If the Cold War turned hot, it wasn’t entirely going to be fought with tanks and nuclear weapons. If it got to Alaska, it would be fought by lumberjacks, bush pilots, and yes, secret agents. That was the point of Operation Washtub, the secret CIA plan to defend America’s frozen north against communist invasion.
You know the scene at the end of The Incredibles—and the start of The Incredibles 2—that has the troglodyte supervillian the Underminer bursting out from underground in a colossal drilling machine? Well, during the Cold War, the Soviet Union was actually developing just such a digging machine, a brutal,…
On May 1, 1960, as the Cold War was heating up, CIA pilot Gary Powers was shot down flying a U-2C spy plane over Soviet airspace, dropping from 70,000 ft to 30,000 ft before he could safely eject. The United States tried to cover up the mission, but the pilot and his U-2 were both recovered, forcing the U.S. to admit…
The Trump administration has moved to place a new series of restrictions on authorized Russian military spy flights over the United States which are conducted as part of the Open Skies treaty. This week, at a monthly meeting of the Open Skies Consultative Commission in Vienna, the U.S. asked that limits be placed on…
In the thick of the Cold War, the nuclear submarine USS James Madison crashed into a Soviet nuclear sub off the coast of Scotland in November of 1974. It was one of the most mysterious episodes of the Cold War, and now we finally have official confirmation from a declassified memo published in the CIA document dump…
On the campaign trail, then-candidate Donald Trump showed an alarming lack of understanding about U.S. nuclear weapon policy or how devastating the weapons could be if used. Now that he’s in power, U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu and Senator Edward J. Markey of California and Massachussetts, respectively, introduced a bill that…
As you may know, the CIA just recently made over 12 million pages of de-classified documents available online. As you can imagine, dorks like me felt like kids in a declassified-candy store, and I immediately started poking around for interesting car stuff. I think I found something good, and it involves Volkswagen…
Back in the early years of the Cold War, America started construction of a secret underground base in Greenland to house nuclear missiles within range of Moscow, kind of like our cold Cuba. In the 1960s we figured out that it wouldn’t work, so we peaced out without telling anyone or removing any of our nuclear waste,…
Following World War II, America’s nuclear capability rested with the Boeing B-47 Stratojet—a high-speed precursor to the modern jet airliner. The surprisingly capable strategic bomber carried out nuclear testing responsibilities early in the Cold War, including an absurd vertical looping maneuver to deliver its atomic…
On August 13, 1981, Jay Reid and I made the first SR-71 landing in Continental Europe. It was virtually unannounced—and not particularly welcomed.
The National Security Archive has published what is said to be the most comprehensive and detailed list of nuclear weapons targets and applied weapons strategy that has ever been declassified. The report includes details plans for purposefully targeting civilian populations and military infrastructure for the…
On Tuesday, a pair of Tu-142 Bears made their way toward the USS Ronald Reagan while the carrier was undertaking drills with South Korean forces, and a quartet of Hornets launched to intercept. Multiple communication attempts went unanswered and the Bears ended up roaring over the USS Ronald Reagan at 500 feet with…
While I might not know what color the boathouse is at Hereford, I sure as hell drove the only Land Rover that was good enough for Judge Dredd. And the military-only 101 Forward Control delivers, up to two tons!
You have probably seen videos of fighter jets operating from long stretches of highway before, but check out these MiG-21 Fishbeds launching and recovering from a grass field!
Last weekend we learned that a four megaton nuclear bomb nearly exploded over North Carolina back in 1961. That would have been terrible for many people, especially the ones that actually live in North Carolina, but it wouldn't have been the end of the world. A year later, the world almost did end.
Only 86 Handley Page Victors were made from 1952 to 1963. Originally designed to be part of the United Kingdom’s airborne nuclear deterrent, these were weird planes.
A tail rudder from the fastest airplane in the world could be yours — for a cool $1 million. The seller didn't say if it was a spare part, or if it was once part of a functioning SR-71 Blackbird, which is an important distinction given the cost.
A lot of Cold War-era Area 51 documents have been declassified and National Geographic has discovered a rather low-tech method the US Military used to fool the Russians. It involved cardboard, the occasional heater and infrared satellites.
Warplanes from both sides of the Cold War stand guard under a blanket of snow outside Berlin's Bundeswehr Air Force Museum. Jets, helicopters, all a reminder of a battle that never took place.
The Valkyrie was a plane decades ahead of its time, pushing the aeronautical engineering of the early 1960s well beyond what had been thought possible. It was even slated to become the world's first nuclear powered bomber.
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