Cold War Fun: A 1950s Science Kit That Contained Real Uranium
When the U.S. successfully harnessed the virtually limitless power of the atom with the Trinity atomic bomb test in 1945, it seemed that there wasn’t…
The XF-108 Rapier: The Air Force’s Best Plane That Never Flew
In the 1950s, the Jet Age was in full swing, and manufacturers were looking to make the biggest advancements with this new technology. High-performance internal…
What Happened When The Soviets Left Afghanistan?
On December 24th, 1979, the Soviet Red Army charged into Afghanistan, marking the beginning of the Soviet–Afghan War. This war would draw many parallels with…
Ämari Pilots’ Cemetery: An Abandoned Graveyard That Uses Aircraft Parts As Gravestones
Ämari Pilots’ Cemetery, the final resting place of Soviet-Estonian fighter pilots killed in air accidents, is a strange sight to behold. The spooky part of…
Two Families Once Escaped East Germany in a Hot Air Balloon
What price would you pay for freedom, and what dangers would you put your family through for a chance at a better life? Peter Strelzyk…
Operation Mongoose: The US Government’s Ridiculous Plot to Overthrow Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro was one of the most famous figures of the Cold War. He was especially famous in the United States, as officials with the…
Project Stargate: When the CIA Tried to Harness Psychic Energy Against the Soviets
Project Stargate sounds like something out of this world – and it kind of is. No, it doesn’t refer to wormholes or the exploration of…
Cold War-Era Double Agents Who Could Easily Outfox James Bond
The best-known spy of all time is James Bond, a fictional British agent developed by Ian Fleming during the height of the Cold War. While…
Problems Persist In Australian Outback Decades After British Nuclear Tests
The end of World War II saw the rise of atomic arsenals, especially in Britain. Wanting to improve the effectiveness of its nuclear technology, the…
Operation Monopoly: When the US Tunneled Under The Soviet Embassy
The U.S. and U.S.S.R. were no strangers to spying on each other, as they had been playing a cat-and-mouse game of espionage since the beginning…
CIA Documents Reveal Early Plot Against Raúl Castro
With Raúl Castro’s retirement from politics on the 60th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion, CIA documents about a planned assassination plot against the…
Mathias Rust, A German Teenager, Flew A Cessna To Red Square In 1987
In 1987, Mathias Rust, a West German teenager, seemingly did the impossible when he flew a Cessna light aircraft through 500 miles of the most…