I was unaware of the “full script” the air crews and their families faced during those years.
Then the threat was clear, and the methods were obviously effective in keeping the Soviets controlled.
I will cite the guys also sitting alert then in fighters in Europe, loaded with a nuke and primed for one way missions to targets in Eastern Europe, as a related situation.
I don’t think very many Americans are even now aware of those alerts that prevented a nuclear war for all those years.
If Iran gets nukes, and I see no effective actions to prevent that, then the Saudis and others will also have to acquire them.
What a nightmare!
I see no indication that those now in power in the USA have a realistic perception of the implications or have an understanding of the necessity of preventing that … even at the price of a conventional war of prevention.
They do not seem to have even the limited conviction to try really severe sanctions first … and the Russians have already sold (but not installed) the Iranians the superior anti aircraft rockets that can prevent the Israelis from doing a preventive strike.
We are in the hands of amateurs …
God help us, please!
Bill
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On Oct 8, 2009, at several contributors wrote:
I have some buddies who will really enjoy seeing this one. That sure brought back memories: we used to exercise our MITO capability every time I was on alert, but we did not actually take off. Instead we would start engines and taxi down the runway in line. I believe we could actually do that in under 6 minutes when everything went well. One interesting thing I noticed was they used vehicles to get out to the pads where the B-52s were parked. When we did it, our facility was in the center of a pattern of B-52s and we ran out of the building and up to the airplane-it was really fun when the klaxon went off when you were in the shower or sound asleep in your bunk. Great for getting your heart started in a flash. Now imagine that at one time we had B-52 bases like this across the entire United States and were capable of putting hundreds of B-52s into the air and on the way to the USSR in under 10 minutes flat.
Also, once a year we would fill the skies across N. Canada and the polar ice cap with hundreds of B-52s that remained in orbit for two weeks without end–2 SOLID WEEKS- IMAGINE THAT. Each mission for us at KI Sawyer AFB would last 26 hours. We would have 6 B-52s orbiting over Alaska and Point Barrow and go out to almost the North Pole before we would turn around and go back to Fairchild AFB and then start the orbit again. We would make 3-4 orbits -refueling with a KC-135 tanker each time and then head back to Michigan across the NW Territories. I believe our total distance across the ground was around 14-15000 miles. But as soon as we pulled out of orbit another B-52 took our place and this orbit pattern and a host of similar orbits across “Dew Line” were never empty for two weeks. We did this so the Soviet Union could watch and understand what awesome power waiting silently for them just over the horizon. Each B-52 carried a number of hydrogen bombs and was capable of destroying a number of cities. The United States demonstrated this amazing level of air power-each year without fail-when the Soviets were not capable of building an aircraft engine that could reliably fly for over 125 hours without major maintenance. I can not imagine what the Soviet military high command must have thought as they watched this display on their over the horizon radar, but I am sure it made them think hard about what they might want to consider next in their military strategy. And then, of course, you add in the minuteman missile silos and the amazing nuclear submarines we have on patrol and the fighter-bombers we had deployed in Europe and the orient and you can began to grasp the meaning of the Triple Response we had prepared for them.
Oh yeah, by the way, I believe each B-52 cost around 5-6 million dollars, we built over 1000 of them between 1952 and 1960, and we still have about 100 of them still flying that are over 50 years old. Thanks Boeing! And, yes, today we are building little fighter planes that cost nearly half a billion dollars a piece made with parts from China. And we may not be able to build more than 25 or 30 a year because of the huge cost. Yeah, but I bet there are still a few B-17 or B-25 pilots out there that can tell the same story and reach the same conclusion.
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Here is a good video showing a Bomb Wing launching its B-52 bomber force. As you will read below, a “real MITO” would be 2 to 3 times faster than what is shown. A MITO is initially a survival launch for the bomber/tanker force because of incoming Soviet ICBM warheads which would obliterate the base and everyone left behind including the aircrews’ families. Once safely airborne and away from know US target areas, it would quickly (within hours) become payback time for those who had attacked the USA. The term for swapping nukes was called Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD). I found the closer I could stay to the bomber in front of me during takeoff the smoother the air seemed, at least until becoming airborne. Then it didn’t matter where you were. Unless you were the lead bomber, the initial 1,500’ climb was not for the squeamish. May God continue to bless our Warriors, especially those who “fly to fight!”
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For civilians, that video would be impressive. However, at Grand Forks (80-81), our DO would time us from 2,000’ down the runway. The bomber crews knew they had better not have any more than 15 seconds max between bombers. With that rate of compression, we had three and momentarily four B-52s on the runway at the same time. This “exercise” video appeared to have a safety margin (60 sec) built into their launch. We took off with 60 second spacing when we flew out of UT, Thailand and Anderson AFB, Guam when we were bombing Vietnam. Don’t mean to be critical and did enjoy seeing the video.
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Boy did this bring back memories. Can’t even begin to count the MITOs I’ve participated in but sure do recall having a hand full of B-52 a few times as number 2 or 3 plane if the winds shifted and I couldn’t get out of the wake turbulence.
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Cold War Remembered — B-52 Minimum Interval Takeoff at Minot AFB
SAC allowed 15 minutes to get its alert force into the air. Fifteen minutes was the time that it would take for Soviet ICBMs to hit the U.S. after BMEWS confirmed them incoming and after initial alert from early warning satellites. Watch the time — the complete B-52 force is in the air in 9.5 min.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ7niLYSVFo
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