# How plausible in reality were the plots of Dr. Strangelove and Fail-Safe in regards to the bombers getting through? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 18, 2021, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-plausible-in-reality-were-the-plots-of-dr-strangelove-and-fail-safe-in-regards-to-the-bombers-getting-through/930781 "2021-01-18T06:34:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-plausible-in-reality-were-the-plots-of-dr-strangelove-and-fail-safe-in-regards-to-the-bombers-getting-through/930781/41 "2022-01-04T17:12:32Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Rewatched Strangelove a few days ago. I always thought that character was based on Kissinger but smarter folks claim it was Werner von Braun. [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Strangelove) makes it complicated: > The character is an amalgamation of RAND Corporation strategist Herman Kahn, mathematician and Manhattan Project principal John von Neumann, rocket scientist Wernher von Braun (a central figure in Nazi Germany’s rocket development program recruited to the US after the war), and Edward Teller, the “father of the hydrogen bomb”. It has been claimed that the character was based on Henry Kissinger, but Kubrick and Sellers denied this; Sellers said, “Strangelove was never modeled after Kissinger—that’s a popular misconception. It was always Wernher von Braun.” Furthermore, Henry Kissinger points out in his memoirs that at the time of the writing of Dr. Strangelove, he was a little-known academic. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-plausible-in-reality-were-the-plots-of-dr-strangelove-and-fail-safe-in-regards-to-the-bombers-getting-through/930781/42 "2022-01-04T17:27:06Z")
More simply, the stereotype of a scientist (especially those involved in nuclear weapons and rocketry) for all mid-century Americans was the eccentric Central European epitomized by Albert Einstein, many of the Manhattan Project scientists, and, of course, rehabilitated Nazis captured after WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-plausible-in-reality-were-the-plots-of-dr-strangelove-and-fail-safe-in-regards-to-the-bombers-getting-through/930781/43 "2022-01-04T18:09:26Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > as explained in this [Air Force documentary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yi_TyxtFZg). That was The Navy. The definite article is definitely required: [![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/08/25/17/2BA65E6A00000578-0-The_aircraft_was_used_in_the_Hollywood_movie_Hot_Shots_starring_-a-18_1440519431823.jpg) ](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/08/25/17/2BA65E6A00000578-0-The_aircraft_was_used_in_the_Hollywood_movie_Hot_Shots_starring_-a-18_1440519431823.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![gnarator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gnarator/32/8266_2.png) [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-plausible-in-reality-were-the-plots-of-dr-strangelove-and-fail-safe-in-regards-to-the-bombers-getting-through/930781/44 "2022-01-04T18:28:28Z")
[Operation Sky Shield](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sky_Shield). There were multiple exercises. In these cases, the bombers did get through. I hadn’t read before that the Brits were cheating; I thought it was the Vulcan was so good. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-plausible-in-reality-were-the-plots-of-dr-strangelove-and-fail-safe-in-regards-to-the-bombers-getting-through/930781/45 "2022-01-04T22:56:47Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > I mean, the Prez has the launch codes, but someone came up with those codes to give to him, no? And that person or someone else told the guys downstream what those codes were in order to verify them. And couldn’t THAT person be in cahoots with General Ripper and give him the codes as well? In other words, who guards the guards? There are two different chains with two different components of the code, both of which update the president, who is the only one with both factors. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2022, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-plausible-in-reality-were-the-plots-of-dr-strangelove-and-fail-safe-in-regards-to-the-bombers-getting-through/930781/46 "2022-01-25T14:14:52Z")
The British acted like an enemy would…an enemy is under no compulsion to act in a way that is convenient to you. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2022, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-plausible-in-reality-were-the-plots-of-dr-strangelove-and-fail-safe-in-regards-to-the-bombers-getting-through/930781/47 "2022-01-25T16:01:40Z")
While the SR-71 was devilishly hard to intercept (I read that 4000+ missiles were unsuccessfully fired at them over the plane’s service), a lot of that was due to it being a sort of proto-stealth plane, as well as flying so high and so fast that by the time the air defense people realized what was going on, it was hard if not impossible to respond effectively. But the whole idea of low-altitude bombers penetrating Soviet airspace was what SAC planned to do from the early 1960s on, once surface-to-air missiles’ effectiveness passed some threshold. They flew VERY low to avoid radar detection, and due to satellite reconnaissance, planned to follow routes to avoid most Soviet air defenses anyway, as well as take advantage of earlier ICBM/SLBM strikes to eliminate Soviet air defenses. (the bombers were expected to enter Soviet airspace hours after any ICBM/SLBM exchange) I would assume that if the USAF bombers in either scenario had the element of surprise, they could get VERY far into the USSR before it was all figured out and the Soviets could react. However, I would assume that in the movie scenarios the USAF could tell the Soviets the targets AND the pre-planned routes that they were expected to take to those targets, which could let the Soviet pilots be waiting for them. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2022, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-plausible-in-reality-were-the-plots-of-dr-strangelove-and-fail-safe-in-regards-to-the-bombers-getting-through/930781/48 "2022-01-25T16:17:56Z")
> [@bump](#): > > They flew VERY low to avoid radar detection, and due to satellite reconnaissance, planned to follow routes to avoid most Soviet air defenses anyway, as well as take advantage of earlier ICBM/SLBM strikes to eliminate Soviet air defenses. They had some other tools to enhance inbound survival, too. The Quail decoy drone, which looked on radar just like a B-52 bomber. > **[ADM-20 Quail](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADM-20_Quail)** > > The McDonnell ADM-20 Quail was a subsonic, jet powered, air-launched decoy cruise missile built by McDonnell Aircraft Corporation. The Quail was designed to be launched by the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber and its original United States Air Force designation was GAM-72 (GAM standing for Guided Aircraft Missile). > Quail contained electronics and radar reflectors intended to make it indistinguishable from a B-52 approaching at low altitude. This would force Soviet defenses to divid... The AGM-28 Hound Dog nuclear cruise missile, which was intended to be launched against Soviet air defenses that might threaten the bomber in its ingress. > **[AGM-28 Hound Dog](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-28_Hound_Dog)** > > The North American Aviation AGM-28 Hound Dog was a supersonic, turbojet-propelled, nuclear armed, air-launched cruise missile developed in 1959 for the United States Air Force. It was primarily designed to be capable of attacking Soviet ground-based air defense sites prior to a potential air attack by B-52 Stratofortress long range bombers during the Cold War. The Hound Dog was first given the designation B-77, then redesignated GAM-77, and finally AGM-28. It was conceived as a temporary stando... Similar tactics were planned for later standoff nuclear weapons, including the AGM-69 Short Range Attack Missile and the AGM-86 Air Launched Cruise Missile. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2022, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-plausible-in-reality-were-the-plots-of-dr-strangelove-and-fail-safe-in-regards-to-the-bombers-getting-through/930781/49 "2022-01-25T18:54:59Z")
[deleted] ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2022, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-plausible-in-reality-were-the-plots-of-dr-strangelove-and-fail-safe-in-regards-to-the-bombers-getting-through/930781/50 "2022-01-25T19:23:47Z")
> [@BertNobbins](#): > > IIRC, the starting point for Fail Safe was the failure of a single capacitor in a piece of electronic equipment, which in in its death throes sent out a coded order for one group of bombers to attack. The chances of that happening are so remote that it spoiled things somewhat for me. The rest of the book is superb, though probably not entirely realistic. Its not too dissimilar to an actual nuclear close shave in 1979 where a fault in a chip caused a false alarm (not finding any technical details on how exactly the chip went wrong). In the integrated circuit era, obviously, but seems analogous: > **[World War Three, by Mistake](https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/world-war-three-by-mistake)** > > Harsh political rhetoric, combined with the vulnerability of the nuclear command-and-control system, has made the risk of global catastrophe greater than ever. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-plausible-in-reality-were-the-plots-of-dr-strangelove-and-fail-safe-in-regards-to-the-bombers-getting-through/930781/51 "2022-01-26T17:23:35Z")
Still… they planned on flying at 500 feet. That’s slightly lower than the height of the Reunion Tower (the ball on top of the stick) in this shot of the Dallas skyline. [![](https://www.valleycentral.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2021/01/C7307589-66BD-4A63-A7BC-1BD7CF739964.jpeg?w=876&h=472&crop=1) ](https://www.valleycentral.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2021/01/C7307589-66BD-4A63-A7BC-1BD7CF739964.jpeg?w=876&h=472&crop=1) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-plausible-in-reality-were-the-plots-of-dr-strangelove-and-fail-safe-in-regards-to-the-bombers-getting-through/930781.md?page=2)