USAF

Flying the Cold War SR-71 Blackbird Spy Plane

  Welcome to Episode 27 of Cold war conversations. Today we are talking about the SR71 Blackbird spy plane of which only 32 were ever made. The great defensive ability of the plane was its high speed and altitude. Standard evasive action was just to accelerate, which made it almost invulnerable to the attack technologies … Read more

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, 1960, … Read more

Able Archer & the nuclear 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

Greenham Common – an iconic British Cold War 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

Cold War Berlin 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  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 1980s. … 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.