Doomsday Plane
Nuke-proof ‘doomsday plane’ spotted flying over Nebraska
Joshua Hawkins
Fri, March 4, 2022, 6:07 PM
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, BGR may receive an affiliate commission.
Reports have surfaced that the U.S. Air Force’s “doomsday plane” was spotted running a brief training mission at the end of February. The mission ran for four hours and took place following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that Russia’s nuclear forces were on high alert. The “doomsday plane” is a modified Boeing 747 built to withstand a nuclear war.
America’s doomsday plane was spotted taking off from Nebraska
737 max
British news site iNews was the first to report on the spotting. The modified Boeing 747 was spotted taking off from a U.S. Air Force base in Nebraska. It then completed a four-and-a-half-hour flight towards the city of Chicago before landing once more. iNews also reports that the doomsday plane was accompanied by several early-warning jets during the training mission.
The government renamed the plane to a Boeing E-4B following its modifications. It cost around $200 million to design. The doomsday plane is part of a group of aircraft known as the Nightwatch. The U.S. military has maintained the Nightwatch since the 1970s. The purpose of the doomsday plane is to serve as a moving command point in the event of nuclear war. Because it’s able to withstand a nuclear attack, the military could use it to command ground and air forces without the commanders being in one spot for too long.
It’s unclear whether this training mission was a result of Putin’s recent threats or not. The U.S. government often runs training missions to ensure these planes are ready for anything. Considering there are six of these doomsday planes, it could just be coincidental timing to see the training mission run so close to Russia’s threat and its invasion of Ukraine.
A windowless plane with antiquated technology
What’s most intriguing about the doomsday plane is its design. The plane is almost completely windowless. It features a special shielding designed to protect passengers from the thermal effects of nuclear weapons. Additionally, it can stay in the air for several days at a time and has the ability to refuel in flight. The government designed the doomsday plane during the Cold War. As such, it includes analog flight instruments. The older flight instruments are less likely to be fried by electromagnetic pulses released after a nuclear blast.
Each plane has 67 different satellite dishes attached to it. This allows the team onboard to communicate with just about anyone, anywhere in the world. Of course, most of the doomsday plane’s real capabilities are classified. At least, that’s what reports say. What we do know is that each of these planes stands around six stories tall. Live Science says that they include six bathrooms, a galley, a briefing room, and 18 bunks for sleeping. The doomsday plane can also hold a crew of up to 112 members.
-
my question is, Who wants to withstand a nuclear war? sorry i have never wanted to be the "last man standing". i dont want to try to survive nuclear winters, no food, no fuel, no shelter. i have spent my entire life trying to get to the top of maslows hierarchy of needs and at my age i'm tool old to start over. do you actually think that a nuclear war that kills almost all the humans on earth, doesnt also kill the rest of the animal and plant life. if it comes to that, drop the first one right on top of my head.
6 -
None of your pictures show a 747.
3 -
What varian said. I wanna be right under the first bomb!
3 -
Thank you, varian. Life after The War would not be pretty. Watch the film On The Beach with Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner. Peck is a sub captain who happened to be at the pier in Sydney when the war hit. Everything in the Northern Hemisphere had been destroyed. The good news was, nobody had bothered to drop a nuke on Australia.
The bad news was, the atomic radiation was in the wind, and in two month's time, everybody in Australia would die a lingering, horrible death. The Australia government set up stations at the health clinics where you could get suicide pills. They showed Anthony Perkins, coming home from the clinic with his pills, and he gave the pills to his wife and two little girls.
Captain Gregory Peck knew that his wife and 3 kids, back home in America, had been killed in the bombing. Very realistic and grim movie.
0 -
I will just take a ride like old Sam from the old Dr. strange love movie
9 -
Do you all think we might have a few nukes riding around in the air right now?. My guess would be yes. I know we did right at the end of ww2. 24 hrs a day. Around the Arctic circle. My uncle was a radio man in one of those planes. A bomber of some sort. I think the one with the engines reversed. B36 maybe? He said the nuke sat right next to his right leg. He never told his mom because he didn't want her to worry about him.
3 -
Here is another end of the world movie that I thought may be fairly accurate as to the consequences of a nuclear war. Staring Jason Robards. "The Day After" from 1983. The Day After (TV Movie 1983) - IMDb
0 -
All planes have to be flown to keep them working properly, and all crews must train constantly for the same reason. We should not read too much into seeing these planes flying because it is in fact a routine sight.
9 -
Ditch-Runner: 30495525752859/comments/30495578841499
I will just take a ride like old Sam from the old Dr. strange love movie
https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.15lMlm0GO0YKLBanUeq63QAAAA?pid=ImgDet&rs=1
I finally saw that movie a year or 2 ago for the 1st time.
0 -
the clip is on youtube "Kong rides the bomb" i would post it if i knew how. gotta love Slim Pickens
0 -
Back in the day when SJAFB was a SAC and TAC base there was always a nuclear missle/ bomb equipped B-52 either in the air or on a 5 minute alert on the pad . As impressive as an F-15 strike eagle is going airborne and immediately hitting the full afterburner to go verticle is nothing is as awe inspiring as a BUF lumbering down the runway and finally lifting off .
0 -
love to watch BUFF's take off, they use up a lot of runway.
0 -
I believe one is always in the air.
0 -
No, we no longer fly armed bombers 24/7. If you mean one of the E-4B aircraft, then it is possible or even probable that we do maintain a 24/7 airborne alert - or could go to it on short notice.
0 -
It can't stay in the air 24/7 without the refueling planes. They would need refueling planes that can withstand a nuclear war also if that's going to happen. That's outdated crap anyway. There's enough nuclear subs of both the Russians and Americans to set the world on fire without having a single plane in the air. And they're already in place and they can sail not only 24/7 but they can actually go about 20 years without refueling but of course people need refueling and the food would run out long before the subs fuel did.
I really wouldn't doubt that the Russian's already have some nuks in orbit around Earth now posing as satellites. An early strike won't do anything if the enemy has already go theirs in the air years ago ready to rain down at the push of a button.
0 -
I did not imply nor mean that a single plane would be up for 24/7. There are airliners up 24/7 because there are a gazillion of them. Just not the same plane. If you have four E-4Bs, they can rotate planes and crews so as to have ONE of them up 24/7.
They do, however, have the ability to refuel midair so that they can extend any given mission for as long as the crew can handle it. Just not indefinitely.
0 -
We live close to an Air Force base. I have noticed more activity going on. Bunch of helos today, all were medivac units.
0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
17 comments