well it was a Radar Station in the ocean because radar was not long range back then. and this was part of the cold war and wanted to make sure USSR did not attack from the north if they did the radar towers could get a 300 mile jump on them and they could then scramble our jets to intercept them.
this tower was put in a bad location and was like 2-3 times in deeper water and they kept modifying it, legs thiner than the other towers.
the contractors never thought about some of the effects that the ocean would have on the tower.
the waves even thou it was over 100 feet out of the water would splash on the deck. after about 4 years it just fell apart in a storm and killed like 28 people.
my dad who is in his 70's now told me yesterday in a e-mail it was on so i recorded it on my tivo and watched it.
We watched all the 8-mm films he shot when he was on there. he has a few hours of 8-mm film of the towers and all the people who died on the tower. i am sure it brought back some memories for him.
At the time this was one of the air forces worst and devistating events for them and my father. they were like a close family who live together not only on the tower but back at cape cod where me and my sister and brother lived with our mom and all the other families from the tower.
last night this was shown for the first time since it fell over 40 years ago.
It is one of the lost events of the cold war
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A fascinating chapter of Cold War history, told by the men who were there.
Dive on the remains with underwater cinematographer AL Giddings, who has filmed the Titanic and Andrea Doria.
See why this remote platform was destined for disaster from the outset.
We think of the Cold War as a cloak and dagger conflict, one where victories and losses were measured in politics and prestige. But there were casualties, and the stories behind them deserve to be told.
One of the most tragic tales to emerge from the Cold War took place on January 15th, 1961, when a nor'easter toppled one of the offshore Air Force listening stations known as "Texas Towers" for their resemblance to oil platforms. Designed to scan the skies for Russian bombers, Texas Tower number 4, 80 miles off the New Jersey coast, was a victim of poor design and planning. Though was regarded as an engineering marvel, veterans who served on the tower recall how it swayed in even moderate seas, making life aboard the station, which normally housed 70 men, a constant challenge. With analysis from engineering experts, film clips of life aboard TT#4 during the '50s, and extraordinary footage of the crumbling remains, TIME MACHINE sheds light on an overlooked aspect of the Cold War.
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Topic: Texas Tower #4 (Read 1963 times)