Cold War Conversations

Latest Episodes:

Defending the Cold War Pershing 2 nuclear missile (77) Aug 23, 2019

Show notes

Phil Logan served in the US Army from 1986-1991. He went through infantry school at Fort Benning, Georgia was sent to Germany and assigned to the ground defence force for the Pershing II tactical nuclear missiles. He describes in some detail defence tactics including against Special Forces, the Red Army Faction and anti-nuclear demonstrators.

Phil was also there when the INF disarmament treaty was signed and recalls the Soviet inspectors visiting to verify the treaty obligations.

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So back to today’s episode. I’m delighted to welcome Phil Logan to Cold War Conversations.

Check out the videos relating to this episodein our show notes which are here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode77/

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The early days of the Cold War US Space program and origins of GPS (76) Aug 16, 2019

Show notes

Richard Easton is the co-author of GPS Declassified which examines the development of GPS or Sat Nav as some of us call it now, from its secret, Cold War military roots.

Roger Easton, Richard's father, assisted in laying the foundations for the GPS system. However, Roger Easton worked also on the early US space program and Richard vividly describes his childhood when his father was working on the early US satellites.

Visit the show notes here for videos and more information.

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We welcome Richard Easton to Cold War Conversations.

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Cold War Spy Stories from Eastern Europe (75) Aug 09, 2019

Show notes

Today we’re talking to Alison Lewis, a professor in German at the University of Melbourne.

She is the author of several books, including one in German about love and gender in literature during Germany's reunification and a book in German about the Stasi's infiltration of the literary underground. We spoke to Alison in episode 71.

In this episode we talk about her latest collaboration a new book called "Cold War Spy Stories from Eastern Europe."

The book brings together a wide range of accounts compiled from the East German Stasi, the Romanian Securitate, and the Ukrainian KGB files.

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So back to today’s episode. We recorded in Manchester Central Library so do forgive us for any weird background noises. I’m delighted to welcome Prof Alison Lewis to Cold War Conversations.

Show notes available here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode75/

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A visit to World War 2 and Cold War airbase RAF Burtonwood (74) Aug 02, 2019

Show notes

I’m here today at the RAF Burtonwood Heritage Centre, near Warrington in the UK. Based on what was once the largest and longest-running military airbase in Britain. The Heritage Centre was established to preserve and uphold the history of the men, women and activities that occurred here.

Now many of our fans are the proud owners of a Cold War Conversations Coaster, a gift from me to thank them for helping the podcast financially.

For the price of a cup of coffee a month to cover the show’s increasing costs and keep us on the air you can get a coaster too?

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Over 8,500 Americans were based at RAF Burtonwood during WW2 and over 70,000 service personnel served here during its 54-year history until closure in 1993. The heritage centre packs a lot of history in and make sure your listen to my visit to the cockpit of an actual C54 Skymaster as used in the Berlin Airlift – an unforgettable experience.

Back to today’s episode, we welcome John Coterill, the Heritage Centre Manager at RAF Burtonwood to our Cold War Conversation

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Breaking the news of the 1991 Soviet Coup (73) Jul 26, 2019

Show notes

We speak today with Alistair Coleman who joined BBC Monitoring as a technician in 1989, just in time for the Berlin Wall.

He was on a console night shift at Caversham, on the night of the coup against Soviet Leader Gorbachev in 1991 and describes that night as the highlight of his career at the time.

Thanks to Andrew Adolfson, Rick Mason, Mike Smith, Ade Bryant and Ole Bjørsvik, the latest members of our select band of supporters who are helping us financially for the price of a cup of coffee a month to help keep us on the air. They will shortly be the proud owners of a CWC coaster- don’t you want one too?

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Back to today’s episode, Alistair spent 15 years in short wave radio, radio telegraphy and satellite reception and research, providing the signals for monitors and editors to see foreign media. He tells a fascinating story of how the BBC obtained information about activity behind the Iron Curtain.

We welcome Alistair Coleman to our Cold War Conversation.

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The Race to Land on the Moon (72) Jul 19, 2019

Show notes

In a world divided by the ideological struggles of the Cold War, the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, more than one-fifth of the people on the planet paused to watch the live transmission of the Apollo 11 mission. To watch as humanity took a giant leap forward exactly 50 years ago.

Today we speak with Robert Stone an Oscar- and Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker and Alan Andres co-authors of the book “Chasing the Moon” companion book to the landmark documentary series on BBC TV, PBS and other channels around the world.

We Welcome Robert Stone and Alan Andres to Cold War Conversations

There’s loads more content including videos, audio and links to the book and documentary in the show notes - just click here.

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Stasi Infiltration of the Prenzlauer Berg Underground Literary Scene (71) Jul 12, 2019

Show notes

In this episode we speak with Dr Alison Lewis is Professor of German in the School of Languages and Linguistics, The University of Melbourne, Australia. She is the a co-author of Cold War Spy Stories from Eastern Europe which is published in August 2019.

Now several of our fans are the proud owners of a Cold War Conversations Coaster, a gift from me to thank them for helping the podcast financially.

For the price of a couple of coffees a month to cover the show’s increasing costs and keep us on the air you can get a coaster too?

Just go click here

Back to today’s episode Dr Lewis is also author of The Art of Betrayal: Prenzlauer Berg and State Security published in 2003 which is the subject of this episode.

If you can’t wait for the next episode do visit our Facebook discussion group where our guests and listeners like yourselves continue the Cold War Conversation.

Radio GDR

If you are interested in East Germany we can highly recommend our friends over at Radio GDR.

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Secret Cold War Dutch submarine missions (70) Jul 05, 2019

Show notes

During the Cold War, six Dutch submarines secretly gathered intelligence about the Soviet Navy. Only a handful of people outside the Royal Netherlands Navy were aware of these operations, as they were not NATO operations.

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For the first time, In Deepest Secrecy describes these top-secret deployments in detail. On the basis of interviews and archival research, Jaime Karremann reveals how the Dutch submarines followed, photographed and listened to Soviet ships unnoticed, from the freezing Arctic Ocean to shallow waters near Egypt.

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A US Soldier defects to Cold War East Germany – Part 2 (69) Jun 28, 2019

Show notes

We continue the story of Victor Grossman the US Army soldier who defected to East Germany. He tells us of his life in the GDR, his close friendship with Dean Reed “The Red Elvis”, of shortages, his views on Egon Krenz and his first trip back to the US in the 1990s.

Thanks to our select band of supporters who are helping us financially for the price of a cup of coffee a month to cover our increasing costs and keep us on the air. They are the proud owners of a CWC coaster- don’t you want one too? Click here.

Visit the show notes here.

We welcome Victor Grossman back to Cold War Conversations

Radio GDR

If you are interested in East Germany we can highly recommend our friends over at Radio GDR.

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Nuking the Moon & Other Cold War Intelligence Schemes & Military Plots left on the Drawing Board (68) Jun 21, 2019

Show notes

We talk with Vince Houghton – Curator of the International Spy Museum who has just written a new book called “Nuking the Moon & Other Intelligence Schemes & Military Plots left on the Drawing Board"

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So back to today’s episode, do listen to the end as we talk Cold War Espionage whilst Vince answers my “Quick Fire” questions.

We welcome Vince Houghton to our Cold War Conversation

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