Military

23- Gary Powers & the 1960 U2 Incident

      Welcome to episode 23 of Cold War Conversations. Today’s episode is the first in a new partnership we have formed with the Cold War Museum. We speak with Gary Powers Junior. His father piloted the U2 spy plane shot down over the Soviet Union. Powers’ U-2 was shot down on May 1, … Read more

21 – BRIXMIS, British defence of Berlin, and Rudolf Hess

  Welcome to episode 21 of Cold War Conversations Today we’re talking to Nigel Dunkley MBE a former Royal Scots Dragoon Guard, performed intelligence gathering duties in the former East Germany with BRIXMIS during the Cold War. BRIXMIS ( British Commanders’-in-Chief Mission to the Soviet Forces in Germany) was an intelligence organisation worked throughout the Cold … Read more

19 – Able Archer & the War Scare of 1983

  Welcome to episode 19 of Cold War Conversations Today we’re talking to Francesca Akhtar who holds a  BA Hons in American Studies with 1st class honours  from Canterbury Christ Christ Church University in Kent, and a Masters degree in US history & Politics from the Institute of the Americas, University College London. Her main research … Read more

18 – Greenham Common – an iconic British nuclear airbase

Welcome to episode 18 of Cold War Conversations RAF Greenham Common opened in 1942 and was used by both the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War and the United States Air Force during the Cold War. The airfield is probably best known, certainly in the UK,  for … Read more

16 – Mark – A US Combat Engineer in West Germany

Before we start I’d like to say how humbled I am by the level of interest in the podcast and the kind comments from our many subscribers. If you’d like to support us further and get some extras then head over to Patreon. There’s also links on the home page of the website at www.coldwarconversations.com. … Read more

13 – The Last Days of Checkpoint Charlie

Welcome to Episode 13 of Cold War Conversations. I have always been intrigued by a video posted on Youtube filmed in the 1980s by a then young US army soldier documenting his first days in Berlin for his family back at home. Now I never dreamed that I would find, let alone talk to that … Read more

Episode 11 – Observing Armageddon

Welcome to Episode 11 of Cold War Conversations. Today we’re covering a British Cold War civil defence unit called the Royal Observer Corps. We’re talking to Alistair McCann who has preserved a Royal Observer Corps monitoring post as a museum in Northern Ireland. We talk about the museum, the difficulties of the Northern Ireland Royal Observer … Read more

Episode 8 – Warsaw Pact Armoured Fighting Vehicles

Welcome to Episode 8 of Cold War Conversations where we talk about the armoured fighting vehicles of the Warsaw Pact. Russell Phillips has written several books on Warsaw Pact military equipment and our conversation is an interesting exchange covering  the evolution in design, tactics and the deployment of Warsaw Pact armoured forces should the Cold War … Read more

Episode 2 – Berlin during the Cold War and Signals Intelligence

Welcome to Episode 2 of Cold War Conversations where we start with a fascinating eyewitness account of Berlin during the Cold War. Michael K Ferris  lived in Berlin as a child of US Airforce personnel in the 1960s and 70s and then subsequently joined the US Airforce himself and worked in Signals Intelligence during the … Read more

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A series of podcasts chatting to those who lived through and experienced the Cold War first hand and those that are fascinated by the period.