Categories: journal
Date: 23 July 2009 08:42:40
Last night, I managed to watch part of a documentary on More4. It was the first of a series entitled "Engineering Britain's Superweapons". This programme told the story of the V bomber force, whose original role was, simply, to deliver nuclear weapons in the event of a war with the Soviet Union. We were reminded that, of course, there would be American 'planes with a similar objective, which conjured, for me, the picture of our 'planes cruising over Eastern Europe while Armageddon erupted around them. I was telling my daughter that this was the world I was born into - the sound of a jet 'plane overhead was, basically, frightening.
And I was reminded of a book I once read, called "Fail Safe", which offers the scenario of a flight of American bombers accidentally receiving the order to 'go', and the consequences thereof ...