NORAD - a bit of history

[Ken The Kanuck]

Swiped this from another site, thought some might find it interesting.

www.pinetreeline.org

KTK

Information

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[Bill H]

Interesting. I was on various DEW Line sites during the 1960s, from Point Barrow Alaska to the Greenland ice cap.

[Bob Womack]

Very interesting. Thanks! Does anyone have a clue about the command affiliation and purpose of USAF Station Flintstone, GA, up on Lookout Mountain just South of Chattanooga? Locals told me it was a radar station of some sort.

Bob

[RED]

Between 1967 & 1973 I spent a lot of time looking at a radar screen. The one thing I know for certain is the USA had little to zero anti aircraft missiles or fighter interceptors on guard. There was a "hot pad" at Key west with Navy and Marine F-4's on alert for aircraft coming from Cuba. There were F-8's on alert at Gitmo and there may have been Air Force assets in Alaska. Russian Bear bombers routinely flew along our east coast and landed in Cuba. Any one of them could have made a right turn and bombed NY or Washington DC at any time and we had zero defence against this possibility.

Bottom line is, the USA knew the Russians would never launch an aerial sneak attack and it would be a waste of time and money to defend against it. That is why we relied on MAD as a defense. Today we have fighters on alert on both coasts.. Arguably this is also a waste of resources. What do you think?

[jon_norstog]

Red,

I can see you have been thinking about your eXperience. There's something to whAT you said, that both US and USSR relied on MAD to keep things stable. In fact we probABly owe our lives to MAD.

In the '50s and early '60s we would provide Soviet aircraft that got too close with a fighter escort, to make sure that nothing bad (heh heh) happened to them on their way back to Russia. Your service was during "detente" and the rules may hav changed a little.

Nowadays, if fighters are on alert it's for action against hijacked civilian aircraft. They **will** shoot down a plane full of citizens if it looks like the hijackers are gonna drive it into a target like the White House. Case like that you might have as much as 15 minutes warning. You gotta have some planes on alert.

jn

[Ken C.]

Between 1967 & 1973 I spent a lot of time looking at a radar screen. The one thing I know for certain is the USA had little to zero anti aircraft missiles or fighter interceptors on guard. There was a "hot pad" at Key west with Navy and Marine F-4's on alert for aircraft coming from Cuba. There were F-8's on alert at Gitmo and there may have been Air Force assets in Alaska. Russian Bear bombers routinely flew along our east coast and landed in Cuba. Any one of them could have made a right turn and bombed NY or Washington DC at any time and we had zero defence against this possibility.

Bottom line is, the USA knew the Russians would never launch an aerial sneak attack and it would be a waste of time and money to defend against it. That is why we relied on MAD as a defense. Today we have fighters on alert on both coasts.. Arguably this is also a waste of resources. What do you think?

With due respect for your service, you are wrong Red. I was a small part of a large operation (NORAD), or what we called the ADC.(Air Defense Command) from 1954-57. Those Russian bombers you mention were always given a polite escort all the way down the East coast. Our fighters at McGuire AFB (F86D Sabrejets) were armed with 24 folding fin, 2.75 in. "Mighty Mouse" air to air rockets, controlled by radar in the aircraft, other bases had F94C starfighters, etc. Along with the "Long Island Duck Defenders" in NY and the Squadrons at Dover AFB in Delaware, the Ruskis would have been shot down immediately had they ever attempted that "right turn".Sometime in 1956 the AF built a hardened site alongside our barracks which was reputed to be able to withstand a nuclear blast. it contained what they called "Sage", or Strategic Environment and Ground Control", and we werent allowed near it, even though we had top secret clearance. It made us feel good, however, knowing THEY were secure alongside our barracks constructed from cinder blocks. I also remember various Nike sites scattered here and there around the state. Im sure the rest of the coast was amply protected, at least given the technology of that time. Remember also that the Russians were big on talk, but couldnt hold a candle to America, technologically or otherwise. Nothing much has changed in the meantime either, except for our Quisling politicians.

[Gaffer]

In the late sixties I worked in an underground hardened Autovon site in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. We had the switching center to connect many of the radar sites. We were a hardened site with all the equipment including large diesel generators mounted on blast springs to absorb the jolt of a nuclear blast. We could be completely isolated and survive for many weeks. The air came in thru special filters that would remove chemical, bacteriological and radioactive contaminates. Had to enter and leave via blast valve doors so we were bomb proof at all times. Not a very good place to work and I was there way too long!

[edlmann]

Between 1967 & 1973 I spent a lot of time looking at a radar screen. The one thing I know for certain is the USA had little to zero anti aircraft missiles or fighter interceptors on guard. There was a "hot pad" at Key west with Navy and Marine F-4's on alert for aircraft coming from Cuba. There were F-8's on alert at Gitmo and there may have been Air Force assets in Alaska. Russian Bear bombers routinely flew along our east coast and landed in Cuba. Any one of them could have made a right turn and bombed NY or Washington DC at any time and we had zero defence against this possibility.

During this period, NORAD had USAF and ANG fighters on 5 minute alert at a number of locations along the east coast - CFB Chatham, NB; Loring AFB, ME; Otis ANGB, MA; Griffis AFB, NY; Atlantic City, NJ; Langley AFB, VA; Charleston AFB, SC; and Jacksonville NAS, FL. These fighters routinely shadowed the Tu-95s that came through the GIUK gap enroute to Cuba. Army Air Defense has either Hawk or I-Hawks in the Florida Keys.

Don't get me wrong - our air defense was weak; but not as bad as your post made it seem.