It’s been a while since we’ve posted some Cold War history stuff. Let’s have a look at a couple of items recently discovered by the RttRL staff.
First up, we have a very unusual tourist destination in Ukraine: Chernobyl. As in, THAT Chernobyl (is there any other?).
On 26 April 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in what is now Ukraine but was formerly and at the time known as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic suffered a catastrophic explosion during a planned systems test. The rupture of the reactor caused a fire which spread radioactive smoke across the local region and parts of Europe.
Curious what the long-abandoned nearby town of Pripyat looks like these days? Well now you can take a tour of parts of it. Check out the pictures from the Chernobyl tour website:
I’m sure this was posed for effect – it works:
Next up we have a nice vintage clip or two of a C-130 Hercules, of the aerial refueler tanker variety, landing on an aircraft carrier without the usual benefits of the arresting hook and wire system to slow the aircraft down, or the steam-driven catapult system which usually launches them airborne:
racing to the red light 