TALL MAN FIVE FIVE

[Music] this is chet huntley since the birth of the United States the site that surround us have changed immeasurably weather-beaten mud paths have turned in the vast highway systems a Pony Express rider has been replaced with telephone wires and small flames that used to light our way have turned into electric Giants perhaps less noticed but just as significant the sounds of our country have changed as well town criers voices have been replaced by the sharp hit of a newspaper against a back door the hoofbeats of horses have been changed into motors and horns and the sound of an aircraft engine is now a jet wine the producers of this report in cooperation with headquarters United States Air Force and the Strategic Air Command want you to know about a new sound what causes it what it can and cannot do and why it will be necessary for certain populated areas to live with it or unless we learn to live with it we may not live at all [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] this is the geographical center of the continental United States known as the Great Plains area here near Omaha and the seemingly illogical surroundings of miles of farmland is the headquarters of a major deterrent strength of this country headquarters to teach air commands the organization responsible for implementing the philosophy the policy of deterrence as the Pope says the mission of the Strategic Air Command is to be prepared to conduct strategic air operations on a global basis so that in the event of sudden aggression sac could immediately mount simultaneous nuclear attacks designed to destroy the vital elements of the aggressors war-making capability to the extent that he would no longer have the will nor ability to wage war [Music] from this headquarters building near Omaha Nebraska the commander-in-chief can order sacks combat ready alert bombers into the air in a matter of seconds 24 hours a day every day from sac bases throughout the world from the North American Air Defense Command information is fed into the control center to be correlated on these panels information vital to the direction of the strike force already charted on the panels behind the drapes are sacs emergency war plans plans detailing each target for every plane every missile in the SAC Arsenal should war ever come the curtains would be drawn aside in a matter of moments the control center would be sealed off in fighting configuration if the receiver of the red telephone is picked up every sac base in the world could hear the words that would signal an alert and the most powerful strike force that has ever been seen would be unleashed the gold telephone is in readiness for only one phone call to relay the most vital order from the President of the United States to the commander in chief of sac [Music] sky-bird this is dropkick to all stations all stations acknowledge at the count of five one two three four and five [Music] this is dropkick releasing the alerting system [Music] each day and night the Strategic Air Command continues to rehearse for a mission it hopes it will never be called upon to perform the rehearsals directed in this underground room go on all over the United States most of the time our country is unaware of these receipts they don't interfere with our normal everyday way of life but occasionally this is not true we become very much aware that we are engaged in the new art of deterrent defense but this sound which can be louder than thunder is only a pin drawing compared to a possible alternative in this hideous cloud is a revolution in military strategy an entirely new philosophy of international relations standing in or before it freemen realized that the secret of this incredible new weapon could not be held for long that soon the arsenals of governments dedicated to world domination would be stockpiled with bombs that would make this one looked like a firecracker and they knew that that to protect themselves from the bomb and from the ambition of totalitarian states they must build a military striking force so strong that to provoke it would be suicidal and so the strategy of deterrence was born [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] today and through the foreseeable future sac will be equipped with planes as well as missiles at present more than one-half dozen different types of missiles have been integrated into the sac Arsenal with more to be added as rapidly as they become operationally reliable the first intercontinental ballistic missile to take its place in the deterrent force is the Atlas but missiles are not yet available in sufficient quantities to be more than an adjunct to the deterrent force and there is another problem in the event of a surprise attack launched against us the long-range radar of our early warning system might give us no more than 15 minutes warning in those 15 minutes we would have to get our retaliatory strike force in the air or face the possibility of having it wiped out on the ground if our deterrent force consisted solely of missiles every ready weapon would have to be launched at once but the problem is that at the present time our high frequencies long-range radar is still subject to many bugs electronic disturbances interference from other radar installations even flights of birds can create patterns on the radar screen that could be mistaken for an attacking force checking and rechecking could well use up those precious 15 minutes as long as there is any doubt we dare not launch our missiles while once fired and on its way to target an ICBM cannot be hauled back bombers can the newest man weapon in saks arsenal to maintain the peace is the supersonic delta wing b-58 hustler and jet bomber in one jump the b-58 built by the convair division of General Dynamics powered by general electric j79 turbojet engines has outstripped the past 50 years of aviation history his top speed is as much faster than the speediest previous bomber as that plane was faster than the Wright brothers original flying machine [Music] a philosophy an organization modern weapons and then men trained men to fly these weapon systems trained by practice of bombing missions without bombs directed by sac a practice bombing mission one of thousands is to be sent from Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth Texas where the top flight SAC bomber crews are undergoing training this crew has almost completed its indoctrination course in the b-58 hustler only a few blanks remain to be filled out on their performance record charts before they will be qualified as a combat ready crew in the free worlds fastest bomber they are the aircraft commander and pilot major Joseph E Briggs age 38 14 years with the Air Force married four children especially bringing their quick garage completed the offensive systems officer Captain William hates Canada age 31 ten years in the Air Force married their three children we can expect federate ex immediate alligator captain Walter sea lions age 36 years in the Air Force merit one childhood HR controller in each sack training mission is planned with painstaking care for every hour they will spend in the air 1 and 1/2 hours have been spent in preparation on the ground each mile is literally flown on paper before it's flown in the sky they say in sac that you're not ready to take off until the weight of the paper equals the weight of the aircraft this will be a radar bombing the target a long-range one routed over 3,000 miles away the center of the village square deerfield massachusetts [Music] ironically in Deerfield which is a quiet New England village has a history of hearing the sounds of freedom's battles and the memory of those sounds has been preserved in a memorial one morning in seventeen 450 of Deerfield's residents were killed and hundreds taken away as prisoners half the city was burned to the ground [Music] again in our country's revolution in the ensuing years Deerfield heard the sounds necessary to protect their freedom now Deerfield had been chosen again this time there would be no battle attack no fires no explosions but there would be a sound a sound of protection loud enough to be heard by every resident in the village Deerfield had not been chosen arbitrarily this city along with many other radar bomb sites or targets in the United States was carefully selected because the pattern it makes in the planes radar scope is similar to that of an actual target in potential enemy territory the relation of the buildings the hills and the houses even the memorial of Deerfield creates a similar radar pattern to a possible enemy target city lafawn they drop on the American target is a harmless electronic beam it would of course be something else if they were flying and anger to a target beyond our borders would to reach their radar bomb scoring site targets the SAC crews fly around about course over the United States of several thousand miles to approximate the distance to their actual target during the latter stages of the flight they may engage in evasive tactics against u.s. fighter planes of our air defense command testing their ability to penetrate any possible enemy defense refueling to the south tip of Coates Island then on up north back to Coates island to our H our control line I start acceleration point to our turn point on Lake Shore on to our IP Lake Ontario to target Echo Deerfield to our turn point nice from Tennessee Carswell let down and land to all let me check it one more time the axe attack 117 degrees Mach 2 at 40,000 feet do we have the RBS time Roger our control time is zero 800 bill what's the fuelers are gonna be we should have 11,000 pounds fuel reserve provided our wind predictions hold good okay we have the rendezvous refueling ECM gunnery bomb run navigation legs and then home that should make it complete let's go and check the airplane [Music] their flight plan has been filed they've been assigned the codeword tall man five five for identification they've picked up the up to the our wind and weather reports purchased their box lunch suppers and are on their way to their target [Music] hey see this is navigator your initial heading 3-3-7 my cutting on the outskirts of Deerfield on a vacant lot as a radar system mounted on top of two adjoining trailers inside one of the trailers is a small dark radar room waiting for the tell-tale blip on a scope which means the aircraft is approaching in the other trailer is a group waiting to communicate with tall man 5:5 as well as track the plane as it enters the target area [Music] [Music] hey see this is navigator if you're approaching acceleration point 600 miles to target start acceleration 30 seconds glad your walk start acceleration checkpoint 600 miles out at zero seven two two let's get it in high gear [Music] Roger acceleration checkpoint third station going on [Music] and the world's fastest plumber accelerates steadily to Mach 2 twice the speed of sound for its final 600 mile - to the target creating and dragging with it a thunderclap of sound like all sound this sonic boom results from an invisible pressure wave below Mach 1 the speed of sound they push aside the molecules just ahead and they in turn give warning and push aside the molecules ahead of them but at the exact speed of sound these molecules can no longer react quickly enough the leading edges are among them before they can move aside and the molecules pile up in a so-called shock wave of energy at precisely Mach 1 if they were visible spreading out in all directions they might resemble a shallow dish attached to the plane but as the plane speed increases the pressure wave sweeps back at an angle forming a funnel-shaped column trailing back from the plane and of course a portion of this funnel of pressure reaches the ground but when pressure of varying intensity and wavelength strikes the ear we perceive it as solved therefore anyone along the path of the cone of overpressure here's a sharp report similar to a thunderclap at the instant the cone passes there is the question of damage in exhaustive tests conducted by structural engineers even the flimsiest of buildings have remained unharmed through over pressures more than nine times greater than the probable boom however some windows may be broken particularly if the glass is already under strength when the boom does strike the ground no one will try to tell you it's a pretty sound but it is a comforting one it's the sound of your air force at work [Applause] we're approaching Misha point Deerfield upon platypuses tall man five five over dome n55 this is deer bill bump black away please [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] score by phone run - Romeo for true the Sierra 0-5 navigator Elias I spell Lima Yankee Alamo echo Sierra Frank's captain over hi Roger I copy you told in five five four zero thousand 1858 type aircraft requesting Romeo for run on target echo denied be of Longmeadow who number zero zero five operators named miles I spell Lima Yankee Lima echo Sierra is a captain and then affair with it plays over Roger bye bye [Music] [Applause] read your Bible there we have an aircraft 42,000 feet over long men good aircraft supersonic tracking what was [Music] navigated this is defense systems operator we're cleared for target bomb run checklist complete I have the target on his scope now 300 seconds to go dope on Joey [Music] Deerfield Bob block one six this is Tallman five five five zero miles makes us the final oh we're coming too fast four to five mile check the one one seven zero is as freeze over Roger five bags over [Music] 120 seconds check in second station locked in by radar to these sensitive instruments the precise course of the plane is charted until weak instant when they're harmless electronic bomb is released upon the target [Music] 40 seconds tano [Music] did they make it probably solve they usually do but deterrence is a perishable thing it must be worked out constantly in this business there is much difference between self-satisfaction and surrender if you can fly Mach 2 today I'll fast and you fly tomorrow if you hit the pickle barrel today all about the pickle tomorrow they'll be back tomorrow to see deterrence is a philosophy keep the peace by being strong enough to destroy the attacker deterrence is a bomb and a vehicle to delivery deterrence is trained men but the most important of all ingredients in the deterrent concept is the one provided by the people the will the will behind the concept a public will to use the bomb and the vehicle if it comes to that to preserve a thing we call human dignity for the enemy will not be deterred by all the planes missiles bombs and men in the world if he thinks we are lacking in the will to use them sonic booms are a nuisance the man who make them nought and regret as much as anyone but to accept them as one of the necessary costs of being free is perhaps the very best way of demonstrating to the enemy our intention of remaining that way as long as our planes are in the sky and not on the ground as long as the boom continues we stand prepared [Applause] sound of the boom has become the sound of necessity and production the sound of your air force at work [Music] [Applause] [Music] always in the sky with enforcement and I [Music] await Cleanse diet might awaken desires who our guard is the shield of slack became a true sister you [Music] birds of Steel at hand the Strategic Air Command piece is our pleasure [Applause] [Music]