1960 ... Nuclear Weapons are SAFE!

 ... important PR for 'Operation Chrome Dome' ; keeping nuclear armed SAC aircraft aloft all of the time. This was a response to fear of a sneak missile attack. ( It is also the setting for both movies 'Dr. Strangelove' and 'Failsafe')

 

                                                                    LINK

 

 

 

1948 ... B-45 "Tornado"

... the first US operational jet bomber, the "Tornado" gained importance as it assumed a tactical nuclear delivery assignment when atomic bombs became smaller and lighter.

The Arctic was a pretty important place during the Cold War. It was from the North and over the Pole that the Russian bombers would come. It was the shortest and fastest route.

... here's the AV Kid with a cool newsreel about the Distant Early Warning line (DEW)
http://www.archive.org/details/gov.archives.arc.52896

... not Milton Berle.

1950- Radar ( Radio Detection And Ranging) was still pretty 'gee-whiz' stuff. Fighter aircraft, that would be sent out to intercept Russian bombers, had no on-board radar of their own. They relied on ground stations like this one to help them find their targets in the vast ocean of the sky. Similar Russian systems could even fly the aircraft from the ground.

Until the advent of ground launched guided missiles in the late 50's shooting down high flying enemy bombers was literally a 'hit or miss' proposition.

VERY imaginative version of DEW line

Something about those dark cold spaces of the vast Great White North get those sci-fi juices flowing. The Distant Early Warning [ DEW Line ] system built in northern Canada was the setting for several of the best monster movies of the Cold War. "The Thing" and "The Giant Mantis" amongst them.

Big inflatable ray-dome, artificial movable rocks- love it!

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sigh -never built.

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The geek kid from the A.V. Club is rolling in the 16mm projector, it's time for an educational film!

http://www.archive.org/details/dew_line_story_1