Straight Out of the Cold War

jmandell · Jul 9, 2013

A few HDRs from the Titan II missile base south of Tucson. It is the only preserved base left. Very neat place to visit and shoot. It gives you a strange feeling about how close we were to blowing ourselves to bits.

1. Part of the main hallway.

2. The missile its self. The Titan II could wipe any city off the face of the Earth.

3. The hallway to get to the missile viewing part. If you notice the cylinders on the walls, they contain springs to keep the structure intact in case of launch or direct hit from a Soviet missile

I know these main seem overcooked (which they are slightly), but I think that the style fits the subject matter.

I shot some in the control room but didn't bracket :grumpy:

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C&C Welcome and appreciated

cowleystjames · Jul 9, 2013

Thank you. Magnificent subject, very thought provoking.
I like the style of your photos, very crisp.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

jmandell · Jul 9, 2013

cowleystjames said:
Thank you. Magnificent subject, very thought provoking.
I like the style of your photos, very crisp.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

Thanks! I thought they looked overcooked, but I still like them.

Tinderbox (UK) · Jul 9, 2013

they liked their rivets those day`s look at the missile.

great pics

EDIT : just pixel peeping the missile, there seems to have been a bit of movement during hdr photo`s the images are not perfectly over-layed, see the speaker on the right side, sorry to criticize.

John.

SCraig · Jul 9, 2013

Very interesting. I think that those of us who went through that era probably find them the most thought-provoking simply because they are the embodiment of everything we wondered about for a couple of decades.

I grew up about 10 miles from Ft. Campbell, KY and for most of my life heard whispered stories about "The Birdcage" and "Clarksville Base" on Ft. Campbell. Nobody would really say what went on there, only rumors. Today Google answers all

It was a repository for nuclear triggers.

Also during the Cold War I was (and actually still am) a licensed amateur radio operator. There was a phenomenon known as the "Russian Woodpecker" that turned out to be a very powerful Russian over-the-horizon radar installation. It was estimated to be a 10 megawatt signal and when they transmitted NOTHING got through it. There are many, many photographs of the Duga-3 installation available now, and when I look at them I can see Russian soldiers and technicians sitting there worrying about us while we listened to that signal and worried about them.

Interesting times.

jmandell · Jul 9, 2013

Tinderbox (UK) said:
they liked their rivets those day`s look at the missile.

great pics

EDIT : just pixel peeping the missile, there seems to have been a bit of movement during hdr photo`s the images are not perfectly over-layed, see the speaker on the right side, sorry to criticize.

John.

Thanks for pointing that out! I didn't check, but I wasn't surprised when I read that. No tripods allowed in the silo, so I set the camera to continuous and hoped!

jmandell · Jul 9, 2013

SCraig said:
Very interesting. I think that those of us who went through that era probably find them the most thought-provoking simply because they are the embodiment of everything we wondered about for a couple of decades.

I grew up about 10 miles from Ft. Campbell, KY and for most of my life heard whispered stories about "The Birdcage" and "Clarksville Base" on Ft. Campbell. Nobody would really say what went on there, only rumors. Today Google answers all It was a repository for nuclear triggers.

Also during the Cold War I was (and actually still am) a licensed amateur radio operator. There was a phenomenon known as the "Russian Woodpecker" that turned out to be a very powerful Russian over-the-horizon radar installation. It was estimated to be a 10 megawatt signal and when they transmitted NOTHING got through it. There are many, many photographs of the Duga-3 installation available now, and when I look at them I can see Russian soldiers and technicians sitting there worrying about us while we listened to that signal and worried about them.

Interesting times.

The Cold War is probably my favorite part of history, but unfortunately I was born a few years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. I love the technology, the tensions, the politics, and everything else. I realize it probably wasn't as fun living with the constant fear, but today looking back it is so interesting.

SCraig · Jul 9, 2013

jmandell said:
The Cold War is probably my favorite part of history, but unfortunately I was born a few years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. I love the technology, the tensions, the politics, and everything else. I realize it probably wasn't as fun living with the constant fear, but today looking back it is so interesting.

From a technical standpoint it really was an interesting time. Somewhat stressful at times, but still interesting.

As I said, I was an active ham back in those days. We didn't have a great deal of restrictions placed on us by the government, but the Russian hams most assuredly did. To even get a ham license in Russia back then pretty much required the person to be an electronic engineer, and only a small percentage of their population went to university. To personally own a radio was virtually unheard of because they were regulated by the government, and probably 99% of them were owned by radio "Clubs". When a Russian ham wanted to play with a radio for a while he didn't go downstairs, he went to the nearest radio club and used the radio there. Hams swap "QSL Cards" which are effectively post cards that we swap with another station when we talk to them. Our addresses were printed in a "Call Book" that listed the mailing address of virtually every ham in the world. The Russians were very simple, they all had the same address. Central Amateur Radio Club, PO Box 88, Moscow, USSR. It usually took several YEARS to get a card back from a Russian ham.

And they were absolutely forbidden from discussing ANYTHING that might be considered controversial or anti-political or virtually anything at all. Losing your license in Russia was a very easy thing to do, all you had to do was say the wrong thing one time and you were done. That's the main reason that all hams had to use the radios at club stations, so there was always a political officer there to listen to what was being said. About all we could ever pry out of them was their name, where they were located, and our signal strength.

That was the time that I really, really started to take notice of the vast gulf between our two countries. I walked downstairs to my radio room, they took a bus or a train or walked to the nearest club and waited for their turn. I could say virtually anything I wanted to anyone in the world, they were pretty much limited to their name and location. They were virtual prisoners in their own country and it was very difficult for me to understand that because I had never been exposed to it personally. Every minute of every day for their entire lives someone was controlling everything that they did.

FanBoy · Jul 9, 2013

I like how you captured the interior's morgue-like appearance, especially of the symmetrical corridor.

jmandell · Jul 9, 2013

Here are a few of the other shots that I didn't bracket, or they were horribly aligned:

SCraig · Jul 9, 2013

Very nice. I'll have to get down there one day. I visit friends in Phoenix from time to time and have been to Pima and Davis-Monthan. Had I known this place was there I'd have made it a point to visit it to.

jmandell · Jul 9, 2013

SCraig said:
Very nice. I'll have to get down there one day. I visit friends in Phoenix from time to time and have been to Pima and Davis-Monthan. Had I known this place was there I'd have made it a point to visit it to.

When we were there we didn't know about it either, but I was talking to a guy at Pima and he told us about it. It is only about 20-30 miles south of Tucson, and if you didn't know it was there you'd miss it. There is a small, but nice museum about Titan II and the Cold War to look through while you wait for the tour. There are hourly tours that take you to the first and second levels, and it is pretty cheap for what you get.

I highly recommend it to anyone loving history.

Titan Missile Museum: Home

EDL · Jul 9, 2013

I was stationed in Berlin, GE in the late 80's, early 90's. I was in the intel business in the Air Force. It was interesting and exciting to experience the "Cold War" just before the collapse and then to still be there afterward to experience the changes. Being intel provided a pretty unique perspective as well. Certainly one of the most memorable times of my life.

SCraig · Jul 9, 2013

Yeah, I'm gonna see that place next time I go to Phoenix

I love stuff like that.

I thought it was strange that they showed the lat and long of the site on their web site. I wondered how many Russians spent how many hours pouring over photographs looking for any hint of that that spot and now all they have to do is look at a web site

jmandell · Jul 9, 2013

SCraig said:
Yeah, I'm gonna see that place next time I go to Phoenix I love stuff like that.

I thought it was strange that they showed the lat and long of the site on their web site. I wondered how many Russians spent how many hours pouring over photographs looking for any hint of that that spot and now all they have to do is look at a web site

They said that the Russians still monitor the site via satellite, and they have to keep giant rubber blocks on the silo door to prove that the facility is still nonoperational!