Did that bomber system in dr strangelove exist?

WarMachine

WarMachine

Active member
Using those b 51's to circle the soviet union seemed pretty agressive in the movie. Was there a system back in the 60's where a fleet of b51's circled the ussr constantly being refueled and ready to drop the bomb on them?
 
B51's?

Must mean B-52's.. cause the Canberra B-51 didn't have that kind of range.

But seriously - orbiting referred to a circular (or racetrack) "ready" flight path from which the bomber could depart and fly into the Soviet Union to deliver whatever payload it happened to be carrying. Can't get into where those orbits were, but suffice to say they were not - themselves - physically over USSR airspace.
 
My bad with the b52 mistake, but the flights themselves would be hundreds of miles away from the soviet union, would that still violate some airspace treaty? Afterall, the US would be freaked out if the soviets had a similar program. It just seems that the movie was very accurate with the technical details of everything that such a system could've existed.
 
B52's & Dr Strangelove

The Soviets DID have such a program, flying things like the Bear and Backfire bombers. Airspace over the North Pole was very cluttered during the cold war
 
I'm surprised no one ever talked about this in any documentaries on the history channel. I think a fleet of bombers constantly hovering over 2 superpowers would be of noteworthiness.
 
Well they weren't exactly hovering over... More likely they were near borders, to be the first responders.... They didn't cross the borders, if they did, I can bet that we all wouldn't be standing here today, chatting over the internet.....
 
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