[Milsurplus] Re: Conelrad

[D C (Mac) Macdonald]

You think lack of logic was new then???

I remember an air-raid drill in central, rural NY state
during WW II where they shut down all traffic in the
middle of the day!  This was a town of maybe 300 people!
Yeah, the Erie Railroad had their tracks through that
town, but even at the age of around 7 years, I couldn't
figure out how the Germans could get there.  I knew what
planes Jerry had.  Heck, even we couldn't get planes
across the pond then without intermediate fueling stops.

Mac, K2GKK/5
Former B-52 Crew
Oklahoma City

p.s.  Also a former bearing inspector at MRC (Marlin
Rockwell Corp) in Jamestown, NY ca. 1957.



-- Barry Hauser <barry at hausernet.com> wrote:

Hi Chris

I doubt if proximity to targets was involved.  I started
Kindergarten in Queens NY, about 15 miles East of NYC
mid-town in 1951 or so and was there for first grade.
I don't recall much of anything.

Moved another 15 miles east when I was 7, going into 2nd
grade.  I seem to recall "air raid drills" and duck and
cover there.  Certainly in the new school they opened in
'55 or so.  We were probably located in the hot zone of
two targets -- NYC and Grumman.  Mitchel AFB was also still
operating then.  Brookhaven National Labs another 40 or so
miles East.  Strategic targets all over the place.

So, I doubt it had to do with the logic that it made no
sense if there was no chance.  Heck, the program said if
you see the flash, etc.  On the other hand, if you were
really close to ground zero, you probably wouldn't see
the flash.

Even so, don't know why your school didn't prepare you.
As ol' Sen. Joe McCarthy might have said -- "They're
probably a bunch of comminists!"

Barry



----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Christian R. Fandt" <cfandt at netsync.net>
To: "Milsurplus List" <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2005 11:11 AM
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Re: Conelrad

Upon the date 04:32 PM 12/1/2005, Barry Hauser said something like:

Hah ...

Thanks Sam -- that site is great.

I thought I was exaggerating about being completely safe if
you duck and cover under a table or desk, but I'm playing
the Bert The Turtle radio program right now and the wise
announcer assures just that.  "in case the atom bomb explodes
near us" and "you can tell it's an atom bomb if you can see
the bright flash which is brighter than the sun" or words to
that effect.  Right.

Plenty of "duck" .. electric organ souns or Rootie Kazootie
slide flute and "cover" and more slide flute.  Oh sheesh ..
"it can e fun".  ... like a flash -- that means ... duck and
cover.  ... do what your parents and teachers tell you to do
-- and don't get excited and don't run ..."

I started Kindergarten back in 1957 and all through primary
school we never practiced anything like that.  No duck and
cover, nothing, nada.

I don't recall ever hearing of other local school districts
around here practicing duck and cover either.  Fallout
shelters were noticed by me though, but I recall we were
never told how and why to use them.  My school, Cassadaga
Elementary, was/still is about 18 miles north of Jamestown,
NY.

I thought that was really curious in my later adult years
because of hearing/reading folks like some of you talking
of ducking and covering as practice for an attack.  Recently,
however, I began to feel that the local school districts in
this county might have felt it was useless because few of
the population would know what hit them anyway.

You see, in Jamestown, where I have lived since shortly after
graduating high school in '71, there is located a major
military and commercial bearing manufacturer.  The roller
bearing was invented in Jamestown by the old Gurney Bearing
Company back in the Teens or 20s, and Gurney is one of the
antecedent companies of the present MRC Bearings Co.  I
think they are *the* major military bearing contractor, if
not the only one, in the United States since at least WWII.
They make jet engine and helicopter bearings, amongst other
military bearings.

So, I figure the Russians probably had this region targeted
with a rather large amount of their nuclear assets.  Can you
say "Instant Vaporization"?

We have a radio station on 1240 KHz in Jamestown, WJTN; puts
out around 1kw of power which was the same back in the 40s
and 50s, IIRC.  That's piqued my interest to look them up
sometime and see if anybody is old enough to recall the
Conelrad system or even have some of the old hardware and
paper around.

Indeed that website is great, Sam and Barry.

Interesting Conelrad discussion.  Brings back memories of
those times for me too regardless of my lack of experiencing
the duck and cover practice.

Regards,   Chris F.

NNNN