Digital Rust

The cold war circus

For me the cold war was something I had to live with during the 70's and 80's. Although relations between the U.S and Russians were twitchy way before this, I have clear memories of the anxiety felt by many people during the period.

The politics of the time was irrelevant for many people; the all pervading fear of course was the threat of a nuclear war. This was exacerbated by numerous films such as the chilling threads made by the BBC which was immediately banned as well as the day after.

The British government started a series of short public films entitled protect and survive. A booklet of the same name was available to every household in the U.K explaining what to do in the event of a nuclear strike. Most people considered the contents of the films and literature as a farce which only made things worse.

As luck prevailed the threat of a Soviet nuclear war gradually receded, the Berlin wall came down and the United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) was dismantled. The SALT 2 treaty and nuclear non proliferation agreements were put in place which I am sure have all helped us get to this current point in time with only 2 nuclear devices being used in anger during the 1940's against the Japanese at Hiroshima and Nagasaki

In the information below I have started to visit ( as a civilian ) and document some of the places, the hardware and literature from this period.

Opposite is the front cover and a couple of pages from the Protect and survive U.K goverment information booklet. In all honesty this type of material probably did more harm than good. If you have a look at pages 10 and 11 you will see what I mean !!


Click on the expand button for a larger image

PROTECT AND SURVIVE - U.K government Nuclear Survival Films

This Crown copyright protected material may be re-used free of charge for research, non-commercial purposes and private study. (Crown © 1976)

The protect and survive film shorts were made in 1976 by the U.K government and intended to be shown on BBC television in the event of a nuclear war between Russia and the U.K. They were narrated by Patrick Allen and made by Richard Taylor Cartoons.

I have made them available for download in Windows media player format, just click on the relevant title below

PROTECT AND SURVIVE

Nuclear War Civil Defence Information
What To Put In Your Fallout Room
The Warnings
Stay At Home
Sanitation Care
Refuges
Casualties
After Warnings
Nuclear Explosions Explained

Weapons, missiles and delivery systems

Maybe some of the hardware in the photos below will be familliar to you although I suspect not. The amount of money and human endeavour put into these things is incomprehensible and so much of it now stands forlorn in museums around the world and hidden in derelict silos.

I went to the New Mexico state Nuclear museum and was astonished to see so much hardware on display. As the museum is so close to Kirtland Air force base and home to the air force Nuclear Weapons centre, they have access to some remarkable hardware from this period.

If you have a look through the photos opposite, I have tried to fit a short description of each one

Click on the "expand" button for the hi res versions of each

On the right are a collection of photos I took at the N.M Space museum earlier this year & the stuff in here has to be seen to be believed.


click on the "expand" button for the hi res photos

Nike Missile Defence Area - M 74 Waukesha (U.S)
(I took these photos in August 2011)

The Nike nuclear missile installations were the worlds first successful guided surface to air missile system. They represented a final continental U.S defence in the event long range soviet bombers made it through the air force fighter-interceptor aircraft.

A typical installation comprised of an Integrated Fire Control area and the Launcher area where the underground missiles could be launched. These "Ajax" missiles were rapidly upgraded to the "Hercules" series which were a far more capable missile loaded with the "W-31" thermonuclear warhead in 3, 20 and 30 kiloton varieties.

These missile systems are still in operation today used by the armed forces of Italy, Greece, Turkey and South Korea.

You can find out some amazing information about the Nike missile program here http://www.techbastard.com/missile/nike/index.php

Criggion Very Low Frequency facility - near Shrewsbury - U.K

Although shrouded in mystery ( it's exact role is denied by the MOD even today ) Criggion was thought to have been used as the main site for contact and control of NATO's Trident submarine fleet. Common rumour asserts the command to sink the Argentine warship " Belgrano" by the then prime minister Margaret thatcher during the U.K / Argentine war was transmitted from here.

I visited this facility early on in 2009, although it shut down only 6 years ago I was shocked to see how the place had been wrecked. Thankfully some of the original equipment has made its way to the Hack Green nuclear bunker for preservation.

Hack Green R6 Rotor Station / RGHQ (with nuclear bunker)

Hack Green was 1 of 17 RGHQ's designed to help whatever was left of the U.K government to continue after a nuclear attack here. The building is a semi-sunk reinforced bunker known as a type R6 blockhouse. The home office abandoned this facility around 1992 and sold it off. Now it is a museum housing one of the largest collections of decommissioned nuclear weapons in the UK.
My visit here caught me completely by surprise, the bunker has been preserved along with many of the original room layouts, hardware and facilities intact including an inert Polaris missile payload and several flavours of WE-177 nuclear bombs including the last two known surviving 400 kiloton versions.

If you get the chance, make the effort to visit. Opened to the public only 5 years ago it is a chilling reminder of how things were, not so long ago.

http://www.hackgreen.co.uk/

THOR ( Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile )

The pictures on the right include photos I took in Melton Mowbray this year while trying to get some info on these missiles. Not much remains here other than the huge blast shields serving to protect the launch crews. While on the ground the missile was kept in a hangar and permanantly fed power to keep the gyros in the inertial guidance system ready for firing and there were a number of umbilicals for system monitoring. Prior to firing, the missile was filled with Lox and Kerosene and the launch could start.

I have included some stills taken from a film called "trinity and beyond" for reference purposes only. This is the only footage I have come across. This film is available from www.vce.com and is highly recommended for further information.

Definition of British Nuclear Weapons Codenames and Nicknames

This document in PDF format is a glossary of the above. Copyright belongs to Richard Moore

click here to download



Comprehensive Description & Details of Nuclear Weapons, Bombs, Warheads & Delivery systems According to Country of Origin and then by Type

This facinating wikipedia entry provides a very comprehensive guide for the casual observer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_weapons

TRINITY SITE by the U.S. Department of Energy

Here is a pdf detailing a full description of the Trinity site and the first atomic test.

I have posted a couple of my photos opposite of the plaque errected for visitors. This is not the monument at ground zero

view the pdf here