Did you hear the one about the bear that nearly caused a nuclear catastrophe? It was around midnight on October 25 1962, in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis. A guard at Volk US Air Force Base – home to a number of armed nuclear bombers – spotted a shadowy figure apparently attempting to scale the fence.
The supposed Soviet saboteur tripped the alarm, which was fatefully miswired. As a result, the klaxon was accidentally sounded, triggering a manoeuvre to scramble US interceptor jets to shoot down incoming enemy nuclear bombers. The pilots weren’t informed that more American armed nuclear bombers were already in the air nearby – the scene was set for a friendly fire incident of nuclear proportions.
Just before the jets took off, the command centre, having realised that the wrong klaxon had sounded, sent a truck racing to the tarmac with orders to stand down. Crisis averted – just. Oh –...