Blast from the past...

[Ancestor]

By Dawns Early Light

Another lost Cold to Hot War flick that I loved was "By Dawns Early Light". It was a made for HBO movie that aired shortly after the wall fell about an accidental nuclear war. As I recall, it not only starred James Earl Jones at a senior GO but also Powers Boothe ("red BLOOD!") and Rebeca De Mornay as the Pilot/Co-Pilot of a B-52. My older boy (a really smart young man and born Doomer) and I watched it on the Internet last summer and he loved it.

The spooky thing that he pointed out to me was that the entire accidental war was caused by "rebels in the Ukraine using a captured nuke"...

[swaghauler]

Big giveaway for the T-64 is the road wheels, they're much smaller than those on the T-54 & T-55 and they're evenly spaced along the hull. The T-54, T-55 have only five road wheels compared to the six on the T-64 and the first and second wheels are spaced further apart than the second through to fifth road wheels.

The T-62 on the other hand, while looking "generally" similar to the T-5x series (for example, still having five large road wheels), has evenly spaced road wheels from 1st to 3rd and then a larger space between 3rd & 4th and 4th & 5th.

The T-54 & T-55 look like an overgrown T-34 with a domed turret, no surprise as they are an evolution of the T-34 design via the T-44. Even the T-62 is a child of the T-34 as it is nothing more than an evolution of the T-55. Tank designs of that period accepted into Soviet service tended to be evolutionary developments of older designs rather than revolutionary developments until they accepted the T-64.

Going back to the Tiran, apparently Israel only had about 100 captured T-62 MBTs available for conversion to Tiran-6 standard, hence why we don't see many of them compared to the many hundreds of T-54, T-55 variants in Israeli service.
And going back to the movie, another factor that added to the confusion was the tank had a five-man crew whereas the T-5x series only had a four-man crew (driver, commander, gunner, loader).


Sheesh, once a tank-head, always a tank-head
I like military smallarms too

Thanks for the "heads-up." I was confused by the location of the fume extractor on the barrel. If the Israelis' put a 105mm cannon in that chassis; It would explain why the extractor is centered on the barrel instead of towards the muzzle like most older Soviet Tanks.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

The modernized T55s also featured an Avco/Lycoming diesel engine. More reliable than the stock engine.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

I remember seeing a movie in the 80s with a Rock Hudson as the president. I think it was called WWIII or Defcom III (Ill look it up after I post this). It was a Soviet invasion of Alaska by SF unit and a AK NG unit was defending an oil pipeline pumping station... I think. Its been YEARS since Ive seen it but IIRR it was entertaining.

World War III. I remember back in elementary school we were all hyped about it but our teacher (a VN vet) was disgusted by both our enthusiasm for war and the film in general (the "20 guys in a single Huey" was offputting to him, I seem to recall).

The mini-series was supposed to be a full-blown TV series but after production of the first few episodes, the network execs canceled it, so they reshot some footage, excised some more, and had the show concluding with a full-scale nuclear war commencing (thus ending the world).

On the subject I always really liked the opening sequence of Damnation Alley and the beginning and end of WarGames. Chilling stuff.

If you can find a copy, check out the documentary Missile, by Frederick Wiseman. Of particular interest is this sequence:

https://www.youtube.com/watchv=wynz3FtUBZc

"It's all screwed."

[swaghauler]

World War III. I remember back in elementary school we were all hyped about it but our teacher (a VN vet) was disgusted by both our enthusiasm for war and the film in general (the "20 guys in a single Huey" was offputting to him, I seem to recall).

The mini-series was supposed to be a full-blown TV series but after production of the first few episodes, the network execs canceled it, so they reshot some footage, excised some more, and had the show concluding with a full-scale nuclear war commencing (thus ending the world).

On the subject I always really liked the opening sequence of Damnation Alley and the beginning and end of WarGames. Chilling stuff.

If you can find a copy, check out the documentary Missile, by Frederick Wiseman. Of particular interest is this sequence:

https://www.youtube.com/watchv=wynz3FtUBZc

"It's all screwed."

I had a thing for Kathy Lee Crosby. She could have flown my Helo any day.
I did find it funny when they made their last stand at the pumping station that the Russians used explosives (RGD-5 hand grenades) to kill David and the last defenders INSIDE the pump house. That would be a little hard on the gauges and electronics in there.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

I had a thing for Kathy Lee Crosby. She could have flown my Helo any day.
I did find it funny when they made their last stand at the pumping station that the Russians used explosives (RGD-5 hand grenades) to kill David and the last defenders INSIDE the pump house. That would be a little hard on the gauges and electronics in there.

No one ever accused the Russians of doing things with precision.

[swaghauler]

No one ever accused the Russians of doing things with precision.

So true. BEAR in a china shop.....

[pmulcahy11b]

For my money, the best and most accurate of WWIII movies is Threads. Gave me and my girlfriend nightmares for weeks.

[WallShadow]

I'm with Paul about Threads; the kind of film that makes you want to take a bath, but your mind just doesn't feel clean anymore.

[bigehauser]

I agree. Threads was quite the film. It was depressing.