EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
General => General Technical Chat => Topic started by: Homer J Simpson on December 26, 2015, 01:20:30 am
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When you get to about 2 minutes in this gets very interesting. I had no idea repairs and parts management was that sophisticated at that time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O34QVIN2d3A (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O34QVIN2d3A)
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The SAC of the 1960's was simultaneously amazingly sophisticated and boneheaded.
If you're interested in some interesting analysis of the /operational/ record of SAC throughout the Cold War, let me recommend Eric Schlosser's "Command and Control." It's an easy and eye-popping read. Let alone the possibility of a purposeful release of nukes, it's amazing we didn't experience an accidental one.
http://www.amazon.com/Command-Control-Damascus-Accident-Illusion/dp/0143125788 (http://www.amazon.com/Command-Control-Damascus-Accident-Illusion/dp/0143125788)
-- dave j
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"Release" or detonation?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_nuclear_incident_terminology#Broken_Arrow_incidents
Tim
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Still as complex, I did spend a lot of time on those computer systems, though the later ones, checking up on status and such, and looking for stuff misfiled. Mistyped a part number one day and up popped 2 new Tek scopes, which I ordered. They arrived in internal post 2 weeks later, and I surprised everybody by walking in with them, as we had been trying for years to get new ones to replace the old ones which had died. Took the original division who had ordered them to notice, and they were told something along the line that "You snooze you lose", as they did not lock the item in stores to issue to themselves only. A flag in the field, quite useful to store stuff we did not need regularly ( one a decade) so it was not on inventory, but sat in stores and they looked after it.
No punched cards, just a load of paperwork, 2 stores operators and 2 operator terminals connected via a secure data link and a dedicated microwave and radio link to a central computer.