Air Raid Sirens in the '50s

[Honky Tonk]

No, Utica, although the siren voice said it was for Sterling Heights.

I don't know exactly where it is yet but I intend to look for it.

These sirens always remind me of the movie The Time Machine with those creepy Morlocks.

No harm meant Jimaz, I just wondered. I thought I heard it, and had to turn down the stereo to listen, it was just background music. Either they're a different type by your place, or maybe they weren't turned all the way up by mine. I remember, [[I think) with the older ones there was no mistaking they were running.

As far as your film clip, I did notice groups of people walking aimlessly while the sirens were going off this afternoon.

[Stinger4me]

The fire station on the SW corner of Davison and Mt. Elliott was the one we heard.

[3WC]

I go back to the real air raid sirens of the early '40s. I lived in a small Midwest town, not remotely a possible target of the Nazis bombers.

Nevertheless, we had frequent air raid drills, usually in early evening or maybe as late as 11 pm. Everyone was required to have "blackout" shades on their windows which had to be pulled down at night so there would be no light to guide the Nazi bombers to the target.

There was an appointed "air ward warden" on every block who would go out and make sure your blackout curtains were pulled down; if not he woke you up and reported you.

As school children we had an occasional class in school during which we were trained to identify Nazi warplanes by their shapes. I guess we were supposed to call them in someplace to warn of an attack. A terrible burden to place on young kids.

It must have worked as we never invaded.

Those were the days.

[mikefmich]

Duck & cover......why even bother.

When I was in basic [[1969), during a lecture drill sgt. asked what do you do when there is a sudden blinding flash? Remeka, my buddy from Chicago raised his hand, DI called on him.

He says "the only thing you can do is bend over, put your head between your legs & kiss your ass goodbye".

Which was basically true, but wrong answer in the Army. I think he did about 100 push-ups for that one.

[Jimaz]

Duck & cover......why even bother.

When I was in basic [[1969), during a lecture drill sgt. asked what do you do when there is a sudden blinding flash? Remeka, my buddy from Chicago raised his hand, DI called on him.

He says "the only thing you can do is bend over, put your head between your legs & kiss your ass goodbye"....

This video mocks Duck & Cover: Something Weird Exploitica 14. Hilarious.

Burt's dead. <GASP>

[Gistok]

Not sure when they changed the air raid sirens to just tornado sirens... but when I grew up in the 60s we had them 1PM first Saturday of every month... still do. Used to drive the dogs in the neighborhoods nuts... as they were howling along with the sirens.

We never climbed under our desks... but we did have air raid drills in the basement of our grade school [[Marquette School, next to Balduck Park in Detroit). I remember how clean the floor of the basement was... they must have kept them clean and polished for our regular air raid drills.

Also, one carryover tradition was the WWII War Bond drives that they had at schools and even movie theatres... by the 60s the teachers promoted US Savings Bonds... and you used to buy stamps [[similar to S&H or Gold Bell supermarket stamps) to fill your book so that you could trade them in for US Savings Bonds when the books were full. I vaguely remember the $25 Savings Bond.

[Bobl]

Third grade, it was my job, along with a few others who sat near the windows to lower the shades when air raid drills happened. Our teacher mentioned that the storage building at City Airport with the "Gas Is Best" motto, visible in the distance, might be a target. I remember that even at that age I knew that it didn't matter, and lowering the shades and filing into the hallway, sitting against the inside wall with our heads covered with our hands was useless if a nuclear attack happened. Perhaps that is when my distrust of authority was born! We hear sirens first Saturday of the month at 1:00 pm here.

[lpg]

Third grade, it was my job, along with a few others who sat near the windows to lower the shades when air raid drills happened. Our teacher mentioned that the storage building at City Airport with the "Gas Is Best" motto, visible in the distance, might be a target. I remember that even at that age I knew that it didn't matter, and lowering the shades and filing into the hallway, sitting against the inside wall with our heads covered with our hands was useless if a nuclear attack happened. Perhaps that is when my distrust of authority was born! We hear sirens first Saturday of the month at 1:00 pm here.

We did the same drill. My mom bought me a dog tag to wear to school. Had my name, address, her name, and religion stamped on it. Same look as a military dog tag. Since we could see part of the school from our house, I wondered how she would somehow survive to identify my charred remains. Life in the 50's.

[kathy2trips]

Not sure when they changed the air raid sirens to just tornado sirens... but when I grew up in the 60s we had them 1PM first Saturday of every month... still do. Used to drive the dogs in the neighborhoods nuts... as they were howling along with the sirens.

We never climbed under our desks... but we did have air raid drills in the basement of our grade school [[Marquette School, next to Balduck Park in Detroit). I remember how clean the floor of the basement was... they must have kept them clean and polished for our regular air raid drills.

Also, one carryover tradition was the WWII War Bond drives that they had at schools and even movie theatres... by the 60s the teachers promoted US Savings Bonds... and you used to buy stamps [[similar to S&H or Gold Bell supermarket stamps) to fill your book so that you could trade them in for US Savings Bonds when the books were full. I vaguely remember the $25 Savings Bond.

I will second those memories, Gistok. In addition, when I lived in the Warren Woods area of Warren, my mother told me the air raid sirens were because we lived near the GM Tech Center and the Dodge Truck plant. She said if the Russians bombed us that they would be one of the first places to go. Yikes! I'm more unnerved now than I was then.

[Bluenote132003]

Only a few were powered by the Chrysler V-8 engines, some are still in existence, can't get to it right now but there are a couple YouTube videos for them. They were the true air raid sirens. the nieghborhood ones, while still loud, were powered by electric motors. There is a very loud one at Kyte Monroe park in St. Clair Shores.

[dguy4evr]

I always thought to myself that if I was the enemy I would just launch an attack at 1 PM on the first Saturday of the month. Hummmmmm

[Pat001]

Speaking of cold war relics, remember Nike missile bases in the Detroit area?

http://nikehercules.tripod.com/sitemenu.html

[lpg]

As a kid we used to drive by the one in Riverview. Fort and Pennsylvania road were the barracks and offices. Missile silos were on Sibley west of Fort. Don't know if the missile [[Nike Hercules I think) is still on display by the Riverview Fire Station.

[Downriviera]

Air raid sirens in the near future will signal us to seek shelter underground only to be eaten by the Morlocks.

[CassTechGrad]

What would it look like if a bomb hit Detroit?

Brian Manzullo, Detroit Free Press 9:55 p.m. EDT August 5, 2015

“Here's a visualization of a W-87 bomb, in the United States' arsenal at 300 kilotons, detonating in Detroit. While the radiation radius [[the green area) doesn't expand much, the air blast radius [[gray) and thermal radiation radius [[orange/yellow) extend much further, well into Windsor and as far north as Hamtramck. In this scenario, approximately 143,070 people would die and 305,690 would be injured.”

The theory of “duck & cover” was to save lives in the area outside the orange/yellow radius area. It’s like the tornado response instructions we’re given about seeking protective cover. If you’re at the center of the bomb blast or the tornado, then you have little chance of survival.

[MikeM]

"If you’re at the center of the bomb blast or the tornado, then you have little chance of survival."

Don't be so pessimistic: the survivor closest to ground zero in Hiroshima was only 500' away. The survival rate at the telephone exchange building a quarter mile from the blast center was 97%.

[lpg]

Is there any defense manufacturing left in Detroit outside of the tank plant ??

[CassTechGrad]

An old Civil Defense poster from a Detroit city bus.