I start today with a model of H.M.C.S. Bonaventure, the last Canadian aircraft carrier.
As part of its NATO commitments, Canadian pilots were stationed in western Europe during the Cold War. Their assets included nuclear weapons.
The Avro Arrow was a Canadian designed and built interceptor fighter developed in the 1950s and scrapped by the Diefenbaker government in 1959. A short sighted decision, as the plane itself was an elegant and advanced design.
Here we have a surviving nose cone of one of them.
A photograph of two leaders who despised each other: John F. Kennedy and John Diefenbaker, taken in 1961 during a visit by the American president to Ottawa.
The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was as close as things got to nuclear war. A quote by Lester Pearson speaks to the profound tensions of the time.
It was Pearson who, years earlier as a foreign minister, would introduce a Canadian innovation for military forces: the idea of peacekeeping. A Ferret scout car is painted largely white to mark it as a UN vehicle, and is among the artifacts in this area.
I think there are still more nuclear weapons around than we want to believe...
ReplyDeleteAnd there are other invisible weapons, too, it´s a scary world.
Two years ago people made fun of fake-coughing at others. Sad.
I dare not think what will happen if any of the nuclear weapons is used in future wars. Maybe, that will be the end of the world.
ReplyDeleteI remember the time of the Cuban crisis very clearly. Looking back, those duck & cover drills were pretty much pointless.
ReplyDelete...I remember the Cuban Crisis too!
ReplyDeleteI remember the Cuban Crisis, having safety drills while I was in school.
ReplyDeleteTake care, enjoy your new week!
@Iris: it's a scary world at times.
ReplyDelete@Nancy: it would be a point of no return.
@Sharon: very much so.
@Tom: long before my time.
@Eileen: thank you.
We are in a crisis situation again.
ReplyDeleteSo it appears.
DeleteI can’t imagine why Kennedy and Dief despised each other. Lol.
ReplyDeleteHah!
DeleteI remember the Cuban Crisis, it was a scary time.
ReplyDeleteVery much so.
DeleteCrisis seems to be a constant state now. I was alive during the Cuban Missile Crisis but was less worried about the world then than I am now -- and only because I was too busy with babies and staying alive on a day to day basis back then to really even pay attention to the news. I am afraid our "leaders" count on airheads because it means they can get away with more.
ReplyDeleteThat seems to be the case.
DeleteThe Avro Arrow thing was very strange. I still don't understand it.
ReplyDeleteIt's an initiative that should have proceeded.
DeleteComo en 1962, si no se impone la cordura, la paz peligra de nuevo.
ReplyDeleteBesos
Thank you.
DeleteThe ferret scout car is a strange looking vehicle.
ReplyDeleteIt is.
DeleteI was in college during Kennedy's tenure. The lone TV was in the common room and most of the dorm crowded in to hear the President announce the blockade of Cuba.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine the tension.
DeleteI went through the cold war as a kid. It was scary.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt.
DeleteGood information. I had no idea the contribution Canada made in the cold war.
ReplyDeleteWe did our share.
DeleteKennedy and the Cuba Crisis are from just before my own memories, I was just a little too young for such big things.
ReplyDeleteIt was years before me.
DeleteI remember living through the Cuban Missile Crisis. I was young but I could tell how upset my parents were. It was a disturbing time.
ReplyDeleteUpset is understandable.
DeleteGood display and photos ~ always a crisis somewhere ~
ReplyDeleteWishing you lots of laughter in your days,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
Thank you.
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