[Short] Wembley: It Really Couldn't Happen, Could It?

In January of 1964, the movie "Dr. Strangelove" was released into the theaters. It was a lighthearted story about a nuclear incident resulting in the proverbial "End of the World." In the story, an U.S. Air Force General becomes unstable and issues orders for a nuclear attack on Russia. The Russians are immediately notified and despite sharing of technological information on the air craft’s defense systems they cannot be stopped. The Russians confide that they have built a Dooms Day device that will assure mutual annihilation in the advent of any detected attack on Russian soil. It has been kept a secret. So in reality its deterrence value is mute. As the events unfold all of the planes attacking Russia are shot down except for one. The movie concludes with the pilot of the surviving bomber riding the nuclear bomb like a rodeo bull as it falls on Moscow.

In October of the same year, a second nuclear incident movie was released called "Fail Safe." In this movie the villain is a computer glitch. Again, an air armada is released to attack Russia. American attack aircraft are sent to destroy the assault planes, which were incommunicado, to no avail. Again, technical information is shared with the Russian defense forces. Again, all but one plane are destroyed.

In order to avert a nuclear war, the President of the United States and the Russian leader agree that Russia can destroy New York once we have destroyed Moscow. The kicker is that the President’s wife is visiting New York.

In October of 1967 the movie "The Bedford Incident" was released. In this film the captain of a US destroyer is harassing a Russian submarine. Things get too tense, an order is misunderstood, and the destroyer launches a lethal weapon at the submarine which responds with its own nuclear torpedo. The movie ends with the two explosions.

All of this is just fantasy, right? Couldn’t happen, right?

The "Bedford Incident" was loosely based upon a real live incident. An American destroyer was harassing a Russian sub in the North Atlantic. It was dropping "Training Depth Charges" to force the sub to surface. The sub commander, thinking WWIII has begun, prepared to launch his nuclear torpedo. He was stopped by orders from the flotilla commander who happened to be on board.

 In 1967, I was a Communications Equipment Specialist in the US Air Force. We were in the process of installing a comprehensive "Primary Alerting System" in Europe. When completed, for the first time, all flight lines and central command centers would all be interconnected on one communication network. Any one of four command posts in Europe could then communicate to and issue Europe-wide alerts to all US Air Force assets. We were in the process of activating the communications circuits one station at a time. In each of the four command posts there was a large control panel with a series of status lights for each station to indicate active communication links and a centrally located toggle switch with a red hinged cover that would be used to initiate alerting commands. When activated, red lights on the wall would start flashing and sirens would go off loud enough to wake the dead.

There was a certain night duty officer who was fond of coming in to the command post, sitting down in front of the console, and throwing the switch in order to wake the dead with the lights and sirens. Unbeknownst to him, a couple of communication links had been completed. He came in to the command center, set down in front of the control panel, and threw the switch. In Germany, a very startled officer, having been told that should the big one come, the alert would issued through the "Primary Alerting System", launched his nuclear armed "ready aircraft" towards East Germany. World War III was about to start. They of course went to their "Fail Safe" points and then were recalled.

I wonder what the East German on duty that night thought was happening and how he or she reacted.

I guess I should have hung a sign on the panel that said "Do Not Touch."

— Written by Wembley

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Who is Wembley?

Wembley is the nom de plume for an older gentleman who loves history and politics, writes often, but is technology challenged. He wants so much for people to read what he writes. After many arguments over the subject, he doesn’t want to build a following or even have his own substack… even though he has much to say. He absolutely insists that I publish it for him.

So, he will write and I will publish. This is just a short essay he did and the first of many.

The older generations have so much to teach us.

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