Stanislov Petrov...and Don Cullins

[raketenjagdpanzer]

We've all heard about the heroic decision by Stanislov Petrov to ignore computer data indicating a nuclear attack on the USSR was underway and that by doing so he probably saved the planet from destruction.

Heard another one from my mom. A once-uncle (removed by divorce), Pitt Bennett was on watch in an Atlas missile silo in the 60s or 70s. For reasons not understood, one of the missiles "was about to take off". That is, as near anyone can tell (based on what my dad told me about it before he passed away) the missile went into launch mode and started a fire in the silo. At the time nobody knew what would happen; would the missile launch and fly to its target somewhere in the USSR? Would it explode and detonate the warhead? Would it explode, but not detonate the warhead, but still go with enough fuel to kill everyone in the launch control bunker, etc.?

Anyway, while everyone else was running out, uncle Pitt ran in and pulled a manual release that quenched the fire, and that was the end of that.

He got an AF Commendation medal for it, but it wasn't much talked about (I guess in the 60s just casually announcing that a nuclear missile almost launched of its own accord would probably not have gone down well). I can't imagine the PAL would have broken down so badly that the thing would have done what it was designed to do, but you never know.

Anyway, thanks Pitt.

[Targan]

That is a full-on story. When you hear little gems like that you have to consider the possibility that it happened just as described. A fully fuelled Atlas ICBM would make one hell of a bang if it exploded in the silo. Dang.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

My dad's "H-Bomb" story was funnier: he was standing flight line guard when a few gallons of cold fuel splashed onto the runway while refueling an armed B47. Foof, a 3-4 diameter puddle of fire. Couple of squirts from an extinguisher and its out.

Except...

one of the other flight line guards observing this immediately determined that a fire underneath a hydrogen-bomb armed aircraft meant doomsday, so he:

- abandoned his weapon
- abandoned his post
- commandeered a jeep
...and was stopped at the outer/Spanish gate (Torrejon AFB is/was a reservation inside a Spanish AF base, so you had the outer perimeter then an inner perimeter surrounding the US base) going hellbent for leather. When they asked the guy why he ran he said "I was trying to get away! There's h-bombs on that plane!"...as if puttering out to metro Madrid would have saved him...

Mind you, the fire was out in the space of about 30 seconds.

Sometimes you've gotta wonder what's going on inside peoples' heads.

Although to be fair given how close we've come to actual near-accidental nuclear detonations (accidental war aside), I can kinda see where he was coming from.

[Adm.Lee]

Originally Posted by raketenjagdpanzer

My dad's "H-Bomb" story was funnier: he was standing flight line guard when a few gallons of cold fuel splashed onto the runway while refueling an armed B47. Foof, a 3-4 diameter puddle of fire. Couple of squirts from an extinguisher and its out.

I read a story just a few months ago from an SP who also stood guard near armed B52s-- he had to walk around them regularly. One day, the plane's tailguns started tracking him as he walked. Every time. No one in the plane, and the power should have been off, but the radar picked him up and followed. his. every. move.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

Originally Posted by Targan

That is a full-on story. When you hear little gems like that you have to consider the possibility that it happened just as described. A fully fuelled Atlas ICBM would make one hell of a bang if it exploded in the silo. Dang.

This (which I distinctly recall hearing about on the news when I was a kid) is in all likelihood what would have happened.

[micromachine]

Hello All;

My grandfather Rhodenizer served in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a radar operator in World War II, and he left me with two neat anecdotes from his time in service.
The first one comes from either training or when he was based in the United Kingdom. He was posted on guard duty one evening, and was issued a bayonet and a rifle, however, he was not issued any live ammunition. The standard challenge that was used was " Who goes there?" and if it was not responded to the second challenge was " Stop or I will shoot!" He, of course, was a bit of a smarty pants, so on the second challenge was quickly changed to "Stop or I will s**t!". This didn't go over well with one of the officers who was returning to the base late one evening!
The second one comes from when he was transferred to India which he blamed on being of Germanic descent and working on radar. The first night on the ground, they were sleeping in tents on the side of an airfield and through the night the sounds of tigers were heard all around the encampment. Rather than giving a marauding Japanese plane a ground reference point, the minimal lighting was left off and the foot patrols were increased. He drew a Sten gun from stores and spent the night sat up on his cot, wondering if he was going to make it. The next morning, they awaken to find a circus had set up next to the encampment overnight!
While they sound like a stretch to me, they surely seem plausible given the circumstances of the time!