That’s a painfully slow drive to the aircraft. Not sure which base this is but during the same timeframe the British V Force crews would move to dispersal airfields during periods of alert and sleep in caravans within running distance of the bombers.
Thanks Casket!
When I was pulling alert at Ellsworth (SD) and Minot (ND: Why Not Minot? Freezin’ The Reason!) in the late ’70s and early ’80s an alert response like this would have gotten you laughed off the base–after the wing king ripped you a new asshole.
Under normal day-to-day posture we could drive around base–as a crew–or at least to certain areas like the gym, BX, and bowling alley. Under heightened alert we were restricted to the alert facility, which was a rapid run to the airplane, no trucks involved unless on of the crew was SLL (sick, lame, and/or lazy).
Furthermore, taxiing to the throat of the alert pad was strictly first-come, first served. Woe betide the aircraft commander who tried to cut off another plane that got out of the stand slightly before him. I don’t recall if the DO (wing director of operations) kept track of which crews were fastest and which not (To Err Is Human, To Forgive Is Not SAC Policy), but the crews themselves sure did. Tail end charlie got a major ration of shit when the alert was over, and it pretty much went on until the next alert.
Good article / video and first hand account. Thanks
Blytheville AFB was much the same. Alert facility was right at the Christmas tree. The slow driving? It’s an exercise, so you follow the speed limits. Real life? The hell with those signs.
We still practice this constantly. It’s a bad thing that the nuclear threat is still out there…hope it never comes down to launching nukes.
Slow drive to the aircraft, but did you see them run through the rain puddles in the grass? That can’t be good for the boot shine
Boot shine? It’s the Air Force.
The V-crews had a hell of a lot LESS warning time than we in the US would….
So they had to be faster.
Our Victor alert F4s had to be up and gone in less than 5….
+1