Cuba Crisis 1962

[WarmandDry]

What was the RAF response during the Cuba Crisis of 1962?
I was a school boy in 62 but later when in V-force I heard a few tales. I have been contacted by a friend who is an author and a regular broadcaster on BBC Wales – Phil Carradice. He has written on many military topics and we have been friends since our first school days. For authenticity look at this page www.amazon.co.uk/Phil-Carradice/e/B001JP2JPY/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1477847892&sr=1-2-ent .
Phil has asked for help with a book he is writing, on the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
Anyone who was flying etc (not just V-force) at that time or who has an interest or experience of the RAF response in 1962 who is willing to talk to Phil or to contribute through a thread on Pprune please contact me through a private message and I will connect you to Phil.

[charliegolf]

BEagle may have been there...








(Banter, banter, banter!)

[Pontius Navigator]

CG, in shorts.

Seriously search for RAF Historical Society Journal vol 26.

My recollection is one of ignorance but of our Nav instructors preparing and updating the go bags for the Varsity SRMP mission. In particular the charts in the Nav bags were different from the current ones we used. Iirc they had red print whereas our were brown.

[WarmandDry]

PN
Thanks but did you mean Vol 42?

[Pontius Navigator]

W&D, no, 26 which is not to say 42 may have more. 26 is about RAF nuclear weapons 1960-98.

[taxydual]

RAF Historical Society Journals | Collections | Research | RAF Museum (http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/default/raf-historical-society-journals.aspx)

PN, could Journal 26 be the one?

[ian16th]

It can't have been too serious, I was posted from Marham to Akrotiri in the middle of it all.

[charliegolf]

It can't have been too serious, I was posted from Marham to Akrotiri in the middle of it all.

Ah, but maybe you were deemed too valuable to lose, hence getting you to safety! No?

CG

[Innominate]

There are two papers in Volume 42, one on Bomber Command's reaction to Cuba and the other more specifically on Thor in the Cuba crisis. Volume 26 is mostly about general aspects of nuclear weapons in the RAF.

[Fareastdriver]

I as on leave in London staying with my cousins, (F)17&18 when the panic started. I tried to reassure them as being on the V Force, (90Sqn Valiant tankers) I hadn't been recalled from leave so it wasn't that serious. I hardly saw them, they were off to demonstrations in Trafalgar Square, CND marches and things like that.

Damned John Kennedy. He fouled it all up.

[BEagle]

At the time of the Cuban missile crisis, I was in my final year at prep school - we weren't told anything...

[Archimedes]

Reflections on Memory and Archives: RAF Bomber Command During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis (http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/pdfplus/10.3366/brw.2012.0037) might also be of interest (Hopefully the link does work and my access isn't because of a random cookie signing me in automatically)

[enginesuck]

Ive just finished reading Britain on the Brink by Jim Wilson. Interesting insight into how Bomber Command was involved in the tensions brewing in the Caribbean. Actually Harold Macmillan kept thing suprising close to his chest during the crisis and whilst american forces were at Defcon 2 operating from british soil it wasnt even discussed at cabinet level. British crews were at one stage in the cockpit engines running ready to launch 3 minutes notice. All the while it was kept pretty quiet as Macmillan didnt want panic.

[ian16th]

Ah, but maybe you were deemed too valuable to lose, hence getting you to safety! No?

CG

Or maybe an exercise to see that Admin could still shuffle paper during times of great stress.

[ian16th]

At the time of the Cuban missile crisis, I was in my final year at prep school - we weren't told anything...

At the time, Michael Beetham the future MoRAF was a Group Captain at Bomber Command HQ, this was his take on the matter:

During the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 I spent a week in the operations room bunker at Bomber Command headquarters, High Wycombe. Macmillan played down the British involvement in the affair, but what people didn’t realise was that we had the entire force of 100 V-bombers standing at 15 minutes’ readiness, bombs loaded and with the crews kitted up and ready to go, to drop nuclear bombs on Russia.

The whole thing seemed unreal. I remember on the Saturday of the critical weekend, when the crisis was at its worst, I went above ground for about 10 minutes to get some air, and the whole nation only seemed interested in some bloody football match.

[ICM]

I recall posting this somewhere else on here some time ago, but Sir Michael's recollection is not backed up by the record in the 10 Sqn F540 for October 1962. If that is accurate - and it refers to Bomber Command and not simply squadrons at Cottesmore - there was only a partial increase in readiness, starting on Saturday 27 October. (President Kennedy's TV broadcast and the imposition of a naval quarantine on shipping to Cuba had been on Monday 22 October. A USAF U-2 was shot down over Cuba on 27 October.) On Monday 29 October a second aircraft and crew was brought to 15 minutes, with others held at 2, 3, 4, 5 and 12 hours readiness. That condition was held till the following Monday, 5 November, when it was relaxed to normal - but Khrushchev had agreed to withdraw the missiles on 28 October. So, since seeing this, it has seemed to me that Bomber Command was not moved to higher alert till the worst of the crisis was past, and it does not look as if all V-Force crews were at 15 minutes readiness. I was at University at the time and, whilst I recall a degree of concern on the day after Kennedy's broadcast, there was no sense of panic. Edinburgh was, of course, some distance from the V-Force bases! And as far as Cottesmore was concerned, the record also notes the "The normal flying programme continued uninterrupted where crew and aircraft availability allowed."

[Arclite01]

Having spoken to my Dad about this he said several things:

1. He was an RAF reservist at the time and had been warned that he may be called up again if it escalated (Although mobilization would have taken way to long in the event of a nuclear escalation).

2. People in the Country knew that the crisis was going on and it was covered on TV and Radio but were not aware of the level of readiness that the RAF was at.

3. That the people in the Country were aware of the seriousness of the position. He said that on Friday afternoon people went home from work having said goodbye to their work colleagues fully expecting that there may not be a 'Monday Morning'. He said that although there had been a few rumbles from various countries in the 50's and 60's about 'Armageddon' he felt this was the only time when it could really have happened.............

Glad I wasn't there...............

Arc

[Fitter2]

On Middleton St George, 33 Sqn were armed with live Firestreaks, and pointed across the airfield rather than towards the hangars. Weekend leave cancelled. A PR Canberra appeared from somewhere and sat around, but no V bombers.

Tuesday everything back to normal.

As far as calling up reservists was concerned, I guess the view would have been that if anything happened, there would have been no time to do anything except hide under a table.

[Haraka]

I remember Richard Dimbleby on BBC's Panorama ( Mondays 20:00) remarking at the end of one edition words to the effect

" Hopefully we will be with you next Monday, if we haven't all in the week witnessed a very much bigger "Panorama" , that is ."

[Chugalug2]

The weekend in question coincided with my 21st which was celebrated in Cambridge with fellow 5FTS (Oakington) students. Remember thinking at the time that the inevitable hangover Sunday morning was in the circumstances a bit of a bonus. :ok:

[aw ditor]

My bit of 18 Group was operating its first planned "Surveillance" sorties, e.g. October 24th., 16 hours plus' on Shack. Mk.3 XF700". Can't recall where, probably the Iceland-Fareos-Shetland Gaps'.

[Pontius Navigator]

Britain on the Brink by Jim Wilson. Interesting insight into how Bomber Command was involved in the tensions brewing in the Caribbean. Actually Harold Macmillan kept thing suprising close to his chest during the crisis and whilst american forces were at Defcon 2 operating from british soil . . .British crews were at one stage in the cockpit engines running ready to launch 3 minutes notice.
I think confusion between Alert Condition 3 and Readiness 05. Had the crews had engines running they would have been at Readiness 02 and only able to hold that for minutes, say 15-20, before reducing there fuel reserves too much.

[charliegolf]

PN, did I read correctly, that the the Vulcan had a gang starter to crank all 4 at once? If so, then presumably that was to cut the go time to the bone without compromising fuel states?

CG

[5aday]

Two interesting books on the subject:
Launch Pad UK - Britain and the Cuban Missile Crisis (Jim Wilson OBE)
and
Project Emily - Thor IRBM and the RAF (John Boyes)

I lived as a 'brat' in North Hykeham near Lincoln. I used to go fishing at Bardney
and went to the base quite a few times, if only for a quick lunch, and saw the Thor
lying on it's side in the Sliding Hangar. Our families next posting was Gutersloh
which included the Cuban Crisis. The base was well and truly locked down for that weekend and we had family orders on which Magirus Deutz truck or 32 seater
bus we would be assigned to for a trip to the Hook of Holland. Wishfull Thinking.
There was a gate near the Parseval Strasse /Gasthof Zum Flughafen which stayed open however and it was interesting to see all the Hunters lined up and crewed ready to go.
I did discuss it with my father mnay years later and his thoughts were that just one more squeak from the Soviets would have been enough to launch the Hunters.
Knowing what little I knew about Bardney, I'm sure they were also full of Lox and Parafinn with the targets in and both keys ready to send us all to oblivion.

Re these books, your library may already have them. I thought they were a good read and to the point especially the Macmillan years. He knew a damm sight more than
the rest of the UK put together.

[Pontius Navigator]

CG the Mk 1s used a Sim Start trolley which would indeed start all 4 at once. All switches were set in the cockpit and the engines woulk start immediately.

On one occasion, as the QRA crew approached, the crew chief started the engines, unfortunately they were then unable to open the door.

On the Mk 2 we had high pressure air that could give us five singlet engine starts or one mass rapid with all 4 at once. From 15 to scramble or only 28v for lighting and intercom this was exciting. From cold the Captain coulkcould start all engines before taking his seat. The engines would run up before we were in our seats. As soon as he was strapped in we would start rolling. The snag was all the kit was still running up and the engine instruments were still coming on line. From the ORP, cold RS05 to airborne was in the order of 90 seconds.

[JOE-FBS]

Just a small contribution, a biology teacher (and my form teacher) at my excellent South Yorkshire comprehensive in the 1980s had been a Vulcan and Javelin navigator. I think he was on Vulcans at the time of Cuba. He told me that they were convinced it would be the end of the world and that they would be bombing targets from which there would be no return.


My dad was in civil defence, auxiliary fire service, and also recalled it as a time when they thought it would happen.


BTW my teacher gave me a couple of souvenirs, clear plastic quadrants of a circle with moving arms on them. Something to do with plotting is all I can recall. I have tried typing the part numbers from their wallets into Google, no success. They aren't Dalton computers (Whiz Wheels to modern PPLs).

[Tankertrashnav]

Around the time of the 2012 V Force reunion the BBC were looking for people who were around at the time of the Cuba Missile Crisis. I have a large email address list built up over the reunions I was involved with, and I put out a request for help by email. I believe they had a good response and were able to interview a number of people for their programme.

If your friend wishes, I could do the same again. If you would like to contact me by PM with his contact details, i could circulate these to former V Force members, and he may get some responses.

[Pontius Navigator]

PS, mass rapid went out of fashion as there was a risk of an engine fire but no fire tec warning

[Pontius Navigator]

Joe-FBS, sounds as if they were bombing protractors. About 4 inches in radius, marked in degrees and the moving arm graduated in miles.

Used in basic and marker-less (LP4?) limited procedure attacks.

Were they two of the same or different. We only used one but I think there was a larger one.

[sandiego89]

Interesting to hear the stories.


My now departed dad was in port aboard a US Navy Seaplane tender and he reported that all fun was cancelled, and they headed to sea for a few tense days, steaming towards the Panama canal with a few Marlins and some special cargo. He was amazed at how quickly his ship and the fleet had gotten underway, and the endless rumors...

[Slow Biker]

October '62, I was just 18, fresh out of training and got introduced to that big green flat nosed YS2. After a spell loading them to Mk1b Vulcans I was sent to the bomb dump, which I almost blew up. We were loading 7 store carriers with 1000lb ers. Prior to fitting detonators the det cavity had to be gauged. The cpl gave me the brass gauge and pointed me to a clutch of seven - go gauge them. The gauge didn't seem to go in properly so I pushed harder. Guess what? The dets were already fitted and I had been shoving a brass rod against a percussion detonator. Remembering still makes me shudder.

[Fareastdriver]

On one occasion, as the QRA crew approached, the crew chief started the engines, unfortunately they were then unable to open the door.

On another occasion during a cold winter the crew chief hit the Simstart button for a Vulcan whilst an airman was still struggling to remove the frozen in exhaust blanks. He nipped down the ladder when he heard the engines whining up. The blanks stayed in as long as they could and then exited stage right ending up halfway across the airfield.

We won't talk about the six crew in one and four in the other.

[ImageGear]

I already had school classmates who had become part-time ROC members and trained in watching and plotting. They disappeared into their hole in the ground for a number of days until the "heat" of the issue cooled down somewhat.

A very sobering time of looking down our beautiful Yorkshire valley to the distant city which I was certain would be early on the target list.

I recollect that for a few days it became necessary to "live and enjoy the moment" and singing with the local church choir took on a new relevance.

Imagegear

[Pontius Navigator]

FED, or the crew chief dragged on board to replace the AEO. I can't remember the details, not our Sqn. Most likely he had gone to the toilet which was on the far corner of the hangar and something over a 100 yards from the wagon.

[The Old Fat One]

Little bit of thread drift...but

He said that although there had been a few rumbles from various countries in the 50's and 60's about 'Armageddon' he felt this was the only time when it could really have happened.............

So far.

The end game and thus the full history of mankind's dalliance with nukes, has yet to be written.

Given there were 4 countries with nukes in 1962 (USA, Russia [back then USSR] UK & France) and since then we have added 5 more (China, Israel, India, Pakistan & North Korea) there is still a reasonable possibility, there won't be anyone around to write it.

[Pontius Navigator]

TOFO, and South Africa which later relinquished it.

[JOE-FBS]

Pontius Navigator

Thank you, and oops I should have looked in the wallets, which I have now done for the first time in probably for 30 years, as well as on the outside. It's inscribed on them, bombing protractor and marked as you describe. One is a segment of a circle, 5 inches by 6 and a half and is Type B. The other is a slightly distorted circle, 9 inches across and is Type A.

Thanks again
Joe

So, Mr Siviter if you are still out there, I still have them 34 years on.

[Shack37]

I was at St. Mawgan at the time and 201 Sqn were all kitted up to head off, exact destination long forgotten. Rumour had it their task was to prevent our US "allies" interfering with UK shipping.
Rumours eh?

[Wander00]

I was on an ATC gliding course at Swanton Morley - lot of excitement but not much action ISTR. I had done my solos on Day 1 (I had a PPL from a FS) and spent the rest of the week pushing and pulling for the other students. Couple of years ago I did a gliding course at a UK club, was about to send for a new A&B for £30 or £40, and then e-mailed BGA to ask if they had records of my previous certificate. Came good for a fiver. Well done the BGA

[Pontius Navigator]

Joe-FBS, any chance of photographs? I would like to see the larger one as I only ever remember using the smaller.

The smaller one could be used when the computer was u/s but we still had the radar display. We would place the protractor on the electronic centre of the screen, align the protractor with the planned track to target and lay off for drift. We would mark the calculated forward throw, say 6.7 miles, and talk the pilot on so that we flew down the planned track.

[JOE-FBS]

No problem, PM me an email address and I'll send something over.

[ian16th]

I think that this and V-Force Deterrent Targets threads should be merged.PN,

What were your SOP's wrt having the enemy home in onto your NBS/Green Satin transmissions? Even your Orange Putter/Red Steer tail warning kit was a double edged sword that made you a target.

Back in WWII the Germans had night fighters that could home onto H2S transmissions.

[Pontius Navigator]

PN,

What were your SOP's wrt having the enemy home in onto your NBS/Green Satin transmissions? Even your Orange Putter/Red Steer tail warning kit was a double edged sword that made you a target.

Back in WWII the Germans had night fighters that could home onto H2S transmissions.
Green Satin or DD 62 M had fairly narrow downward pointing beams and were not believed to pose a significant detection opportunity. We were told.

For H2S we would use sector scan initially radiating away from enemy territory and only radiate when within predicted range of the fix point. At low level JARIC provided fix points and a predicted box, about 20-24 miles (3-4 minutes) where we could see the fix point. Again we would use sector scan and probably away from the enemy. Once on the target run, too late she cried.

TFR, narrow beam, 7 degrees and depressed, J-band and low power.

Red Steer 1/2 ON, a risk yes, but thought to be lower than if it was off.

Tacan, IFF and radios off.

ECM off until climbing out.

[MPN11]

... and home for Bacon and Eggs and medals.

Gawd, what a prospect :(

[ian16th]

Green Satin or DD 62 M had fairly narrow downward pointing beams and were not believed to pose a significant detection opportunity. We were told.GS depended on reflections that were transmitted fore & aft!

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/zz108/ian16th/Doppler%20Effect.jpg

It would have worked at its best if the transmissions were dead ahead and the a/c was flying towards a cliff face.
If it had transmitted straight down, it wouldn't have worked.
So there was a compromise was reached at about 30 degrees.
The worst conditions were when the a/c was flying over smooth water, such as the Med an a quiet day. The signal hit the water and bounced off away from the a/c.
This was a problem for 13 Sqdn PR9's at Akrotiri.

[Pontius Navigator]

Ian, thanks for that. There was also a difference between the two equipments. The GS aerial would hunt until the aerial was aligned along track, Twp beams forward, left and right and two astern. Around 8.9 GHz, IIRC. The DD 62 M was different. Fixed aerial, two beams radiating with side of heading and one abeam or maybe slightly abaft the beam. Each on a discrete J-band freq around 13.2 GHz. The DD 62 M was in use from 1970.

[ian16th]

Just please I could find a use for my 1958 notes!
After nearly 4 years of box swapping on the 214 Valiant's, on posting to Akrotiri I was 'given' the GS bench to look after for 2 years. I became quite an expert on its innards.
The main user of GS at Akrotiri was 13 Sqdn and transient a/c. So I became familiar with Mediterranean conditions.
I also had to remind some of the Navs on 13 that the operational spec of GS was up to 60,000 feet! They were too keen to snag the kit for 'Unlocking at height'!

Their concept of high was different to the Valiant Navs.

Aren't I an anorak?

As for DD62, I'd never heard of it. Obviously after my time.

[ozleckie]

During the Cuban Missile Crisis I was a 20 year old Jnr Tech Aircraft Electrical Fitter embedded with a bombing up team in the Armoury at RAF Cottesmore. We serviced aircraft from both 10 and 15 Squadrons.

We fitted YS2s to every serviceable aircraft on day 1 and then as aircraft were recovered from maintenance they were immediately bombed up. The next step should have been dispersal to Boscombe Down or St Mawgan but that never happened . We were told afterwards that Harold Macmillan would not give the order to disperse in case it aggravated the situation.He knew that the Russians would have been aware that we were bombed up ready and were taking it seriously. When things calmed down it took nearly 2 weeks to remove the bombs that we had fitted in a couple of days mainly because the Bomb Dump could not cope with so many assembled bombs

[Pontius Navigator]

Ozleckie, I would guess things were tightened up after that as we did two Mick's per year. Incidentally, par time for a YS2 loading was 7 minutes with team chief doing the final checks overseen by the nav rad doing his acceptance checks - not quite WST procedures.

[ORAC]

Hmm, one of these?

http://micerveza.es/NEW%20LAYOUT/1%20-%20INSTRUMENTOS%20DE%20MEDIDA/4%20-%20TRANSPORTADORES%20Y%20GONIOMETROS/3%20-%20CARTOGRAFIA%20Y%20NAVEGACION/bombing%20protractor.jpg

[Pontius Navigator]

ORAC, indeed but while I used the Type B I had never seen the Type A that Joe FBS has. Interesting to know its origin, ie time period and which V its owner served on.

[tornadoken]

A.Horne, Macmillan/II,1989,P.366: Mac 22/10/62 "rejected urgings from (Saceur) to place Br.Forces on a higher state of readiness. (Mac,) with his own tragic personal memories {i.e of 8/1914 mobilisation and Fleet-to war stations, before Declaration} pointed out {?presumably to Gen.Norstad?} that mobilisation sometimes leads to war".

Others have similarly stated that Mac refused to disperse MBF...but why would AM Cross wish to do so? We had some Warning (limited to 1,500nm) from BMEWS I (Thule) and II (Alaska) but not yet from III (Fylingdales), so Shyster IRBMs from E.Germany would first be detected aurally. MBF Launch must be on Command. Best done from Main Base.

PM Macmillan already had ample nuclear "provocation" at hand, 10/62:
- (some) of 5 George Washington SSBNs out of Holy Loch,
- 45 USAF/SAC Reflex Action B-47E armed and at high states of Alert in S. Midlands,
- 75 USAFE F-101A/C and 150 F-100D, 6 and 12 constantly at Victor Alert, with tactical Bombs in E.Anglia,
- 24 TBF Valiants (US Bombs), 4 on QRA, at Marham,
- 10 MBF Vulcan 1/2, Victor 1 on QRA and 65 more U/E, with Yellow Sun 2,
- many of SMF's 59 Thors, erect 27/10/62,
- RAFG had 8 Canberra B(I)6/8 (US Bombs) on QRA and 56 more U/E,
- BAOR had 16 Corporal SSM launchers, US warheads,
- Ark Royal was on FE Station with 5 Scimitar/Red Beard,
- NEAF/Akrotiri had 32 U/E Canberra B.15/Red Beard.

The brain goes into an endless loop on First or Second Strike - Thor clearly First Strike, provocative exactly as US saw Cuban SS-4.
Logic could be presented that dispersal would have been un-provocative, by complicating any First Strike - Sovs. in target multiplication, UK in rapid "generation" (messy in Machrihanish!)

(added 13/11/16: http://www.alternatewars.com/WW3/Cuba/US_Posture_25_Oct_1962.htm has JCS msgs to White House, 25/10/62:
- 3 alert Valiant
- 4 alert (me: RAFG) Canberra
- (me: no Thor but) 37 Jupiter (me: Italy+Turkey: somewhere I have seen suggestion: never opnl. in Turkey)
- no SIOP RAFBC; 61 airborne B-52, 304 ground alert B-52, 340 alert B-47; 9 alert F-101 (me: in UK), 27 alert F-100 (me: UK+France).
- 112 alert Polaris out of Holy Loch - 16x5 A1, plus 16x2 A2.

[Jimlad1]

Has any thing ever been published about hpw the Russians planned for and trained to conduct their nuclear mission? I wonder given the very tight control of their system if they had the same level of mission prep as us, and how they planned to go about it?

[Paracab]

Has any thing ever been published about hpw the Russians planned for and trained to conduct their nuclear mission? I wonder given the very tight control of their system if they had the same level of mission prep as us, and how they planned to go about it?

I read on here once (so it must be true) that their plan was to lay a stick of weapons down the North Sea therefore drenching the East of the country with radioactive blast and seawater, rendering most of the the airfields u/s.

[Fareastdriver]

lay a stick of weapons down the North Sea therefore drenching the East of the country with radioactive blast

A brilliant plan! er er? The prevailing wind over East Anglia is Westerly.

[MPN11]

You just beat me to it, Fareastdriver ;)

Allow me to tell a tale of weapon loading at a major airbase south of Lincoln. It was one of those no-notice aircraft generation exercises, and involved the old familiar bomb convoys making their way to the various dispersals with their assorted escort vehicles. You may recall that once the convoy was moving, nothing must impede its progress. Unfortunately, on this particular morning there was dense fog. I really do mean dense - visibility was effectively 0>10 yards. ATC Local thus found itself in the 'interesting' role of providing a full IFR service to the convoys, using Storno on the Police channel. Non-standard phraseology was involved, such as "Have you passed the PAR building yet?", as we tried to keep the convoys moving without conflictions.

At one point the Stn Cdr called on our private Ops/ATC Exercise field telephone asking why the loading was taking so long. SATCO thought of inviting the Stn Cdr to look out of the window, but realised that Ops didn't have one ... so explained, as gently as possible, the circumstances under which everyone was operating. The generation exercise inevitably took much longer than usual, although things improved when the fog cleared ... a bit.

[Pontius Navigator]

MPN 11, you forget the giraffe lights that were put to red for the convoy. A smart motorist, calculating correctly that no aircraft would be flying deduced incorrectly that ATC had once again got it wrong and ignored the lights.

There, but for blind luck, could have been the ultimate safety test of a nuclear weapon.

[Pontius Navigator]

Paracab/FED, that thought had crossed my mind too until I thought of a tsunami rolling across the Fens.

[Paracab]

Calm down and don't shoot the messenger, no need. I'm only repeating something I read on here some years ago, possibly on the 'Did you fly the Vulcan' thread. Nor did I say it would be effective. But a deluge would have been created I'm sure. Whatever the prevailing wind was doing that particular day, none of us were going to do very well out of an exchange were we?

[langleybaston]

Fascinating accounts, for which many thanks. Believe this as you will: as a young Metman at RAF Nicosia, i was as near totally unaware of impending doom as you can get.

Nice job, gorgeous wife very pregnant, boss not insufferable, RAF customers good blokes .......... not a care in the world.

Easy to miss Armageddon even with the right connections.

Cuba was it?

[AtomKraft]

Everyone remembers the missiles on Cuba, and their withdrawal, when 'The Cuban missile crisis' gets a mention.

Oh those wicked Russkis!:ooh:

The fact that the aggressive deployment in Cuba was in direct response to the equally aggressive installation of Jupiter IRBMs in Turkey often goes unmentioned though.

Oh those wicked Septics!:ooh:

(And of course when the Cuba missiles were withdrawn, that was followed by the Jupiters' quietly leaving Turkey...)

[oldpax]

To busy at Khormaksar to listen to news ,didnt even know it had occured!!!Keeping Hunters in the air to help the army!!

[Pontius Navigator]

Like oldpax, arse and alligators. Apart from our instructors at Nav School becoming rather more active than usual, we were locked in the cycle of lessons, sims, log and chart prep and social activities. Papers and TV were much lower down our priority list. I didn't have a radio until two years later.

[FantomZorbin]

I was still at college at the time and in the Royal Observer Corps (ROC). I was issued with a letter from the ROC telling me to detail contact numbers for home and work so that I might be got hold of should the need arise, in which case I was to report to my Post immediately.
This teenager, feeling immensely important, presented himself in his Housemaster's office (yes, it was one of those schools) and showed him the letter ... he was unimpressed "What is this ROC?"! I was told that I would only be released with the written permission of the Headmaster and the master taking the class I happened to be in at the time. I said that this was unworkable and I would be going regardless ... the "regardless" I was told would involve a beating!
Had the balloon 'gone up' I suppose I'd be sitting in my bunker dwelling on the possibility of a thrashing, on the other hand the CCCP might have resolved my problem for me!!!

[TBM-Legend]

Not quite the UK but my late father-in-law who was a B-17 flight engineer during the big one was at Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City Southc Dakota commissioning the first Minuteman 1 ICBM's as a civilian engineer who was taken from home ( my wife was like 8) and to the base where he was confined without a briefing initially and given the rank of Major in the USAF . Because of the alert status no civilians were allowed into the command centres. He joked that he left the service in 1945 as a Staff Sargeant ....

Sworn to secrecy and appeared back home after they were stood down some three weeks later.

That base was not formally handed over and was in final commissioning stages...

[Pontius Navigator]

FantomZorbin, a few years later, on Micks etc people were called in from far and wide, even 20 miles away . While the open road was unrestricted thgthere were plenty of 30 mph zones but of course no radar traps or cameras.

Once the opportunity arose to ask a senior police officer on whether we would be prosecuted for speeding. He pondered for a moment before saying, well not if it was for real.

I don't know of any prosecutions.

[Wander00]

84 and Ground Defence Commander at a secret radar site in Norfolk I was excused the requirement that people from Horsham St Faiths quarters travelled in by bus on a callout. Got the trip down to a fine art in my Alfa Sud, but then little traffic at 00silly

[MPN11]

I could get from my OMQ at Waddo to the Tower faster than my staff on foot from their Barrack Blocks. There are times when a Station Bicycle has [different] advantages ;)

[412SP]

"Blue Moon Over Cuba" is a good read. Worth checking out.

RF-8 & U-2 stories in there.

[pedroalpha]

I seem to remember posting a response on this or a similar thread some years ago. At the height of the Cuba crisis, I was a 16 year old on holiday from boarding school. My father was the CO at RAF Tuddenham (a flight of 107 Sqn at Feltwell). My OMQ bedroom window looked out upon the base where 3 Thor missiles were errect, fuelled and streaming lox for several days at the height of the crisis. Life carried on as normal without family dispersal plans or military support. So glad it ended as it did or none of us would be here now.
Pedro

[A_Van]

My father was at the edge of the tension at that time. He served at one of the largest airbases in the western part of the SU where Tu-16 bombers were based. He was head of a group operating those "infernal H- and A-toys", and I learned it from him only some 35 year later when I had even a higher military rank than he at the time of his retirement (though my clearance level was one level lower). He said the officers were on a permanent 24/7 duty at that period, allowing to visit their families for a couple of hours per week only. Dad said that it was very cold at that period of the year and the staff at the airbase were suffering from cold as there was not enough place to sleep in such an emergency conditions. But due to his position he had a "privilege"to sleep on a container with a big "H-toy" inside that was equipped with a sort of a thermostat and was warm enough to "relax on". Sounds really cool.

[ian16th]

A Van

Interesting to hear from 'the other side'.

I'd love to hear more.

[tornadoken]

Dispersal: I suggested at #52 that we had merely "some" warning from the 2 BMEWS, Alaska/Greenland. But also: some capability arose 10/57 in the Lovell Telescope, Jodrell Bank Experimental Station, Manchester U., brought
to “a state of military vigilance” in 10/62.
//sas-space.sas.ac.uk /3387/1/Journal_of_International_History_2000_n3_ Twigg_and_Scott. 26/1/12, pp.3/4, accessed 20/12/14.