WW3 in the 70s?
- Thread starter Joseph Weaver
- Start date
What exact period in the 1970s and do you mean a war with or without nuclear weapons?
Deleted member 90563
Have you ever seen the films The War Game or Threads? They are a good approximation of what it would look like.
I’d add The Road as well. A nuclear war in the latter half of the Cold War would make Dante’s Inferno look like a fun Saturday at Chuck E. Cheese. The USSR had an impressive arsenal of engineered biological weapons (smallpox, plague, anthrax etc) they planned on using also which would further add flavors to the nightmare sundae.
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I am killed; my parents house was within the 5 psi radius of Johnson Space Center, Ellington AFB, and numerous refineries and oil storage yards.
Given the USAF is still unfucking itself post-Vietnam and has almost none of its teen-series aircraft...
Plus it's the heyday for nukes.Given the USAF is still unfucking itself post-Vietnam and has almost none of its teen-series aircraft...
David Flin
Gone Fishin'
As possibly the only person on this forum who could have started WW3 in this period, can I say that it wouldn't end well.
Deleted member 2186
Me not being born most likely.
I always found the 1960s ore 1980s to be the best period to have World War III for some reason i cannot explain.
And Soviets didn’t have the mig23 /25 except in very small numbersGiven the USAF is still unfucking itself post-Vietnam and has almost none of its teen-series aircraft...
It would be mostly F4 vs mig21 , so a great turkey shoot over the central front
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Yes indeed
With a POD or two I would have taken up a commission in the TAVR in 1975, thus qualifying to keep you company in Valhalla. Life expectancy of a Signals unit in BAOR being probably very short though hardly sweet.
I'd be out of luck, considering, that during the 70s, I was growing up in a small city (Manitowoc, WI) only about 20 miles from 2 nuclear power plants (Point Beach and Kewaunee), that were on the target list. Oh yeah, and let's throw in fallout drifting up with southerly winds, from Milwaukee and Chicagoland (remember, city killer nukes were in their heyday back in the 70s) for good measure.
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There's much more to air combat than who has the better fighters. The USAF, as I mentioned, is only just unfucking its pilot training, so most of the Air Force still has no Air Combat Maneuver training. This is the low ebb of the USAF's post-Vietnam tactical strength, with the USAF's active tactical fleet outnumbered by both the PVO and VVS individually. Most of its next-gen equipment isn't available - no F-16s, no A-10s, no E-3s, the F-15 is just entering service, no Lima Sidewinders or monopulse Sparrows. Readiness rates were hovering around 50% as late as 1979. And, of course, the usual caveat that the European air forces are even less well-equipped - France and Denmark are still running Super Mysteres and Super Sabres, respectively.
And, of course, who has the better fighter is largely irrelevant if the Soviets just roll over everyone on the ground. Given the Army is even worse off at this time than the USAF...
The big question is what sets it off. I assume it’s NATO vs Warsaw Pact with China in the Soviet corner, but what triggers a war no one wants?
Also, which part of the 1970s this begins in is huge. If we’re talking early 1970s with Nixon running the US, this makes him virtually untouchable, and Nixon may be able to work something out with China. If it’s late 1970s with the malaise in full swing and Carter in charge, China may be tempted to sit this one out with Mao dead.
There’s also the issue of the US coming off Vietnam - some really bad shit will have to have happened to rope the US into something that makes Vietnam look like a bar fight.
Also, which part of the 1970s this begins in is huge. If we’re talking early 1970s with Nixon running the US, this makes him virtually untouchable, and Nixon may be able to work something out with China. If it’s late 1970s with the malaise in full swing and Carter in charge, China may be tempted to sit this one out with Mao dead.
There’s also the issue of the US coming off Vietnam - some really bad shit will have to have happened to rope the US into something that makes Vietnam look like a bar fight.