Cold War Backyard Bomb Shelters

[flogger]

So, a couple of days ago was the anniversary of President JFK urging/advising Americans to construct Bomb Shelters , that was 1961.

Just wondering if some members might have grown up with one. I remember it being a big thing, lots of 1800's homes had root or storm cellars that were converted.
Weird times! Like the "Blast from the Past" movie with Christopher Walken.

[eddiememphis]

I did an inspection on a home in Yoder that had one.

That is the only one I have seen in about 400 inspections.

[.455_Hunter]

I did an inspection on a home in Yoder that had one.

Probably a bit optimistic given proximity to Cheyenne Mountain.

[Aloha_Shooter]

No bomb shelter but at one point my father had the keys for the WW2-era shelters inside Diamond Head crater. Would have required advance notice but he always had a plan to put us inside those shelters if needed.

[eddiememphis]

Probably a bit optimistic given proximity to Cheyenne Mountain.

It may have been a tornado shelter as well. I didn't see any air handlers or anything so who knows?

My grandfather was an electrician that wired the missile silos along the front range.

They lived in the Springs and he said it was the best place to live if the Russians bombed us. With an Army base, two Air Force bases, the academy and NORAD, it was sure to be a high priority target. One big flash and that's it. Left a lasting impression on a 6 year old.

[FoxtArt]

My dad used to fly around to various titan II missle silos, fixing various electronics systems. He was a specialist in the launch control module. Always ranted about the teletypes. They had a few alarms go off from time to time when signal noise would invariably match passwords. Lol.

He also found it ironic his work required only a secret clearance. Later he had a TS in interception work which was, tbh, a lot less risk to national security. But alas...

[Hummer]

Around the Cuban missile crisis in1962, I was one of the millions of American children herded into the school gymnasium and other classrooms to practice cowering under desks in the event of a Soviet nuclear strike. At the time in 3rd grade I thought it was pretty absurd but I did think that a fallout shelter was prudent. I lobbied my father to build one but doing it was expensive and very few people ever built one. While mostly worthless in the long run an underground shelter would have made a good, cool wine cellar to store at the magical 58 degrees.

In 2007, a friend invited us to help make wine with free white wine grapes he had finagled from various Palisade growers. It started me to build a professional home winery. His wine cellar was one of those early 1960's dugout concrete fallout shelters in the back yard, unconnected to the house. Pretty nifty for making and storing wine but not very spacious for post nuclear habitation. I've made plans to build a similar but much larger shelter/wine cellar connected to our Palisade home but it will probably never happen. Practical priorities, you know.

[Bailey Guns]

Oh, yeah... I remember those duck and cover drills. I was very grateful to have a nuclear blast-proof desk in grade school.

[OtterbatHellcat]

If I had the money, I'd build one yesterday.

Tunnels to different structures and multiple escape options. Nukes aren't the only reason for having unique safety, storage, and mobility available to you.

[rondog]

I grew up in NW OK, not exactly near any "targets of interest", but we had tornadoes - so "fraidy holes" - storm shelters - were very common. But I remember seeing the Civil Defense signs around, and those silly desk drills in school.

We'd seen the Hiroshima films, this was the 60's and it was still fresh. And we were old enough to know that the bombs everybody had then were FAR more powerful than the two used on Japan. We knew we'd just be smoking ashes and the desks would be gone - as would the school and everything else. But the desk drills were useful for tornado training.