“Nuclear Attack Preparedness Procedures: Survive to Fight” is a 1968 US Air Force training film dramatizes activities at an Air Force Base following a nuclear attack. As a siren blares, pilots are shown being taken to their aircraft (mark 00:40) while command post operations unfold. An eerie silence follows until a “nuclear flash” fills the screen at mark 02:24 and a fiery mushroom cloud races upward. The narrator explains the sheltered command post personnel review the status of their base and its operational capability, including assessing and reporting damage (mark 03:55), dispatching vehicles, clearing runways, and abandoning some buildings. A flashback series starting at mark 05:18 details some of the work involved in preparing a base for just such a nuclear attack before returning to some of the organized chaos of the exercise near mark 07:00. Medical personnel assist in exposure control and treat patients (mark 10:05) and upon an assessment of radiation, begin radioactive fallout procedures (mark 12:18). Emergency base operations unfold including an order for ramp wash down at mark 15:45 and aircraft return to base before again heading to the skies at mark 21:43.
The aircraft featured appear to be F-101B interceptors. The McDonnell F-101 Voodoo was a supersonic jet fighter which served the United States Air Force (USAF) and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). We haven’t been able to determine where these particular aircraft were based — one tail number appears to be O-7-442 and that should be a great clue!
Initially designed by McDonnell Aircraft as a long-range bomber escort (known as a penetration fighter) for the Strategic Air Command (SAC), the Voodoo was instead developed as a nuclear-armed fighter-bomber for the Tactical Air Command (TAC), and as a photo reconnaissance aircraft based on the same airframe. An F-101A set a number of world speed records for jet powered aircraft, including fastest airspeed, attaining 1,207.6 miles (1,943.4 km) per hour on 12 December 1957. They operated in the reconnaissance role until 1979.
Delays in the 1954 interceptor project led to demands for an interim interceptor aircraft design, a role that was eventually won by the B model of the Voodoo. This required extensive modifications to add a large radar to the nose of the aircraft, a second crewmember to operate it, and a new weapons bay using a rotating door that kept its four AIM-4 Falcon missiles or two AIR-2 Genie rockets hidden within the airframe until it was time to be fired. The F-101B entered service with Air Defense Command in 1959 and the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1961. US examples were handed off to the Air National Guard where they served until 1982. Canadian examples remained in service until 1984.
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