Posted 3 years ago
K45389
(63 items)
A new fangled rocket truck is now on railroad property. Naaaa, that's just a silly rumor. The county has sent over a truck to the local warehouse dock to transport the newly delivered air raid siren the federal government helped acquire. This is the cold war era and things are tense. There's a Hemi under that hood. Not the truck, the siren! Chrysler built approximately 350 Air Raid Sirens for use all around the country. When powered up using the new Hemi's the siren could be heard up to 25 miles away. Usually installed atop city buildings or on their own dedicated towers. Luckily they were never put to use alerting of incoming soviet war heads. They were tested from time to time. Some remain in position today in non operating condition, most removed, and some restored in private hands. Loudest sirens ever made.
I recall air raid drills. Those sirens were creepy and creepier still when I found out what sort of air raid we were drilling for.
I grew up in the mid-late 60's so I missed the air raid drills. At least I don't recall any. Just the standard fire drills in school.. There are youtube vids showing demonstrations of restored Chrysler Air Raid Sirens.. For obvious public safety, only a few allow the full sound out. A sound you definitely didn't want to hear during the early 50's.
K45389, Cool. :-)
It really does matter how old you are with regard to the Cold War and how scary it was.
Jeebus Chrysler!:
https://jalopnik.com/the-loudest-air-siren-every-built-used-chrysler-v8-engi-1845275047
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2019/08/the-chrysler-air-raid-siren-was-so.html