"1962 nuclear close call dodged in Okinawa" Topic
6 Posts
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| Aristonicus | 04 Apr 2015 5:09 a.m. PST |
At the final moment of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, the U.S. nuclear missile men in Okinawa received a launch order which was later found to have been mistakenly issued, according to testimonies by former U.S. veterans given to Kyodo News. link |
| Mardaddy | 04 Apr 2015 8:20 a.m. PST |
Don't doubt the general validity, but the Mace B was not in production until 1964. I'd excuse the memories of that detail from our honorable servicemen. |
The G Dog  | 04 Apr 2015 9:39 a.m. PST |
Eh – minor detail on model type. They did stand up the Mace Squadron's in Okinawa in March of 62. link More interesting to me was that as they started the launch process, they verified where each missile was heading. (I assume so the crew could verify the correct navigation package was loaded). "So, we read the targets out loud. Out of the four missiles, we had only one headed toward Russia. The other three were not going to Russia….", "…And we figured, 'Why hit these other countries?' They've got nothing to do with this. That doesn't make any sense,…" Wonder who was on the receiving end of those other three missiles? |
 piper909  | 05 Apr 2015 3:45 p.m. PST |
Must have been a stop to change planes. |
| Weasel | 06 Apr 2015 9:41 a.m. PST |
When you read about how many close calls and false readings there were, throughout the cold war, you feel lucky to be alive today. Sometimes the world really does rest on one man. |
| Lion in the Stars | 06 Apr 2015 11:15 a.m. PST |
Yeah, working in the strategic services gives you an occasional moment of sheer terror when you think about just how close we were. Late one night, the XO was apparently reading the standard order script for practice, but he used the real-launch script instead of one of the scripts we used for drills. Talk about pucker factor! Wonder who was on the receiving end of those other three missiles? Completely guessing, but probably China, China, and either China or North Korea. The Russian bird was probably aimed at Vladivostok. 2200km range missiles based in Okinawa really can't hit anywhere else. |
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