 jeaton01 wrote: |
| OK, it was the F-89. Not sure if the crew had to pass an intelligence test first, though. Ah, the innocence of the 50's. So far as I know no cows were involved in this one, but there was a Genie in the story. |
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My ![My 2 cents [2c]](/emoticons/icon_smile_2cents.gif)
Well, during the Cold War era, military personnel generally assumed a fatalistic "doomsday" posture, meaning the knew using a nuke generally meant that they were on a "one way ticket". Friends of mine who served aboard "boomers" (ballistic missle submarines) generally felt that once a missle was fired, they themselves were a ripe target for retaliation, since that essentially revealed their top secret location.
The two movies that portrayed that most graphically were "Fail Safe" and "Dr. Strangelove".
With that in mind, the Genie was also kind of a "last resort" doomsday weapon that if a formation of Soviet bombers could not otherwise be stopped, it was to be fired into and detonated within the enemy's formation with the understanding that the EMF pulse would termanally damage any aircraft not downed by the explosion itself, essentially neutralizing them all. The mentality that any environmental/"collateral" damage was justified in terms of major population areas essential to the economy would be saved from general destruction.
Just in case you were wondering ![Wink [;)]](/emoticons/icon_smile_wink.gif)
Tom ![Cowboy [C):-)]](/emoticons/icon_smile_cowboy.gif)
Tom T
“Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.”-Henry Ford
"Except in the fundamentals, think and let think"- J. Wesley
"I am impatient with stupidity, my people have learned to live without it"-Klaatu: "The Day the Earth Stood Still"
"All my men believe in God, they are ordered to"-Adolph Hitler