 26th Air Division and operated as the Air Defense Direction Center. Several different types of additional surveillance and height finder radars were deployed at the base, the first radar units having been installed in 1948. In November 1957, the Army colsed the Camp Hero portion of the military reservation as Soviet long-distance bombers could fly well above ground-based artillery. The Air Force continued using the western half of the facility for radar surveillance. The Eastern portion of the site was donated to the state of New York, but it remained unused because of its close proximity to a high-security facility. In 1958 a SAGE (Semi Automatic Ground Environment) radar system was installed at what was now known as the Montauk Air Force Station and the facility was merged into the national air defense network, SAGE. The equipment included a huge AN/FPS-35 radar antenna, built by Sperry. The reflector was 126 feet long and 38 feet tall, weighing 40 tons, and was supposedly only the second ever built. It was able to detect airborne objects at distances of well over 200 miles. It also used "frequency diversity" technology making it resistant to electronic countermeasures. The site was run by the Air Force, but Sperry personnel ran and maintained the actual radar equipment. Radar data collected at the site was sent to the SAGE Direction Center located at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey. The SAGE system was so powerful that it disrupted local TV and radio broadcasts, and had to be shut down several times and re-calibrated. The problems were later resolved. The Montauk facility was state of the art and many new systems were developed or tested there including magnetic memory for storage, light pens, keyboards, WAN's (Wide Area Networks) and modular circuit packaging. It was also a major part of the NORAD defense system, so security was very tight. The unit was renamed the 773rd Radar Squadron (SAGE) in 1963. In 1978 the Air Force submitted a proposal to the Carter
Administartaion to close the base, as the technology was largely obsolete due to satellite technology. It was determained to keep it operational until the new facility at Riverhead, New York was operational. The Air Force officially shut down its radar opperations on July 1st 1980 after a new radar system opperated by the FAA was made opperational in Riverhead, NY that could handle civilian and air defense requirments, making the SAGE system redundant. Considering its size, removing the huge antenna was problematic at best so it was "Abandoned in place" with its
controlling motors and electrontics removed, allowing it to move with the wind to prevent it from being torn off of its base in a storm. A GATR (Ground Air Transmitter Reciever) facility remained inservice to direct military aircraft operating within the region. This system was deactivated andremoved in 1984. Riverhead now controls all air traffic in the area.






SUFFOLK COUNTY AIR FORCE BASE "LAST OF THE INTERCEPTORS F-101 VOODOO"

F-101 VOODOO JET INTERCEPTOR  IT APPEARS THAT THEY MAY BE DOING MAINTENENCE BY GROUND CREWS THAT FIXED AND KEPT THESE ALL WEATHER JETS FLYING CALLED "WITCH DOCTORS" "MEDICINE MEN" IN KEEPING WITH THE VOODOO NAME ECW BACKSEATERS WERE CALLED "SCOPE WIZARDS THE PICTURE IS OF F-101s MOST LIKELY ON RUNWAY ALERT (KEEPING THE JET WARMED UP SO IT COULD BE STARTED AND AIRBORNE WITHIN MINUTES IF SCRAMBLED)
SUFFOLK COUNTY AFB UNK-DATE 

-LISTEN TO EARLY USAF OBSERVERS CORP "LOOK TO THE SKIES -WITH COL. CHUCK YEAGER "Look_To_The_Skies-Chuck_Yeager.html
 ONE OF THE SUFFOLK COUNTY AFB 
 ADC FIGHTER INTERCEPTORS PATROL THE NORTHEAST FROM SUFFOLK AIR FORCE BASE, IT WAS COMMON TO SEE SOVIET "BEAR" BOMBERS THAT WOULD DRIFT INTO U.S. AIRSPACE AND UPON CONFIRMATION THESE AIRCRAFT WOULD ESCORT THEM OUT OF U.S. AIRSPACE, THESE PILOTS AND BACKSEATERS WERE THE ONLY THING BETWEEN SOVIET BOMBERS LOADED WITH NUCLEAR ORDNANCE AND A MISSION TRAINED TO INFLICT DAMAGE AND BRING DEATH JUST AS THEIR COUNTERPARTS IN THE US AIR FORCE, SOME THINK BECAUSE THE SOVIETS WERE ALWAYS DOING WITHOUT LUXURIES AND EVEN NECCESITYS THEY WOULD OF BEEN AN EASY WIN IN WAR,MILITARY MEN KNOW THAT THE RUSSIAN THREAT WAS REAL THESE PEOPLE FOUGHT THE THIRD REICH WITH PRACTICALLY NOTHING IN THE BEGINNING OF OPERATION BARBAROSSA THE NAZI INVASION OF RUSSIA, RUSSIANS WOULD FIGHT IN ALL WEATHER AND HAD NO SYMPATHY, MOST THINK HITLER WAS THE BIGGEST MURDERING MANIAC BUT HITLER COULDN'T HOLD A CANDLE TO OLD IRON JOE STALIN WHO KILLED 30 MILLION OF HIS OWN COUNTRYMEN FOR BEING TOO SMART OR TO PROGRESSIVE OTHERS WERE SENT TO GULAGS IN SIBERIA A FROZEN WASTELAND FOR NOTHING. SOVIET MILITARY FORCES DURING THE COLD WAR WOULD OF FOUGHT TO THE DEATH BECAUSE THEY COULD NOT RETREAT, DURING WORLD WAR 2 THE POLITICAL OFFICERS WOULD PUSH MEN INTO BLAZING MACHINE GUN FIRE TILL THEY OVERWHELMED THE GUN AND THOSE WHO TURNED AROUND AND RETREATED ON THEIR OWN WERE MOWED DOWN BY A SOVIET MACHINE GUN SETUP TO MAKE SURE NO RUSSIAN FELL BACK AND THAT ALL PUSHED FORWARD. SO THESE SAME IDEALS AND FEARS WERE INSTILLED IN THE MEN WHO TRAINED TO OPERATE AND FLY BOMBERS, THE MEN IN THE SOVIET STRATEGIC ROCKET FORCES AND DID THEY HAVE AN EDGE OVER THEIR COUNTERPARTS?THANK GOD WE WILL NEVER KNOW AND THE MEN AND WOMEN AT BASES LIKE SUFFOLK HELD THAT LINE,THEY KEPT SOVIET INVADERS OR WEAPONS FROM TOUCHING THE GROUND IN THE UNITED STATES, THE COLD WAR MAY HAVE BEEN WON JUST BY SHOWING THE SOVIETS WE WOULD GO THE EXTRA MILE AND WE WOULD OF FOUGHT FOR OUR WAY OF LIFE.... WITHOUT A MACHINE GUN URGING US FORWARD.

THE B-58 "HUSTLER" ONE OF SAC's IRON FISTS


Add caSCRAMBLE SCRAMBLE  SCRAMBLE B-58 CREW REACTS TO THE WARNING KLAXON AND IS ON RUNWAY ALERT THEIR GOAL IS TO GET AIRBORNE AND AWAY FROM THEIR BASE IN THE EVENT SOVIET ICBMS CATCH THESE CREWS ON THE GROUND AND VAPORIZE STRATEGIC AIR COMMANDS BOMBERS, AS TIME PASSED DURING THE COLD WAR IT BEGAN TO BE IMPERATIVE THESE CREWS GOT AIRBORNE WITHIN MINUTES SINCE ICBMS OR SLBMS COULD REACH U.S. TARGETS IN MINUTESTHESE CREWS REMAINED IN ALERT ROOMS WAITING JETS IDLING AND FUELED CREWS READY AND IN G-SUITS GROUND CREWS KEEPING SUPPLIES AND THE AIRCRAFT ENGINES IDLING, YOU CAN SEE THE USAF STATION WAGON WITH ALERT CREW ON ITS FRONT END
 

B-58 HUSTLER ONE OF THE USAF BOMBERS THAT WOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR NUCLEAR WEAPON DELIVERY ON TARGETS DEEP WITHIN SOVIET TERRITORY'S  WITH A TOP CEILING OF NEAR 100,000
FEET AND SPEEDS OF 1300 MPH THIS BOMBER WAS A LOT OF KICK ASS! THE CREW OF 3 ALL HAD ESCAPE PODS THAT WOULD EJECT VIA ROCKET SYSTEM AND
PROTECT THE CREW MEMBER FROM HIGH SPEED AND ALTITUDE DURING A EJECTION IT'S ABILITY TO FLY OVER 4500 MILES AND ITS SPEED WOULD GUARANTEE THESE AIRCRAFT WOULD MAKE IT TO THEIR TARGETS DEEP INTO THE SOVIET UNION


A USAF B-58 OVER SUFFOLK COUNTY NY ON A ROUTINE STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND PATROL A PART OF GENERAL CURTIS LEMAYS NUCLEAR IRON FIST EARLY 1960's
THANKS TO TOM GREEN AT CIVIL DEFENSE MUSEUM FOR PICTURE 2 AND USAF COLD WAR HISTORICAL GROUP FOR THE OTHERS AND INFO - SHELTER_6

Suffolk County AFB

THE BELOW PICTURES ARE TAKEN AT SUFFOLK COUNTY AIR FORCE BASE  NEW YORK L.I. SOME WERE DURING OPEN HOUSE AND SOME WHERE DURING BASE OPERATIONS THE AIR DEFENSE COMMAND (ADC) MISSION WAS TO DEFEND THE REGION FROM SOVIET AIRCRAFT WHAT WAS THEN THE ENEMY, SOVIET BOMBERS CARRYING ATOMIC WEAPONS WOULD ROUTINELY FLY UP AND DOWN THE EASTERN SEABOARD AND THEY WOULD PLAY GAMES AS THEY DRIFTED INTO US AIRSPACE CAUSING INTERCEPTORS TO SCRAMBLE FROM SUFFOLK TO ESCORT THE "WAYWARD" SOVIET BOMBERS, SOMETIMES THERE WHERE PICTURES TAKEN OF EACH OTHERS AIRCRAFT ,A WAVE, AND EVEN THE BIRD (MIDDLE FINGER)AS THE TWO SUPPOSEDLY ENEMIES MET OVER THE ATLANTIC OCEAN,THE FEELING DURING THE COLD WAR WAS TENSE AS AMERICANS WERE SCHOOLED ON HOW TO SURVIVE A THERMONUCLEAR ATTACK AND THESE PILOTS WERE GIVEN NUCLEAR AIR TO AIR MISSILES TO SHOOT DOWN BOMBERS AND EVEN WERE TOLD IF ALL WEAPONS FAIL "RAM THE ENEMY AIRCRAFT" THE MEN WHO FLEW THESE MISSIONS WOULD OF DONE WHAT EVER NEEDED TO BE DONE AND THAT WAS THE SPECIAL GENERATION OF AMERICAN WHO THOUGH NO WAR WAS DECLARED HAD TO FIGHT A COLD WAR THAT COULD GO HOT AT ANY MOMENT AND FROM ANY INCIDENT EVEN A ROUTINE WAYWARD SOVIET AIRCRAFT COULD SET THE ENTIRE MACHINE IN MOTION ENDING IN A OUTCOME THAT COULD SET MANKIND BACK 1000s OF YEARS AND KILL BILLIONS, THAT WAS THE ATMOSPHERE THESE AIRMEN LIVED EVERY DAY ,  

 








     F-102    F-104 STARFIGHTER  1960s airshow SCAFB          
 

F-106 ALL WEATHER INTERCEPTORS SCRAMBLE ON ALERT TAKING OFF IN PAIRS TO INTERCEPT ENEMY CONTACTS

SAC PRIMARY ADC SUFFOLK AFB (open house 1961 slideshow)



SCAFB Open House 1961THIS SLIDE SHOW OF SUFFOLK COUNTY AFB IS THE ONLY WAY I
COULD GET THESE PHOTO'S OF THE BASE ON TO THIS BLOG SINCE WEBSHOTS HAS THEM HOOKED INTO THEIR SITE AND WON'T SHARE IT'S WORTH WATCHING SINCE THE JETS ARE VINTAGE COLD WAR AND SHOWS THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE BASE I HAVE NOT SEEN MANY PICTURES OF SUFFOLK AFB IN OPERATION SO THESE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE GREAT.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND EARLY 1960

PEACE IS OUR PROFESSION
BUT WAR IS OUR
SPECIALTY

AIRPOLICE GUARD THE VITAL HEADQUARTERS OF THE US AIRFORCE'S NUCLEAR COMBAT  FORCES AT "SAC" STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND, ONE OF A FEW HARDENED BUNKERS WHERE THE US AIRFORCE  CAN SURVIVE AND CO-ORDINATE THE STRATEGIC US AIRDEFENSE FORCE CONSISTING OF A HUNDRED SUCH BASES SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE US THAT HOUSES ,B-52 NUCLEAR ARMED STRATEGIC BOMBERS,THE VAST NETWORK OF EARLY WARNING RADAR OUTPOSTS, ADC INTERCEPTOR SQUADRONS THAT AT THE DROP OF A HAT CAN BE CALLED TO DESTROY ANY UNIDENTIFIED AIRCRAFT , ALSO HUNDREDS OF MISSILE COMMAND CENTERS WHERE INTERCONTINENTAL MISSILES SIT DEEP IN SILOS WAITING FOR THE ORDER TO LAUNCH, EVEN THE AIRBORNE REFUELING AIRCRAFT VITAL TO A WAR THAT WILL SIT OUTSIDE THE ENEMIES BORDERS WAITING FOR THE BOMBERS TO RETURN TO REFUEL THEM TO GET BACK HOME.THIS BASE IS CENTERED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE US AT OFFUT AFB,WHICH IS LOCATED IN BELLEVUE NEBRASKA, THIS BASE SITS SECURE UNDERGROUND AND KNOWS WHERE EVERY USAF ASSET IS AND CAN COMMUNICATE TO ALL OF THEM THE ORDERS TO GO TO WAR.

GRUMMAN NAVAL WEAPONS PLANT ,TOP SECRET PROTOTYPE CRASHES NEAR LONG ISLAND EXPRESSWAY 1970

THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DIDN'T JUST PUT THE PRIMARY ADC FOR THE NORTHEAST ON L.I. AND THE NUCLEAR ANTI-AIRCRAFT MISSILE DEFENSE HERE FOR NOTHING. A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF THE COLD WAR MILITARY MACHINE WAS ON LONG ISLAND NY THAT'S WERE ALL THE AVIATION & WEAPON PLANTS WHERE AIRCRAFT STARTING WITH WORLD WAR ONE RIGHT INTO THE COLD WAR WERE BUILT. REPUBLIC/FAIRCHILD/GRUMMAN/ WERE THE PLANE MFG's THAT WON WARS AND BUILT TO FLY FROM AIRCRAFT CARRIERS INTO  WORLD WAR 2  THE KOREAN WAR ,VIETNAM, AND THE COLD WAR LOTS OF ELECTRONICS FOR JAMMING & GUIDANCE SYSTEMS AND WEAPON AIMING AND BUILDING THE CRAFT THAT TOOK THE MEN DOWN ON TO THE MOONS SURFACE CALLED "LEM", THE SAME COMPANY ALSO BUILT ONE OF THE GREAT JETS THE LAST TO COME OUT OF THE CALVERTON NAVAL WEAPONS PLANT.  IT WAS THE" F-14 TOMCAT" ONE OF THE GREATEST FIGHTERS EVER BUILT. LIVING ON LONG ISLAND DURING THE COLD WAR AND SEEING THESE JETS SCREAMING AROUND BEING TESTED WAS GREAT! BUT THE END OF THOSE DAYS WAS APPROACHING FAST AND BY 1995 ALL THE GREAT AIRCRAFT MFG'S HAD CLOSED FROM LACK OF CONTRACTS. GRUMMAN BEING THE LAST TO CLOSE IN, 1994-5 CALVERTON CLOSED- THE FOOTAGE SHOWS THIS PROTOTYPE F-14 FLYING OVER THE  NEW LONG ISLAND EXPRESSWAY ,THEN THE PILOT AND BACKSEATER PUNCHES OUT AND THE PLANE GOES DOWN INTO THE WOODS WITHOUT ANYONE BEING HURT. IT SEEMS THAT ONE OF THE PARACHUTES GOES DOWN ON TO THE BURNING WRECKAGE BUT ITS JUST A CAMERA ANGLE, THIS OCCURRED DURING THE 1970 TEST FLIGHTS THIS FOOTAGE IS SILENT AND FILMED BY A CHASE PLANE ( A-6 PROWLER/INTRUDER) AND WAS HIDDEN AWAY FOR MANY YEARS.
CALVERTON NAVAL WEAPONS PLANT REFERENCE
Calverton Naval Weapons Plant (CTO), Calverton, NY, was built in 1952 at the Grumman factory airfield. It was the birthplace of the F-14, A-6, E-2, etc. The plant's two runways (14/32 and 5/23) were completed in 1953. The Assembly Plant Building (Plant 6) was accepted for Grumman operations in 1954, and production commenced that same year. Also in 1954, Hangar #4 was occupied by the Flight Test Department, and Hangar #1 was occupied. In 1956 construction was completed on the Firing-In area (gun butts) and the Engine Test House. The Rotodome Test Area, used for E-2 Hawkey radar development, was completed in 1961. After Grumman was acquired by Northrop, the airfield was closed in 1996 due to cancellation of F-14 and A-6 production. The sole remaining Grumman aircraft production line for the E-2 Hawkeye was consolidated to St. Augustine, FL. The airfield property was turned over by the Navy to the Town of Riverhead in 1998. Two concrete runways still exist: 10,000' runway 14/32 and 7,000' runway 5/23. One of the Calverton hangars was used by the NTSB to reassemble wreckage of TWA B747 flight 800 that went down off the coast of long island less than 20 miles from the naval weapons plant

Saturday, January 15, 2011

SEEK ATTACK DESTROY SUFFOLK AFBs SQUADRON LOGO


THE 52nd FIGHTER WING WAS COMPRISED OF THE 98th FIG (fighter interceptor group or squadron) AND THE 2nd FIS ADC  UNDER THE STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND DEF ENSE NETWORK AND WERE BASED AT SUFFOLK COUNTY AFB TO INTERCEPT SOVIET BOMBERS ON THEIR WAY TO HAMMER US TARGETS WITH THEIR NUCLEAR PAYLOAD IT WAS ONCE SAID THAT 70 PERCENT OF SOVIET BOMBERS WOULD GET THROUGH TO THEIR TARGETS I HOPE THAT WAS NOT TRUE BUT TO SEE FOOTAGE OF THESE AIRCREWS SCRAMBLE INTO THE ALERT HANGARS STILL GIVES ME GOOSEBUMPS TO SEE THE NO NO NONSENSE APPROACH READY TO STRIKE OUT AND FIGHT ANY AGRESSOR FOOLISH ENOUGH TO ATTACK US  AS THEY THROTTLE UP AND OUT OF THE ALERT HANGARS(concrete bombproof hangars with no doors where jets were kept ready to fly as soon as the pilot got in) THESE INTERCEPTOR WINGS FLEW F-102 F-104 F-101 JETS THAT WERE EQUIPPED WITH NUCLEAR ARMED AIR TO AIR MISSLES, TO THIS DAY OF ADVANCED AIRCRAFT PILOTS OFTEN SAY NOTHING COMPARES TO A FLIGHT OF 102s SCREAMING IN LOW IN FORMATION. EVERY USAF WING HAS ITS PROBLEMS THERE WERE  AIRCRAFT THAT WERE DITCHED AND CRASHED AND EVEN A ARTICLE IN THE NY TIMES ABOUT SUFFOLK POLICE SEARCHING FOR A MISSING WARHEAD OFF A AIR TO AIR MISSILE WHEN THAT PLANES PILOT LOST CONTROL AND EJECTED, I DIDN'T FIND ANYTHING ABOUT THE WARHEAD BEING FOUND, ANOTHER ARTICLE RIGHT OUT OF PROJECT BLUEBOOK THE WING WAS SCRAMBLED DURING 1966 TO CONFRONT SOME UNIDENTIFIED AIRCRAFT THAT TURNED OUT TO BE A UFO ENCOUNTER THAT TOOK PLACE OVER LONG ISLAND AND WAS WITNESSED BY MANY LONG ISLANDERS AND WAS PART OF A BUNCH OF VERY ODD OCCURANCES TO USAF BASES NATIONWIDE, THIS WING EXSISTS TODAY IN GERMANY, AND PRESIDENT CLINTON GAVE A SPEECH IN FRONT OF THE 52nd FIS WING SHIELD WITH THEIR LOGO OF "SEEK ATTACK DESTROY" AND I AM GLAD THEY WOULD.


SUFFOLK COUNTY AFB PRIMARY SAC AIR DEFENSE COMMAND FIGHTER INTERCEPTOR GROUP USAF


ONE O'WONDERFUL VOODOO
A F-101 GETTING CHECKED OUT SUFFOLK AFB AIR SHOW EARLY 1960's 
 SUFFOLK COUNTY AIR FORCE BASE (ADC)


By David Schoeck



This is a narrative describing Suffolk County Air Force Base when it was a prime Air Defense Command (ADC) installation in the northeast. My comments are based on personal memories of a young man who lived in nearby Remsenburg in the 1950s and later, as an Air Force officer from 1969 to 1972. I was never stationed at Suffolk, but saw many annual air shows and visited the base before it closed in December, 1969. Several Air Force historians and airmen who were stationed there contributed to this work, including Colonel Jon Myer, who flew the F101B from Suffolk in the early 1960s.
I have found no definitive history on Suffolk County AFB so far. However, it was established during WW II as a U. S. Army Air Corps base and gunnery range. Unlike its Long Island neighbors situated closer to New York City, like Mitchel Air Force Base, it had more space, longer runways, less crowded air space and room to expand.
In the early 1950s, it became the prime Air Defense Command base responsible for defending the New York metropolitan area against hostile air attack. In the 1950s, there was a real threat from the Soviet Union. ADC had three prime missions: radar surveillance (a radar squadron operated from Montauk Air Force Site [AFS] ); bomber interception by fighter interceptors and ground-to-air missile operations. I recall much of the baseís expansion at that time. Every year, new buildings were erected including the imposing ADC alert hangars. New housing went up west of the airfield in 1957, as well as many support buildings like the Commissary, Dispensary, Exchange and Non-Commissioned Officers Club (NCO) (Fabulous Rocker). Many airmen lived in nearby communities, including Riverhead, Quogue and Westhampton.



ADC MISSION AND AIRCRAFT AT SUFFOLK COUNTY AFB



Suffolk County AFB's mission was bomber interception, and for a brief period, BOMARC air defense missile operations. It hosted the F86D from 1955 to 1957, the F102A from 1957 to 1959 and, finally, the F101B from 1959 to 1969. I found a photo of an F94 assigned to the 2nd Fighter Interceptor Squadron (FIS), but am not sure if it operated from Suffolk. In 1959, former Suffolk F102As were transferred to U. S. Air Force Europe (USAFE) bases in Germany and the Netherlands. The Suffolk based 2nd FIS Squadron was one of the first ADC units to receive the F101B. The 98th FIS moved to Suffolk from Dover, DE, in the summer of 1963. It was always exciting driving past the base.
In the late 1950s, only the military was flying supersonic jet aircraft like the all-weather capable F102A Delta Dagger or "One-O-Wonderful" F101B Voodoo. The nicknames were usually applied to the air and ground crews, using the "Voodoo" theme: "One-Oh-Wonder" for the pilots, "Scope Wizard" for the Radar Intercept Officers (RIOs, later called Weapon System Officers/WSOs or "Whizzos), and "Witch Doctors" for the maintenance guys. They were a formidable sight, whether taxiing past the alert hangars or taking off in formation.
I have several vivid memories:

Great air shows. The first was in the late 1950s. The base operated the F102A then, but there was a variety of Military Air Transport Service (MATS) transport and Strategic Air Command (SAC) aircraft on display, including a KC97 and new KC135 tanker. My father (a WWII Air Corps vet) had a nice chat with the KC97 pilot on the tanker's evolution from the B29. The second great air show occurred on Labor Day, 1965, when Colonel Francis Gabreski was the 52nd Wing Commander. He was signing autographs under the nose of an F101B. Gabreski is one of the U. S.'s top aces from both WWII and Korea. The Thunderbirds put on a splendid show with F100s. One did a barrel roll low over the field. I have not seen this in any of their performances since. They also were giving rides in a Ford Trimotor.

The F101B was big (longer than a DC3) and its powerful twin J57 turbojet engines made a
unique sound during takeoffs and landings. From Remsenburg could always hear them taking off on afterburners. One day I was at a gas station about a mile west of the runway when one came over at less than 1000 feet. The attendant (who must have been in a daze) almost jumped out of his socks! Voodoo formations often came in low, over Tiana Beach and woke up lots of sunbathers. The F-101B/F was 70 ft., 11 in. long; the F-102 "Dagger" and F-106 "Dart" were also about 70 ft. long. The "unique sound during takeoffs" was the double-afterburner "boom-boom" from each bird as the tailpipes were "set on fire"
While on active duty I met several guys who had been stationed at Suffolk. They all enjoyed the assignment, particularly during the summer

COUNTY AFB52ND FIGHTER WING AT SUFFOLK


Air Defense Command was a key component in the Air Force structure in the 1950s and early 1960s and Suffolk's 52nd Fighter Interceptor Group (FIG) and Wing played an important role. From an organizational standpoint, ADC squadrons usually operated as self sustained units on bases controlled by other commands, like SAC. There were exceptions where ADC operated the base and a Fighter Wing (FW) with two squadrons; the 78th Fighter Wing at Hamilton AFB, California and the 52nd at Suffolk. The 52nd FW was comprised of the 2nd and 98th Fighter Interceptor Squadrons, from 1963 to 1968. Col. Gabreski was the commander from 1964 to 1967. The 2nd FIS "Horny Horses" were in residence during the entire period when Suffolk was an ADC base, from August 1955 to September 1969. The 5th FIS was active from August 1955 to February 1960 and the 98th was at Suffolk from July 1963 to September 1968.From September 1968 until the base closed in 1969, the 52nd was again reduced to a group level organization (52nd FIG). After Suffolk closed, the 2nd FIS operated F106A/B at Wurtsmith AFB from 1971 to 1973. The squadron came back a third time at Tyndall AFB Panama City, Florida in 1974 as the 2nd Fighter Intercepter Training Squadron (FITS); the F101 and F106 training squadron. It was redesignated in 1983 as a Tactical Fighter Training Squadron under the 325th FW; AETC flying F15 RTUs. The 98th FIS never returned to active duty after it was inactivated at Suffolk, on September 30, 1968.
The 52 FW was inactive until 1971, when it relocated to Spangdahlem AB, Germany, It now operates F16, F15 and A10s that were in the "Allied Force" in Kosovo. Their web site notes only the "modern era" starting in 1971, so I am not sure if any detail on its assignment to ADC exists. During the Kosovo air war, when President Clinton was at Spangdahlem, he spoke under the 52nd emblem (Seek, Attack, Destroy), which is identical to its display on Suffolk interceptors. ADC downsized rapidly in the late 1960s, when the threat and mission changed from manned bomber to missile attack and requirements for the Vietnam War. Many former ADC pilots became close air support drivers and Forward Air Controllers (FAC) in Vietnam.
By 1968, I had visited several bases, like Eglin, Wright-Patterson and was assigned to Plattsburgh for AFROTC field training. Suffolkís facilities seemed more temporary than the others did. This was due to ADC receiving less funding than SAC, Tactical Air Command (TAC) or overseas commands. In his autobiography, Col. Gabreski said that when he reported to Suffolk in 1964, "I found the base quite a shock. The equipment - the 52nd was flying F101B Voodoos at the time - was great, the people were great, but the facilities were meager". Jon Myer, a former Suffolk F101 pilot said that the 98thís squadron building was a converted missile maintenance building requiring much "self-help" to make it serviceable. The 2ndís operations building wasnít bad at all, as they had inherited the "permanent" facilities of the departed F-102s (Deuces).
I was at Sheppard AFB, in September 1969, when I read in the "Air Force Times" about Suffolk's closure. Shortly after reporting to McGuire AFB I drove to Long Island and visited the base on December 1, 1969. The F101Bs had transferred to the Maine Air National Guard (ANG) and other operations were winding down rapidly. The base theater, called "Broadway East", had a sign saying the final performance was to be presented on December 7th. I stopped at the Visiting Officers Quarters (VOQ) and a bored attendant said there were no rooms available. Six months later, it was deserted, except for the New York Air National Guard (NYANG) who were flying C97s. Incidentally, the 132nd FIS of the Maine Air National Guard (ANG) at Bangor (called "Maniacs") flew Voodoos from 1969 until 1976.



THE F101B/F



Many former Suffolk "birds" went to the boneyard, after 1976. F101s were not used as drones, like the F102 or F106, as they had more difficult handling qualities and a tendency to "pitch up". Jon Myer said that this "tendency" was due to the birdís design with a high "T" tail (like many airliners today, in fact), but the "pitch-up" itself was usually pilot-induced. If the pilot pulled back on the stick too much for the speed (i.e. exceeded safe angle-of-attack limits or g-forces for the airspeed), the wing surface could blank out the air flowing over the elevator surfaces and render them useless for control. The "pitch-up" that then ensued rendered the aircraft uncontrollable unless corrective action was taken: relax back pressure on the stick (positively move it forward to neutral position or beyond) while pulling the throttles out of burner (if they were in after burner [A/B]) and deploying the drag chute to help realign the aircraft into its relative airflow.



Done correctly, the aircraft would maintain a nose-low attitude, though it might snap roll (if one wing resumed "flying" before the other). However, it would become controllable again as the airspeed built back up (from near zero). The drag chute would fail at approximately 250 knots. The pilot was advised to attain 350 knots (to be sure controllability was restored) before attempting any maneuvers except to fly home carefully and, of course, try to avoid a no-drag chute landing.
There were three warning systems aboard the aircraft to prevent or warn against pitch-up: the autopilot's control stick limiter (CSL, if auto pilot (A/P) was engaged, which required 60 lbs. of force to override); a warning horn half a "g" later; and a 28 lb. control stick "pusher" a bit after that (though we turned that off for low-level flight as it, too, could malfunction). However, a ham-handed pilot, especially if a bit rough on the rudders while horsing back the stick, could pitch up despite all of these cautionary measures. One crew did exactly that: they lost the plane in the ocean, however, both crewmen got out okay and were picked up by a U. S. submarine.
All in all, during its era, the F-101B/F was the best of the Century Series Interceptors, despite its limitations (pitch-up risk, not as fast as the F-106, not as maneuverable as the Deltas, and higher fuel consumption in max A/B). Its combination of relative reliability, two-man crew, then-unrivalled acceleration and electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM) features all made it the "bird to commit" when the intercept was tough, i.e. in night/weather/Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) conditions. After a couple of Interceptor Improvement Program (IIP) mod packages were retrofitted in 1964-65, all three interceptor types had a tunable magnetron (against slow tuning noise jammers) and an infrared search and track subsystem (IRSTS). This was most useful at low altitude when radar returns were obscured in ground clutter or if ECM obscured the target at higher altitudes. The F101 and F106 got added anti-chaff features and an exceptionally fast-tuning magnetron installed, which helped avoid (or "burn through") most noise jammers in their frequency band.


 After the Air Force closed the base, it was turned over to Suffolk County. The New York Air National Guard (106th Group), then flying C97 cargo aircraft, took over the ADC alert portion of the field. The remainder of the airfield was eventually used by general aviation.
BOMARC COFFINS WITH MISSILES IN FIRING POSITION SUFFOLK COUNTY AFB

SUFFOLK COUNTY AIRPORT AND NYANG BASE



The NYANG history notes that the 106th Group relocated from Floyd Bennett Field to Suffolk Airport in 1970. Their website does not have much detail on when Suffolk was an active base. However, after their C97s were retired, the 102 FIS operated the F102A from 1972 to 1975. Thus, for the three-year period, Suffolk again assumed its air defense mission. The current rescue mission started in 1975. Currently, the 106th Rescue Wing, composed of NYANGís HC130s and HH60G Pave Hawks, operate from part of the former ADC base. This unit gained fame in a recent best selling book, "The Perfect Storm", in which one of their Pave Hawks was involved in a dramatic rescue in high seas. A Discovery Channel "Air Wings" program on pararescue men or "PJs" features interviews with several of the 106th aircrew who were involved in the "Perfect Storm" rescue.
The remainder of the field is used for general aviation and was renamed Francis Gabreski Suffolk County Airport, several years ago. Many former Air Force buildings, not used by the NYANG or general aviation, have only recently been torn down. The Coast Guard uses some of the remaining base housing.
MATERIAL COURTESY OF THE CRADLE OF AVIATION MUSEUM

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© 2001 The Cradle of Aviation Museum • All Rights Reserved • info@CradleOfAviation.org

THE DEFENSE OF GOTHAM NUCLEAR NIKE/HERCULES SITES "THE LONG ISLAND ROCKET MEN"

Defending Gotham
Nike Missile Defenses of the
New York Metro Area, 1954-1974







File:New York Defense Area.png

THE RING OF STEEL IS WHAT THE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT REGARDED THE NIKE AND HERCULES SITES AROUND NYC THE LONG ISLAND
SITES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY GUARDED THE MANY CRUCIAL SITES THAT WERE CRITICAL TO THE NATIONS DEFENSE, SUCH AS GRUMANN NAVAL AIRCRAFT WEAPONS FACILITIES, REPUBLIC-FAITRCHILD AIRCRAFT MFG BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LAB KEY TO MANY ABOVEGROUND THERMONUCLEAR TEST DATA RESEARCH AND RADIOLOGICAL FALLOUT RESEARCH ON AGRICULTURE ,ETC THE HUNDREDS AVIATION COMPANIES THAT BUILT RADAR ,AVIONICS, ELECTRONICS, THAT SUPPORTED THE BOOMING COLD WAR AIRCRAFT MFG ON LONG ISLAND, THE TRI STATE NYC AREA WAS A VERY CRUCIAL AREA WITH REGARD TO THE NATIONS MILITARY AND ALSO ITS LARGE POPULATION THAT NEEDED TO BE PROTECTED FROM SOVIET BOMBERS AND ITS INFRASTRUCTURE. EACH BLUE SPOT WAS A NIKE FACILITY THEIR BASE NUMBERS ARE LISTED BESIDE THE DOT AND CAN BE CHECKED OUT AT THE LINK BELOW
http://alpha.fdu.edu/~bender/NYsplash.htmlNIKE MISSILE SITES OF LONG ISLAND,NYC & TRI STATE AREA


1956 CIVIL DEFENSE MORTUARY SERVICES FLOW CHART FCDA


Mortuary gameboard: Do not pass Ground Zero, do not collect $200... click to close
MORTUARY SERVICES POST ATTACK


MARYLAND CIVIL DEFENSE ATTACK WARNING

Civil Defense Instructions... click to close
Add caption

MARYLAND STATE CIVIL DEFENSE ATOMIC PROPAGANDA








MARYLANDS TAKE ON THE ATOMIC MINUTEMEN
 







FALLOUT FROM DC ON ITS WAY THROUGH MD / DE/ NJ/ NY





THIS MAP IS PROBABLY MORE GOVERMENT LIES SINCE THE AMOUNT OF TESTING ABOVEGROUND BY THOSE IN THE NUCLEAR CLUB FROM 1945 - 1975 LEFT ENOUGH FALLOUT IN THE BODIES BONES,THE OCEANS,AND RIVERS, AND THE ATMOSPHERE THAT MIMICS WHAT A MEDIUM NUCLEAR EXCHANGE WOULD OF DROPPED,OUR GOVERMENT USED US ITS POPULATION TO SHOW THE RESEARCHERS WHAT BIRTH DEFORMITIES AND CANCERS WOULD BE POPPING UP IN YEARS TO COME, BEFORE ATMOSPHERIC TESTING CHECK OUT THE NATIONAL AVERAGE FOR CERTAIN CANCERS ASSOCIATED WITH THE RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL IN ATOMIC DEVICES THE CANCER CLUSTERS IN TOWNS DIRECTLY DOWNWIND FROM THE NEVADA TEST SITE ALSO WHY DID THEY SUSPEND TESTS WHEN THE WINDS WERE BLOWING TOWARDS LOS ANGELES OR VEGAS OR PHOENIX AND OTHER LARGE POPULATION CENTERS?WHAT ABOUT THOSE WHO REMEMBER PLAYING IN THE FALLOUT AS CHILDREN AS IT FELL LIKE SNOW COATING EVERYTHING AND SUFFERED MISCARRIAGES AND CHILDREN BORN WITH RARE HORRIBLE DEFORMITIES? THE ONLY REASON NOBODY BRINGS IT UP IS THE PARENTS AND CHILDREN ARE DEAD FROM VARIOUS CANCERS AND DISEASES ASSOCIATED WITH RADIATION POISONING?
"THOSE WHO FORGET THE PAST ARE DAMNED TO REPEAT IT"

Civil Defense Doomsday Hideaway

Civil Defense Doomsday Hideaway
CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR MORE CIVIL DEFENSE  DOOMSDAY HIDEAWAY


Mount Weather


High Point Special Facility (SF)

Mount Weather Emergency Assistance Center [MWEAC]

Western Virginia Office of Controlled Conflict Operations

Berryville, VA

703-542-2287
In the best-selling 1962 book Seven Days in May, the Joint Chiefs of Staff plot a military coup against a US president about to sign a nuclear arms control agreement. The conspiracy involves an emergency exercise at a place called Mount Thunder, a secret bunker where government leaders would go in the event of a nuclear attack. Authors Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II provide rather detailed driving instructions to get to the fictional Mount Thunder, which closely match those used to drive to the real Mount Weather. Although the bunker at Mt. Weather did not become widely known until more than a decade later, the thinly disguised portrayal of the facility in Seven Days in May demonstrates that the fact of the existence and the location of the facility was already known by the early 1960s.

The Mount Weather Special Facility is a Continuity of Government (COG) facility operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The 200,000 square foot facility also houses FEMA's National Emergency Coordinating Center. Located on a 434 acre mountain site on the borders of Loudon and Clarke counties, the above ground support facilities include about a dozen building providing communications links to the White House Situation Room.

The site was originally acquired by the National Weather Bureau, which named it the Mt. Weather Observatory, to launch weather balloons and kites for upper air research. Kites equipped with meteorgraphs were used as atmospheric probes in the late 1890s. From 1893 until 1933, the Weather Bureau maintained a system of stations from which kites were flown at regular hours when the winds permitted. The world's altitude record for a kite was claimed by the US Weather Bureau, with the ascent of a kite to 23,111 ft [7,044 meters] on 3 October 1907 at Mt. Weather. On 05 May 1910, the station on Mt. Weather launched a string of ten kites carrying meteorological instruments. The total area of this "train" of ten kites amounted to 683 square feet, and the uppermost kite rose to an altitude of 23,835 feet. In order to accomplish this feat, over 8-1/2 miles of thin wire were needed for the line.

During World War I there was an artillery range at Mount Weather, and Calvin Coolidge reportedly talked about constructing a summer White House at Mount Weather. During the Depression Mount Weather was reportedly a work farm of some description, though there is no indication that it served as a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp. In 1936 it passed to the Bureau of Mines, which bored a short experimental tunnel less than 300 feet beneath the mountain's crest to test new mining techniques.

Based on a favorable evaluation of the hardness and integrity of the mountain's rock, the Bureau began construction of the facility's tunnels in 1954, which were completed by the Army Corps of Engineers under the code name "Operation High Point."

In 1954, a few high-level officials, assuming several hours warning of a hypothetical attack, left Washington with a check list of possible actions. They assembled in a cave [probably the Mt. Weather construction site]. Water was dripping from the ceiling and oozing from the walls. This was the setting for the first Operation Alert exercise. The exercise lasted only a few hours, but a great deal was learned, believe it or not.

As of July 1958 there were some 90 relocation sites in the seat of Government arc from 30 to 300 miles of Washington, and over 300 relocation sites through-out the country for regional and field offices. The arc was connected with an interagency communication system, which was reasonably adequate and was in the process of further development. A few highly secure relocation sites for central direction and for the protection of central communications had either been constructed or were under construction as of mid-1958.
The Army Corps of Engineers completed the "Area B" underground complex in 1958-1959. Total constuction costs, adjusted for inflation, are estimated to have exceeded $1 billion. Tunnel roofs are shored up with some 21,000 iron bolts driven 8 to 10 feet into the overhead rock. The entrance is protected by a guillotine gate, and a 10 foot tall by 20 foot wide 34-ton blast door that is 5 feet thick and reportedly takes 10 to 15 minutes to open or close.

The underground bunker includes a hospital, crematorium, dining and recreation areas, sleeping quarters, reservoirs of drinking and cooling water, an emergency power plant, and a radio and television studio which is part of the Emergency Braodcasting System. A series of side-tunnels accomodate a total of 20 office buildings, some of which are three stories tall. The East Tunnel includes a computer complex for directing emergency simulations and operations through the Contingency Impact Analysis System (CIAS) and the Resource Interruption Monitoring System (RIMS).

An on-site 90,000 gallon/day sewage treatment plant and two 250,000 gallon above-ground storage tanks are intended to support a population of 200 for up to 30 days. Although the facility is designed to accomodate several thousand people (with sleeping cots for 2,000), only the President, the Cabinet, and Supreme Court were provided private sleeping quarters. For Continuity of Government purposes, senior officials are divided into Alpha, Bravo and Charlie teams -- the first remains in Washington, the second relocates to Mount Weather, and the third disperses to other relocation sites.
The complex was prepared to assume certain governmental powers at the time of the 1961 Cuban missile crisis and the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. The first full-scale activation of the facility came on 9 November 1965, at the time of the great Northeastern power blackout. The installation used the tools of its Civil Crisis Management program on a standby basis during the 1967 and 1968 urban riots and during a number of national antiwar demonstrations.

In its 1974 Annual Report, the Federal Preparedness Agency [FPA] stated that "Studies conducted at Mount Weather involve the control and management of domestic political unrest where there are material shortages (such as food riots) or in strike situations where the FPA determines that there are industrial disruptions and other domestic resource crises."

On 01 December 1974, a TWA Boeing 727 jet crashed into a fog-wrapped mountain, killing all 92 persons aboard. Journalists who covered the crash site noticed fenced US government facility nearby. Within days, The Washington Post reported that the facility was known as Mount Weather, though The Post quoted a spokesman for the Department of Defense as saying he was not allowed "to comment on what Mt. Weather was used for ... or how long it has been in its current use."
According to the Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights hearings in 1975, the Congress had almost no knowledge and no oversight--budgetary or otherwise--on Mount Weather. Retired Air Force General Leslie W. Bray, in his testimony to the subcommittee, said "I am not at liberty to describe precisely what is the role and the mission and the capability that we have at Mount Weather, or at any other precise location."

General Bray did give the Senate Subcommittee a list of the categories of files maintained at Mount Weather: military installations, government facilities, communications, transportation, energy and power, agriculture, manufacturing, wholesale and retail services, manpower, financial, medical and educational institutions, sanitary facilities, population, housing shelter, and stockpiles.
In March, 1976, The Progressive magazine published an article entitled "The Mysterious Mountain." The author, Richard Pollock, based his investigative report on the Senate subcommittee hearings and upon "several off-the-record interviews with officials formerly associated with Mount Weather." His report, and a 1991 article by Ted Gup in Time Magazine entitled "Doomsday Hideaway", supply a few compelling details about Mount Weather.

The FEMA training center was established in 1979 at "Area A" on the surface of the facility. By the late 1990s between 800 and 1,200 people worked at the emergency assistance center, making it the agency's largest facility. Hundreds of other public and private officials attend training sessions at the above-ground center every year.

The Mount Weather Emergency Assistance Center has transitioned from a single mission to one that supports the all-hazards mission of FEMA and, simultaneously, it became a self-supporting cost center that derives its income from the Working Capital Fund authorized by Congress. The Fiscal Year 1997 Appropriation Act authorized FEMA to establish a working capital fund for providing administrative services. A fund was established to support the centralized services provided by the Mount Weather Emergency Assistance Center (MWEAC). The facility, over a two year period in 1997 and 1998, transitioned to a fully operational mode for the Working Capital Fund. It provides office, conference, training, and billeting accommodations at Mount Weather for use by FEMA organizations and other Federal agencies. While operations are being funded based on current appropriations, collections, and usage, FEMA is aggressively marketing the facility to attract new users. All organizations at Mount Weather, including FEMA components, were subject to the provisions of the Working Capital Fund beginning in FY 1998.

Since the 1993 restructuring, population explosion occurred at Mount Weather, moving from a daily work force of about 400 employees, to one of more than 900. Approximately 250 new Cadre of Oncall Response and Recovery Employee (CORE) positions were added that did not exist in 1993. Conference and Training Center (CTC) activity also expanded dramatically, from fewer than 6,000 students/attendees in 1993, to more than 18,000 in FY 1996. More than 100,000 persons were guests at Mount Weather during 1996. The Conference and Training Center at Mount Weather handles some 10,000 students per year for one-week courses, a number comparable to the approximately 10,000 students trained each year in residence at the National Emergency Training Center in Emittsburg, Maryland.
Mount Weather is currently home to six major disaster operations facilities including the:
■National Processing Service Center–Virginia

■Satellite Teleregistration Center

■Disaster Finance Office

■Disaster Information Systems Clearinghouse

■Disaster Personnel Operations Division

■Agency Logistics Center

Today, even in small emergencies like flooding, a lot of the coordination is going through Mount Weather. Ever since the Cold War ended, they have been ordering service for the whole country on the smaller disasters. A snow storm on January 13, 1997 closed the NTC in Denton, TX. The Mount Weather Emergency Assistance Center took 100 percent of the calls that day. The West Side Teleregistration Service Representative personnel of Buildings 704 and 712 took a total of 2,254 calls with an average wait time of only 12 seconds.

Mt. Weather is currently home to eight major FEMA functional groups:

The Virginia National Processing Center (VNPSC) is one of three FEMA Processing Service Centers nationwide. Its mission is to assist individuals impacted by disasters to begin the recovery process. Each Center's phone banks receive countless first calls for assistance from victims in the aftermath of disasters. Each claimant is provided a fast, efficient, and caring response.
The Disaster Finance Center (DFC) provides centralized financial management services for FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund. These services include disaster cost projections, payment of disaster expenses, and production of financial statements and related reports. The DFC is a division of the Office of Financial Management and has a full-time staff of about 80 people and a surge staff that varies in size, depending on disaster activity.

The Disaster Information Systems Clearinghouse (DISC) operates a storage and recycling center that provides centralized control and deployment of all computer and communications equipment necessary to support disaster declarations.

The Disaster Personnel Operations Division (DPOD) is a part of the Office of Human Resources Management and is responsible for personnel management in support of disaster response. The division recruits, selects, and supports employees that fill temporary positions at FEMA's fixed facilities and other offices throughout the U.S. In addition, the division maintains National Cadres of Disaster Assistance Employees and maintains FEMA's Automated Disaster Deployment (ADD) system.

The Agency Logistics Center (ALC) provides centralized inventory management for three territorial logistics centers that deploy material and supplies necessary for FEMA's response to disaster declarations.
The Conference and Training Center (CTC) provides training facilities to support FEMA training activities as well as other federal agency training and conferencing. The CTC offers nearly 35,000 square feet dedicated to classroom training and currently averages 32,000 student days of training per year.
The Information Technology Services Division (ITS) provides computer and communications support for FEMA's all-hazards emergency response mission. The Information Technology Service Center (ITSC), which is located at Mt. Weather, is responsible for providing 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week help desk for users of FEMA’s information systems during declared disasters. At other times, the ITSC operates 16 hours a day. The ITSC is responsible for taking reports on and processing suspected or actual network security problems, and notifying the ESM and appropriate system/network administrator immediately following the reported incident.
The Mt. Weather Management Division works operates and maintains the Mt. Weather EAC by providing basic services such as: electrical power, water, transportation, health care, fire service, security, and facility maintenance. The Division's activities enable all resident and tenant organizations to concentrate on accomplishing their primary missions.
Following the September 11th terrorist attacks, it was reported that "House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other top leaders of Congress were taken to the safety of a secure government facility 75 miles west of Washington." ["Member of Congress condemn attacks," By James Jefferson, The Associated Press, 11 Sept 2002]. It was also reported that "Top congressional leaders were sent to a secure government facility 75 miles west of Washington. They returned Tuesday evening." ["Secret Service takes leaders to secure locations as government responds to attacks," By Laura Meckler, The Associated Press, 11 Sept 2002]. Route 601 [also called Blue Ridge Mountain Road] leads to Mt. Weather. One reporter traveling this road the afternoon of September 11th found "a traffic jam of limos carrying Washington and government license plates and even a motorcade led by eight Harley Davidson U.S. Park Police." ["Things That Go Bump In The Night At Cheney's Cave," by Paul Bedard White House Weekly December 4, 2001].









West Portal

East Portal





Mt. Weather West - 1 meter resolution



Mt. Weather East - 1 meter resolution





Sources and Resources

■Mount Weather by Albert LaFrance

■Mount Weather @ FEMA

■Pollack, Richard, "The Mysterious Mountain," The Progressive, March 1976, pages 12-16.

■Emerson, Steven, "America's Doomsday Project," US News and World Report, 7 August 1989, pages 26-31.

■Walters, Robert, "Going Underground," Inquiry, 2 February 1991, pages 12-16.

■Royce, Knut, "COG in US Nuclear Wheel," Baltimore News American, 2 May 1983, page 1.

■Gup, Ted, "Doomsday Hideaway," Time, 9 December 1991, pages 26-29.

■Gup, Ted, "The Doomsday Blueprints," Time, 10 August 1992, pages 32-39.

■"Still Digging Cold War Bunkers," by Bradley Cook The St. Petersburg Times Friday, May 15, 1998





Discuss this article in our

THE COLD WAR COMMUNICATION MASTERS

The Bomb Alarm System,



the Thule B-52 Crash of 1968


...and a Very Long Phone Line

Thanks to J. Jason Wentworth for contributing this fascinating tale from the Cold War


The Bomb Alarm I know about was actually accidentally triggered once, and I will share the story about this with you. A late friend of mine, Gary Moore, worked at the Bell Telephone Company in Miami between 1957 and 1967. After leaving them in 1967, he worked for Federal Electric Corporation at Thule Air Force Base in Greenland from late 1967 to 1969. He worked in the submarine cable building, where the cable came onto the base from the sea. The Bomb Alarm cabling passed through the building. There was also a large equipment cabinet associated with this cabling that Gary would sometimes use as a bed for catnaps during long shifts.

In 1968, a B-52 on airborne alert carrying four hydrogen bombs crashed just offshore near the base. It narrowly missed the submarine cable building. Gary saw the plane crash on the ice and explode, followed by four other blasts that were the high-explosives in the H-bombs going off.

At the moment of the crash, he was talking with his parents in Miami over an illegal direct telephone link he had set up with the help of friends and other people at several telephone companies between Miami and Greenland. This establishment of this link is a story in itself! He estimated that he made about $50,000 worth of free, illegal calls over the link.
At the time there was only one outgoing "Morale Line" available on-base, and the waiting line to use it was *very* long. Gary and his friends established the direct link partly for the challenge, just to see if they could get away with it. Gary "paid" several people at the intermediate Canadian and US telephone companies by selling them cameras and audio equipment he could buy at the base PX for much less than their prices in the US and Canada. These US and Canadian telephone company employees patched together various unused cable pairs (plus a few microwave links) along the ~5000 mile route between Miami and Thule. Friends of his at Bell Telephone in Miami installed a dedicated drop line from his telephone pole to his house and installed a hidden switch box in the pantry. This would ring the kitchen telephone when he called his parents (his family all lived together in his home).

While he was talking with his parents the B-52 crashed, and the whole base immediately received a message ordering all outgoing base communications to be shut down. He only had time to tell them, "A bomber just crashed near here! I have to get off the line right now, but I'm okay. I'll talk with you when I can. Goodbye."

What Gary didn't know at that moment was that the B-52 had hit the Bomb Alarm cable outside, which caused an erroneous nuclear detonation alert to be sent to the US! For some time before outgoing communications were re-established, SAC thought that Thule Air Force Base had been hit with a nuclear bomb and went to a heightened state of alert. Gary's parents saw the story on the news that night ("Communications with Thule AFB lost") and feared the worst.
The aftermath is equally interesting. From his station in the submarine cable building, Gary was able to listen in on outgoing communications as well as on-base communications. He heard several telephone calls in which base officers were talking with their colleagues in Washington, discussing how to "get their stories straight" for the subsequent investigation so that they could cover their posteriors. It turns out that an extra (seventh) body was found near the crash site, cut in half at the torso. The B-52 airborne alerts had become routine by 1968, and apparently someone had been allowed aboard the B-52 for a "joy ride" during this flight. This was of course strictly against policy, so the officers involved with the B-52 operations had to practice classical "CYA" tactics to save their careers and avoid possible prison sentences.
Gary recorded several of these conversations with the idea of writing a book about the incident. He was preparing to mail the tapes to his parents in Miami. He let a friend of his, an Air Force Major, hear the tapes, and he advised Gary to erase the tapes. He said, "Military Airlift Command is the only way in or out of Thule for mail and cargo. If they find your tapes and discover what you've recorded, they'll make sure you vanish and aren't found until the Spring thaw!" This scared Gary, so he dutifully erased the tapes.

That B-52 crash also directly resulted in the creation of the Poker Flat Research Range www.pfrr.alaska.edu , a sounding rocket launch facility located 50 km north of where I live in Fairbanks, Alaska. The Defense Nuclear Agency had been planning a series of high-altitude barium release tests to be launched from Greenland in 1969. The "Ban The Bomb" sentiment was running high in the Danish parliament at that time, and after the B-52 crashed they forbade any nuclear-related testing on Danish territory.
The Defense Nuclear Agency desperately needed a high-latitude launch site for their sounding rockets, and they decided to set up a temporary range at Poker Flat. Professor Neil Davis of the University of Alaska Fairbanks had been trying to establish a sounding rocket range at Poker Flat for several years, and he persuaded NASA to let him launch his sounding rockets at Poker Flat. After his initial missions, he was able to get NASA to continue supporting the range, which is owned by the UAF (it's the only university-owned sounding rocket range in the world). Thus the Poker Flat Research Range was born.





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For more information about this incident and its repercussions, see:

The Limits of Safety: Organizations, Accidents, and Nuclear Weapons (Chapter 4)

by Scott D. Sagan
BELL SYSTEM AND WESTERN UNIONS TELETYPE MACHINES WERE THE  WORK HORSES OF THE COLD WAR BOTH WERE HEAVILY RESPONSIBLE FOR  GUIDANCE SYSTEMS ON ROCKETS TO RADIO FREQUENCYS FOR SUBMARINES SUBMERGED THE COLD WAR PROVIDED A NEED FOR COMUNICATION NETWORKS AND THESE COMPANYS WERE RESPONSIBLE AND WERE ABLE TO INVENT BETTER COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS BECAUSE TECHNOLOGY WAS A NUMBER ONE NECESSITY DURING THE 1950s-1970s THESE SYSTEMS HAD ALOT OF RESPONSIBILITY TO MAKE SURE  DURING ATTACK LAUNCH COMMANDS AND BOMBER CREWS GOT CORRECT INFO DURING  EXERCISES AND IF NEED BE ATTACK.

Fallout Shelter Manager, Information Officer

My photo
NYC , NORTHEAST AIR DEFENSE SECTOR NYC/ISLIP, United States

(1968) USAF SURVIVE TO FIGHT ATOMIC WEAPON HITS ADC BASE JETS SCRAMBLE INTERCEPT SOVIET ATTACKERS

THIS IS A CLASSIC UNITED STATES AIR FORCE TRAINING FILM THAT IS BASED ON SURVIVABILITY OF USAF BASE OPERATIONS IN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES AFTER A NUCLEAR ATTACK,BASES LIKE THIS ONE WERE SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES DURING THE COLD WAR PERIOD THE AMOUNT OF PRESSURE AND RESPONSIBILITY THESE MEN HAD HAD HANDLING NUCLEAR WEAPONS THAT WERE USED ON INTERCEPTOR AIRCRAFT ,THE # AM SCRAMBLES INTO THE WINTER NIGHT NOT KNOWING IF THIS WAS FOR REAL AS BASE AIRCRAFT PEELED OUT LAUNCHING IN PAIRS SC REAMING INTO THE WINTER NIGHT WAITING FOR WORD OF WHAT WAS GOING ON. THE AIRMEN AT THESE BASES KNEW ANY ATTACK ON THE US THEY WOULD BE AMONG THE FIRST TO KNOW AND FIRST TO GO WHILE THE COMMUNITIES OUTSIDE THE GATES NEVER KNEW HOW CLOSE THEY WERE TO WAR AS THE BASES WENT TO DIFFERENT DEFCON LEVELS, THIS WAS NOT INFORMATION FOR THE PUBLIC. THE FILM STARTS AT NIGHT AND THE SAC AIR DEFENSE COMMAND LAUNCHES ITS F-101 INTERCEPTOR AIR CRAFT AND PREPARES TO RIDE OUT A NUCLEAR STRIKE AS CONFIRMATION OF INCOMING MISSILES IS CONFIRMED. THANKS TO A CLIMATE OF GUARDED DEFENSE THE AIR FORCE BASE IS ABLE TO BUILD DEFENSIVE AND SHELTER FACILITIES TO SURVIVE AND FIGHT AND AS A NUCLEAR DETONATION IS CONFIRMED ON BASE THE AIR FORCE BEGINS TO DEAL WITH THE PROBLEMS SO ITS AIR WING CAN COME BACK AND RE-ARM AND RE-FUEL A GREAT SUBJECT THAT U.S. MILITARY FORCES HAD TO PLAN FOR AND TRAIN AND THIS FILM SHOWS WHAT THEY EXPECTED, THE REAL QUESTION IS IT REALISTIC IN ITS EXPECTATION? THE ONE THING IS THAT IT IS PRICELESS THAT THE USAF MADE THIS TRAINING FILM AND ITs QUOTES LIKE "HAVE NO UMBRELLAS,IF IT STARTS TO RAIN WE WILL LET YOU KNOW." AND "YOU CALL US BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T WE WILL BE CALLING YOU" WEIRD,.. BUT STILL GREAT PROPAGANDA!FILMED AT A SAC AIR DEFENSE INTERCEPTOR BASE LOCATED IN OXNARD, OXNARD AFB CALIFORNIA 1967 THIS IS BASICALLY WHEN CLOSING OF SAC ADC BASES WAS GOING ON ALL OVER (SUFFOLK COUNTY AFB LONG ISLAND NEW YORK) RESPONSIBLE FOR THE NYC AREA FOR MOST OF THE COLD WAR.DURING 1968- EARLY 1970s MOST OF THESE AIR FORCE ADC UNITS WENT OVER TO FIGHT IN VIETNAM AND THAILAND AS FORWARD AIR CONTROL AND MUNITION LOADERS FOR USAF STRIKE PLANES USING IRON BOMBS INSTEAD OF ATOMIC MUNITIONS BOMBING NVA BASES AND NORTH VIETNAM AND THE ADC PILOTS AND BACKSEATERS WENT OVER ALSO, TO ME THESE GUYS REALLY SERVED THEIR COUNTRY PLUS ONE AND DESERVE BIG RESPECT , MY HATS OFF TO THE USAF AIRMEN OF ADC/SAC AND VIETNAM/THAILAND/LAOS

DEFCON THE ULTIMATE NUCLEAR WAR SIMULATION

NYC EMERGENCY BROADCAST PLEASE STAND BY FOR OFFICIAL INFORMATION (1980-1984)

USAF/SAC AT DEFCON ONE AND CONFIDENCE IS HIGH! "EXECUTIVE DESCISION" USAF'S NUCLEAR POSTURE

PROBABLY THE MOST TELLING STORY OF USAF MIGHT AND POWER AS WAR IS UNLEASHED ON THE AGRESSOR NATION WHO IS LATER IDENTIFIED TO BE THE SOVIET UNION, THE STOCK FOOTAGE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS BEING DROPPED BY B-47 STRATOJETS and B-52 BOMBERS ARE FROM ONCE CLASSIFIED USAF NUCLEAR TEST OPS. MOST OF THIS ENTIRE FILM IS FROM CLASSIFIED WARPLANS AND SPECIAL OPERATIONS, THIS HOMAGE TO SAC AND STRATEGIC AIR COMMANDS DEDICATION TO MISSION IS A JEWEL AND FROM A TIME WHERE THE WORLD WAS A TINDERBOX READY FOR SOMEONE TO STRIKE THE SPARK AND IGNITE A WORLDWIDE NUCLEAR CONFLAGRATION WHERE LIFE MOST LIKELY WOULD OF WENT THE WAY OF THE DINOSAUR AND ONLY MILLIONS OF YEARS LATER A FOSSILIZED REMAINS OF MAN WOULD BE DISCOVERED BY THE NEXT GENERATION THAT CAME FROM THE ASHES OF THE OLD, THIS FILM IS NOT KNOWN IF IT WAS EVER SEEN OR VIEWED OTHER THAN A HANDFUL OF HIGH RANKING USAF OFFICERS, SEE THE DESCRIPTION AND INFORMATION FROM THE NUCLEAR VAULT.COM --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The Power of Decision" may be the first (and perhaps the only) U.S. government film dramatizing nuclear war decision-making. Commissioned by the Strategic Air Command in 1956, the film has the look of a 1950s TV drama, but the subject is the ultimate Cold War nightmare. By the end of the film, after the U.S. Air Force has implemented war plan "Quick Strike" following a Soviet surprise attack, millions of Americans, Russians, Europeans, and Japanese are dead. The narrator, a Colonel Dodd, asserts that "nobody wins a nuclear war because both sides are sure to suffer terrible damage." Despite the "catastrophic" damage, one of the film’s operating assumptions is that defeat is avoidable as long as the adversary cannot impose its "will" on the United States. The film’s last few minutes suggest that the United States would prevail because of the "success" of its nuclear air offensive. Moscow, not the United States, is sending out pleas for a cease-fire. The conviction that the United States could prevail was a doctrinal necessity because Air Force leaders assumed the decisiveness of air power. The founding fathers of the U.S. Air Force came out of World War II with an unshakeable, if exaggerated, conviction that the strategic bombing of Germany and Japan had been decisive for the Allied victory and that air power would be crucial in future conflicts. (Note 1) The film’s title: "Power of Decision" embodies that conviction. The title itself is a reference to a 1948 statement by General George C. Kenney, the Strategic Air Command’s first commander-in-chief: "A war in which either or both opponents use atomic bombs will be over in a matter of days...The Air Force that is superior in its capability of destruction plays the dominant role and has the power of decision." (Note 2) A confident statement made by one of the characters, General "Pete" Larson, near the close of reel 6 flows from that assumption: the Soviets "must quit; we have the air and the power and they know it." The story begins with Colonel Dodd, standing in the underground command post of the "Long Range Offense Force" (oddly, the Strategic Air Command is never mentioned by name). Dodd discusses the Force’s strike capabilities, its mechanisms for keeping track of its strategic assets, and its war plans. That hundreds of bombers, based in U.S. territories and overseas bases, are ready to launch at a moment’s notice is the "surest way to prevent war." Dodd does not think that the Soviets are likely to strike, but if deterrence fails and the Soviets launch an attack, "this is what will happen." What "happens" is the initial detection by U.S. air defense network of the approach of Soviet bombers over the Arctic Circle. That leads to General Larson’s decision to launch the SAC alert force under plan "Quick Strike"; airborne and nuclear-armed alert bombers fly toward the Soviet periphery, but stay at position until they receive an attack order (this was the concept of "Fail Safe" or "Positive Control" although those terms were not used in the film). About an hour after the alert force is launched, General Larson receives reports of attacks on U.S. bases, followed by more information on Soviet nuclear attacks on cities and military bases in Japan and Western Europe. "That does it," General Turner (one of Larson’s deputies) exclaims. He soon receives a call on the red phone from the Joint Chiefs, who with the President, are in a protected command post. The president has ordered the execution of "Quick Strike," releasing bombers and missiles to strike the Soviet Union. This simultaneous bomber-missile "double punch" is aimed at "all elements of [Soviet] air power" [bomber bases] along with "war making and war sustaining resources," which meant strikes on urban-industrial areas and urban populations. To depict the undepictable, the film’s producers use stock footage of nuclear tests and missile and bomber launches. Once it is evident that the Soviets have launched a surprise air attack, Colonel Dodd observes that "By giving up the initiative, the West must expect to take the first blow." This statement is not developed, but for Air Force planners, "initiative" meant a preemptive attack or a first strike. By the early 1950, senior military planners and defense officials had begun considering the possibility of pre-emptive attacks on the basis of strategic warning; that is, if the United States intelligence warning system collected reliable information on an impending Soviet attack, decision-makers could approve strikes against Soviet military forces to disrupt it. Consistent with this, Strategic Air Command war plans assumed "two basic modes" for executing strike plans [See Document One below]. () One was retaliation against a surprise attack; the other "plan was based on the assumption that the United States had strategic warning and had decided to take the initiative." The SAC strike force would then be "launched to penetrate en masse prior to the enemy attack; the main target would be the enemy’s retaliatory capability." In the last part of reel 6, Air Force intelligence briefings review the destruction of the Soviet military machine, including destruction of air bases, weapons storage centers, and government control centers, among other targets. "Target M," presumably Moscow, has "been destroyed" by a nuclear weapon which struck 300 yards from the aiming point. The Soviet attack has done calamitous damage to the United States, with 60 million casualties, including 20 million wounded, but evidence was becoming available of the "success" of the U.S. air offensive. The Soviet Air Force has been reduced to a handful of aircraft, it had stopped launching nuclear strikes outside of its territory, and SACEUR [Supreme Allied Commander Europe] reports the "complete disintegration of resistance" by Soviet ground forces. Moreover, cease-fire requests are coming in from the Soviets. In this context, General Larson’s certainty that the "Soviets must quit" conveyed prevailing assumptions about the value of strategic air power. Around the time when "The Power of Decision" as being produced, a statement by SAC Commander-in-Chief General Curtis LeMay made explicit what was implicit in Larson’s observation. In an address before the Air Force’s Scientific Advisory Board in 1957 [see Document Two], LeMay argued that U.S. strategic forces could not be an effective deterrent unless they were "clearly capable of winning under operational handicaps of bad weather and no more than tactical warning." And by winning, LeMay said he meant "achieving a condition wherein the enemy cannot impose his will on us, but we can impose our will on him." Larson’s statement about control of the air dovetailed exactly with LeMay’s assumptions about winning. Little is known about the production and distribution of "The Power of Decision," or even if it was actually shown. According to the history of the Air Photographic and Charting Service for January through June 1957, on 28 May 1956, the Strategic Air Command requested the service to produce the film, which would be classified Secret. SAC leaders may have wanted such a film for internal indoctrination and training purposes, to help officers and airmen prepare themselves for the worst active-duty situation that they could encounter. Perhaps the relatively unruffled style of the film’s performers was to serve as a model for SAC officers if they ever had to follow orders that could produce a nuclear holocaust. In any event, the script for "Power of Decision" was approved on 10 May 1957 and a production planning conference took place on 29 May 1957. The contract productions section of the Air Photographic and Charting Service was the film’s producing unit. The next step was to find actors with security clearances because even the synopsis of the film was classified secret (although later downgraded to "official use only"). As the Air Force was not in the business of hiring actors, the production unit engaged the services of MPO Productions, a New York-based firm which produced commercials and industrial films. [References to MPO, Inc. are on the index cards and on "The End" frame at the close of reel 6]. What happened next, when the work on the film was completed, SAC’s assessment of the project, and whether, when, or where the film was shown, cannot presently be determined, although the information may be in the living memories of participants or viewers from those days. Note: The relatively poor quality of this digital reproduction reflects the condition of the original reels as turned over to the National Archives by the Air Force.

PROPAGANDA No.2 "Your New Sound Of Freedom"

PROPAGANDA  No.2 "Your New Sound Of Freedom"
PUBLISHED FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE MISSION OF THE USAF AIR DEFENSE COMMAND AND THATS TARGETED FOR LONG ISLANDERS WHO LIVED NEAR SUFFOLK COUNTY AIR FORCE BASE IT WAS A PRIMARY ADC SQUADRON THAT WAS TO INTERCEPT ANY SOVIET BOMBERS OR OTHER UNIDENTIFIED AIRCRAFT OF UNKNOWN ORGIN, SUFFOLK AFB BECAME PRIMARY WHEN FLOYD BENNET FIELD CLOSED AND CEASED OPERATIONS, THE CONVAIR F102-F-106 DELTA DART AND DAGGER WERE THE MAIN INTERCEPT AIRCRAFT FROM 1958-62 WHEN THE USAF DECIDED TO USE THE F-101 VODOO ALL WEATHER INTERCEPTOR, THE F-102-106 WAS USED BY THE USAF AT SUFFOLK AS WELL AS MANY OTHER AIRCRAFT THAT WOULD COME THROUGH THE AIRBASE, EARLY POSTS ON THIS BLOG HAS NUMEROUS PHOTO'S OF THESE DART LIKE AIRCRAFT AT THE BASE, THE EARLIER AIRCRAFT WERE F-86 SABRES AND THEY WERE PHASED OUT IN 1958, THERE WERE A FEW LOST AIRCRAFT OUT OF SUFFOLK AND EVEN A FALCON AIR TO AIR MISSILE AND THE INFAMOUS 1966 "STRANGE LIGHTS MOVING AT HIGH SPEEDS OVER THE SOUTH SHORE OF LONG ISLAND" THE AD WAS TO DEFEND THE MISSION OF THESE AFB'S LOCATED IN SUBURBS AROUND THE U.S. WHO HAD THE JOB OF SCRAMBLING AND GREET ANY UNIDENTIFIED RADAR CONTACT.THROUGH THE END OF WORLD WAR 2 UP UNTIL 1970 THE STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND HAD THESE BASES SCATTERED AROUND MAJOR CITIES AND VITAL US DEFENSE CONTRACTORS, SINCE THESE AIR WINGS WERE ON ALERT THEY FLEW OUT CONSTANTLY AND 6-7 IN FORMATION FLYING LOW IS LOUD SO SUBURBAN AMERICA COMPLAINED ABOUT THE NOISE AND THE USAF AND CONVAIR STARTED A ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN TO INFORM AND EDUCATE JUST HOW IMPORTANT THAT SOUND IS. AND HOW LUCKY WE ARE TO HERE IT. DURING THE 1970s to PRESENT USAF/ADC AND OTHERB MILITARY BASES WERE CLOSED BY THE HUNDREDS, IMAGINE A CITY LIKE NEW YORK HAS NO AIR DEFENSE THE NEAREST ARMED AIRCRAFT IS 30 MINUTES AWAY , AND MOST CITYS ARE NO LONGER DESIGNATED MILITARY PROTECTION, THIS MAKES NO SENSE SINCE OUR MILITARY IS TO DEFEND THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES AND I REALLY DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW OUR NATION CAN FORGET WHY WE HAVE ARMED FORCES. THEY ARE NOT FOR FIGHTING ON FOREIGN SOIL AND IF WE HAVE TO WE CAN SEND B-52S ON BOMBING MISSIONS, WE NEED TO LOOK BACK AT WHAT THIS NATIONS FOUNDATIONS WERE AND REBUILD IT, BECAUSE SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT!

USAF/DEFENSE NUCLEAR AGENCY (1970) MEETING THE TERRORIST THREAT- GUARDING USAF NUCLEAR FACILITIES

- Meeting the Terrorist Threat, Produced by the Defense Nuclear Agency - Early 1970's - 7:30 - Color - Since the emergence of the terrorist threat, the U.S. Governments concern about the possible terrorism against nuclear facilities has intensified. This video is a dramatization. It shows how the Government has responded to this threat. The video depicts nuclear security activities at an early nuclear storage site and how a small unarmed force of intruders easily enters under the security fence surrounding the site. The protective force subdues the intruders easily. In another scene, a well-armed terrorist team enters the base and kills a roving patrol with a well-placed sniper. Security forces finally overcome the terrorists after a superior counter-force arrives. On a third entry, a terrorist team enters the site under the cover of a fellow terrorist, hidden in the forest, armed with a heavy machine gun. This terrorist team reaches and penetrates a storage igloo after the roving patrol is killed, and the rapid response force is destroyed. However, the terrorists do not escape. When the superior security force appears with helicopter support and an armored personnel carrier, the terrorists, including the machine gunner, are killed. Since this film was made, the Department of Energy (DOE) has constantly improved the training and tactics of the security forces at each installation as well as the in-place security systems. With its modern day posture, it would be highly improbable that a small group of armed individuals could forcibly enter any DOE facility and escape with a nuclear weapon or any special nuclear

NEW!!!! ----GREAT FALLOUT SHELTER SONG 1961

(1975) RARE FOOTAGE OF ANG F-102s BASED AT SUFFOLK AFB (DECOM) FLYING OVER LONG ISLAND

THIS VIDEO SHOWS NATIONAL GUARD 2nd FIS FLYING F102s OVER EASTERN LONG ISLAND THE FLIGHT SCENES ARE DUBBED WITH A HORRIBLE MUSIC SOUNDTRACK "HIGHWAY TO THE DANGER ZONE" SO I ADVISE THAT YOU MUTE THE SOUND WHILE WATCHING THIS LAST OF THE CENTURY FIGHTERS BEING FLOWN AS INTERCEPTORS AND NOT TARGETS FOR MISSILE TESTS, THE SUFFOLK AFB NOW GABRESKI AIRPORT WESTHAMPTON HOME NOW TO THE 106th AEROSPACE RESCUE AND RECOVERY WING WHO OCCUPY AND USE THE OLD ALERT HANGARS AND USAF INFRASTRUCTURE THAT THE STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND "ADC" LEFT BEHIND WHEN THE SUFFOLK COUNTY AIR BASE WAS DECOMMISSIONED, EVEN THEN A NATIONAL GUARD UNIT USING F-102s WAS BASED THERE FROM 1969 - PRESENT.RARE CAMOFLAUGE F102s *UPDATE THE F-102 THAT SAT OUT FRONT TO PAY RESPECT TO THOSE THAT SERVED THE COLD WAR MISSION AND FLEW JET AIR CRAFT LOADED WITH LIVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS WAS SCRAPPED AND CUT UP ON BASE BY A SCRAP YARD IN A TOTAL DOUCHE BAG MOVE! I DONT CARE HOW BAD OF SHAPE IT WAS IN IT COULD OF BEEN SAVED AND SHOULD OF.JUST BECAUSE THE MISSON NOW INVOLVES HELICOPTERS YOU DONT FORGET HISTORY AND TRY TO TAKE THE LIME LIGHT BY DROPPIN A HELICOPTER IN ITS SPOT, YOU DISRESPECTED THOSE THAT SERVED A WAR COLD IN NAME BUT WAS A DIRECT THREAT AGAINST THIS NATION AND THOSE WHO FLEW THOSE JETS DURING THOSE YEARS WOULD OF GAVE THEIR LIVES TO KEEP THE POPULATION OF THIS COUNTRY SAFE, IT MAKES ME SAD TO SEE SUCH DISRESPECT AND PERSONALLY YOU CAN STICK THAT HELO UP YOUR ASSES!

COLD WAR PROPAGANDA No.41 (1951) USAF CARTOON RECRUITING COMMERCIAL

THIS USAF COMMERCIAL FROM THE EARLY 1950s MOST LIKELY WAS THE REASON AMERICA WON THE COLD WAR AND BEAT THE SOVIETS IN TO SPACE THE JINGLE IN OF FLYING DAH DAH DAH WITH CARTOON JETS AND PEOPLE PROBABLY CAUGHT THE EYE OF MANY YOUNG KIDS WHO TEN YEARS LATER ENLISTED AND HELPED KEEP THIS COUNTRY FREE OF ANY COMMUNIST AGGRESSORS, WE NEED MORE GOOD WHOLESOME RECRUITING PITCHES LIKE THIS ONE!

ATOMIC AGE PROPAGANDA (1951)

ATOMIC AGE PROPAGANDA (1951)