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Built in the 1950s, this bunker in Wiltshire could house and feed 4,000 people for three months. The United Kingdom designed it to house the government if the worst happened during the Cold War. Watch this video tour of its facilities and make an offer. It’s up for sale.
Link -via Boing Boing
Power of Decision is a short film obtained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University. This four-minute preview is only a part of the 12-minute video you can watch at the link.
Washington, D.C., February 19, 2011 – “The Power of Decision” may be the first (and perhaps the only) U.S. government film depicting the Cold War nightmare of a U.S.-Soviet nuclear conflict. The U.S. Air Force produced it during 1956-1957 at the request of the Strategic Air Command. Unseen for years and made public for the first time by the National Security Archive, the film depicts the U.S. Air Force’s implementation of war plan “Quick Strike” in response to a Soviet surprise attack against the United States and European and East Asian allies. By the end of the film, after the Air Force launches a massive bomber-missile “double-punch,” millions of Americans, Russians, Europeans, and Japanese are dead.
In this scenario, the “success” of a nuclear war was defined as not having the will of the enemy imposed on the US, despite millions of citizens killed. Link -via Metafilter
Various sources around the Internet indicate that this awesome unit patch worn by some USAF ballistic missile crews is completely real. Comfort, as well as anything that relieves boredom, is highly prized. That’s why many airmen wear Snuggies while manning the missile platforms. John Noonan, a former captain in the Air Force, writes:
In a favorite missileer uniform patch (right), the Grim Reaper sits at an ICBM console, dressed in bunny slippers. In the real world, death wears a campus T-shirt, JCrew bottoms and the ubiquitous Snuggie. The silly blanket-robe hybrid is suited to the missile force, keeping an officer toasty while allowing him to interact with the weapons console unobstructed.
Missileers learn that on alert, comfort is as important as humor. One enterprising fellow liked to string a hammock between the two command chairs and stretch out for his long shifts at the console. Videogame systems are forbidden, a rule that was mocked until it got out that wireless Nintendo Wii controllers could cause the system to detect a false electromagnetic pulse attack and shut down.
Link via Ace of Spades HQ | Photo: US Department of Defense
This short film by Nathaniel Lindsay is a deadpan parody of Cold War-era nuclear survival guides. Ostensibly, it’s a 1981 educational film by the Australian Board of Civil Defense. The narrator advises survivors on proper fashion choices, uses for charred human skulls, and the dangers of mutants.
via DVICE
Fallout Protection for Homes with Basements is a pamphlet produced by the US Department of Defense to help the average family deal with nuclear attack. The 1967 revision is available online for your edification and …amusement, yes, because even during the dark days of the Cold War, most people knew that preparing a fallout shelter was akin to rearranging chairs on the deck of the Titanic. However, this booklet has some handy tips for fortifying your basement, or improvising a shelter out of household items, as shown above. Link -Thanks, Steven Johnson!
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In American culture, the standardized fallout shelter sign is an icon of Cold War life. Bill Geerhart of Conelrad, a website specializing in the social history of the Cold War, wrote an article that can be called the definitive history of the sign. The project was headed up by an Army Corps of Engineers manager named Robert Blakely, who navigated the sign through the bowels of the US federal bureaucracy. The earliest version was created by a graphic arts company in Virginia:
Blair, Inc. frequently worked on government contracts and the ideas generated in Blakeley’s office were shared with their designers. Blakeley stated to CONELRAD that he provided the following basic guidelines to his people to convey to Blair, Inc.: “I gave them the fact that it had to be a simple reproducible image…and I did say ‘tell them that in the design they had to have a place for us to print directional arrows.’” Blair, Inc. was also instructed by Blakeley that the sign “had to be something that would get people’s attention and give them direction to the location.” To this end, Blakeley said that he asked a representative from the company what the best color combination was for this purpose. The response that came back as quoted by Blakeley was: “orange or yellow and black is the one that is most dominantly used in the graphics field.” He added “And I said ‘if that’s right, let’s do that and it was that simple.”
Link via Ace of Spades HQ | Conelrad
The tumblr blog We Love Data Visualizations has all sorts of fascinating maps and charts. This one lists every nuclear explosion, the setting, the year, and the responsible party. Once you’re at the link, click on the image for a larger view.
Bunker, a short film by Paul Doucet, is about a woman alone in a bunker beneath Paris after a nuclear war. Marie pleads over her radio for someone to respond to her. Finally, a voice answers.
Dialogue in French with English subtitles. Run time: 10 minutes. Content warning: foul language.
via io9
