Nuclear weapon safety strategies employed by the United States Air Force during the Cold War. Shows aircraft alert training drills related to launch of nuclear weapons. U.S. Air Force personnel work on the controls in a control room of an air base. Men answer phone calls. An alert order being received in a coded language. An alarm being sounded and airmen scramble and run from their rooms and billiards table to the aircraft at the base. Crew members enter waiting bomber aircraft and put on their flight gear and breathing apparatus. Controllers decode the message separately and then compare it. Aircraft commanders being instructed. A cocoa alert being sounded and aircraft taxi along a runway. Scene shifts to aerial view of a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber aircraft in flight, which narrator indicates is among aircraft that are airborne at all times and prepared to proceed to a target. View of pilot and copilot in the cockpit of the B-52 bomber aircraft. Aerial view of B-52 aircraft banking to right side. View of different crew members such as bombardier and navigator in B-52 aircraft as they separately confirm interpretation of an incoming message. View of Republic F-105 Thunderchief aircraft parked readying for takeoff on runway. Another fighter aircraft preparing for takeoff (F-11 ?). A surface missile being readied for launch. A missile being launched from an underground missile silo, taking off and emitting a fiery flare.
Air Force missile crews in a Minuteman missile silo. An African American crew member seated at a desk. Each launch team must perform the same procedures to prepare and launch any missile. Instructions are encoded and confirmed before any actions are initiated. Each crewman must independently insert a key before launch can take place. Moreover, other crews in other locations are alerted and can stop the other crews launch activity by turning on an inhibit system, in their own location. Controllers operate simultaneously. Tight security measures at the control site as a guard checks identity cards of the controllers. United States Air Force officers at a meeting. They conduct a safety study. A technician undergoes a human reliability program. Tight security measures being implemented. A United States Air Force plane in flight.
The various types of drills and bits used for drilling into rocks in the United States. Men work on a drill steel heating furnace and sharpener as they prepare the drill steel by repeated hammer blows. The drill steel being hammered repeatedly. A man inserts a sharpener into the steel as they prepare it for auger drill.
A demonstration shows hand charges being placed and exploded against a wall in the United States. Soldiers place wall charges against a concrete wall. Men place explosive packs on an elevated platform against the concrete wall and explosion occurs. A U shaped gap is created as a result of the explosion. Tanks pass through it. Soldiers place castle charges on an elevated platform about 2 feet above the ground. Men place 66 packs of explosives against the wall. Explosion occurs creating a gap. Tanks pass through the gap. (World War II period).
Demonstration shows bar charges being placed and exploded against a wall in the United States. Four 34 pound charges being placed against a concrete wall and being detonated. An explosion occurs. As a result of the explosion four bore holes having a diameter of 5 inches occur. The holes being cooled with water. The holes being filled with 90 pound of C-2 explosives. Charges being detonated and explosion occurs. A gap results and a tank passes through it.
A demonstration shows bar charges being placed and exploded against a wall in the United States. The face of a 45 degree sloping wall. Bar charges are placed on the wall by soldiers. The soldiers place the bar charges on the face of the wall to demolish it. An explosion occurs and billows of smoke rise. The explosion results in an 18 feet wide gap. A United States Army tank passes through the gap. (World War II period).
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