MISSILE WARNING FLUSH
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- Опубликовано: 6 янв 2018
- If Russian nuclear missiles were launched toward America, we would have about 30 minutes warning to get our planes off the ground. The code word for that was MISSILE WARNING FLUSH, never to be used in practice. I was in the 94th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Selfridge AFB, Michigan, in 1968 when the loud speakers blared MISSILE WARNING FLUSH!
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I spent the first three years of my military career stationed at Plattsburg AFB, NY. In 1979 we were surprised to have our third alert in a month. That was never done, we had two practice alerts per month, no more no less. When the horn sounded the third time, well suffice to say, some grown men acted not so grown. We obviously didn't launch, but as you say, we were willing to exercise the spirit of attack, even if it meant the end of the world as we knew it.
You said "Alert". Did you get a "FLUSH"? What planes were you flying?
I was born on oct 16 1962 and I thank God there are Brave men like you back then. Because of your Bravery I got a chance to grow up. Oh the things you've seen and done. Respectfully. William Horsley
It is real evens like this which teach us that our training scenarios often do not show the real world. In training, we know more or less what will happen and when. In the real world, there is massive confusion. Look at my video on "Cuban Crisis deployment" for how plans go wrong.
I saw a live FLUSH when working air surveillance in Duluth around 1971? Amazing sight on our consoles in the middle of the night. Just before a major live exercise.
Thanks for Your stories, Mr. Gordon!
Thank you very much. He was the best big bro a kid could have. My parents didn't tell me until I was older. I was 5. God I miss him so much. Sincerely William Horsley
It's good to see you again, Mr. Gordon...hope you & your's had a pleasant Christmas. Your comment about the ICBM's requiring a confirmed Russian missile hit before launching was very interesting. Thanks for all of your very interesting stories.
Glad you like these stories. I will try to keep them up. People seem very interested in Cold War events that have not been reported previously.
Bruce Gordon seems our missile force back then could have been partially " counter forced" ie - hit in the silos before they could be fired, but I don't think the Russian missiles were that accurate back then. Awesome story.
I love your videos. Your generation is slowly fading away and I truly appreciate your stories. I very sincerely thank you for your service.
I will. I lost my older brother in Vietnam ( Army Ranger ). His best buddy told me later when i got older that they were in a bad way pinned down. They called in air cover. May have been you? Then they were taken out by 🚁 Tho my brother lost his life it was fighter bombers that saved a lot of lives that morning. I will always be grateful for all of the US lives you guys saved. The date 16 oct 68 was the day Davey died fighting! His buddy said he died a hero. My sister has the medals. He was the best big brother a kid could ask for. Thank you. Your a great man.
We honor those who gave their lives for this nation... Your brother, a Ranger, has my highest respect!
Thanks Bruce. I really enjoy your videos.
Great to see you back with another video, Bruce! I am always fascinated by Cold War stories, particularly the scary ones. Your remark about the vulnerability of silo-based missiles reminds me of a radio show I heard a few months ago. They were interviewing a recent Secretary of Defense, either Cohen or Perry I think, who was discussing this problem. ICBMs leave the President with a very limited amount of time to decide if he will retaliate or not; if the attack is real and he waits too long, the ICBMs will be destroyed before they are launched, so there is pressure to "use them or lose them". The SecDef said he actually recommended phasing them all out in favor of sea-based and aircraft-based strategic weapons which are much more survivable, giving the President much more time to decide before doing something drastic. It was interesting and scary to hear.
Helium Road -- I agree entirely with the Sec. of Defense. We should close down our land-based ICBMs and rely on airborne and submarine weapons. The land-based ICBMs attract enemy missiles to our shores. Missiles at sea do not attract missiles toward America. Our bombers can get off the ground before the missiles hit (if they are on alert) so they are not likely to be destroyed by a ballistic missile attack. The bombers can be launched on warning, or even put on airborne alert. During the Cuban Crisis, we had our bombers orbiting just off the Russian coast, where they were visible on Russian radar and showed a clear and present threat that the Russians could not ignore. Our bombers have a pretty good chance of getting through the Russian or Chinese air defenses, but our bomber numbers are nowhere nearly what they were years ago.
I just realized that oct 16th was the day the Cuban crisis started to get hot. Didn't know that
Happy new year Bruce.
I nearly got killed so many times, yet I'm still here! 83 years old, a refugee from Pearl Harbor -- I'm happy to be alive!
Correction. I meant march 4th 1968. Was thinking my birthday.
Happy New Year Bruce! Good to see yet another video from you! Also I must tell you I am appearing for the Officers exam again on the 26th of this month! Which is why I have been mostly inactive, I hope I make it in this time!
Great, Stormsquad! It's a great life -- go for it!
I was in the Navy air squadron VAQ-33, an electronics warfare outfit, from 1971-75. We had a reverse engineered Russian missile in the nose of one of our F-4's and our A-3's were full of ECM gear. Occasionally, we would have to scramble and put all of our planes in the hangar because a Russian spy satellite was coming overhead. That was as close to a missile alert that we had...LOL.
That's a big problem with spy satellites -- it's a simple math problem to tell when they will be overhead, and you move everything under cover. You can't do that with the U-2. India developed nuclear weapons without our knowing it by tracking our spy satellites. We were completely surprise by India's first nuke test. Now, in Korea, we can assume that NK hides things from our spy satellites. Their SAM missiles are good, so I don't know if we're flying anything except satellites over them now. I read of an SR-71 that flew close to the DMZ and they fired SAM missiles at the SR-71, but couldn't hit it. Obviously they could track and fire at an SR-71. I think SR-71s are no longer in our inventory. U-2s have had their life extended for many more years, but I don't think they can avoid NK missiles.
Marbleman52 - were you Navy EW people called Ravens? EW people in the Air Force were called Crows, and our patches usually showed a crow...
Mr. Gordon, VAQ-33's logo was the Firebird. I do not ever remember having any kind of nick-name.
In case of an actual attack, where would the rest of airfield personnel go? Was there any kind of shelter for them?
No, there was no cover for airfield personnel or for our families. The MISSILE WARNING FLUSH meant that total nuclear war had begun. Survival of our fighter force (landing at bases not hit in the missile exchange) would allow us to prevent the Russian bomber force from causing further destruction in America. We assumed that we would not survive the war, and neither would our families housed so close to our bases. A very grim prospect.