Really love the photos ftw, amazing to see those beautiful mosaics in such devastated surroundings. Thank you.
Thanks, mate. It's really rewarding to hear your feedback. Will post more funnies once I'm back to UA.
I really enjoy your postings. It is so great to see the images of all these off-beat places in a land I always wanted to visit. Your photos are really great too. Looking forward to your next installment. Thanks Chris
Thanks, mate. No sooner said than done - here are some more pics from the Soviet MRBM operating base abandoned in the early 2000s in the forrests of N Ukraine we took last weekend ( some other already appeared here, here and also there ). Now, these aren't murals in the word's strict meaning - being instructive labelling much rather than decoration, they're not objects of decorative art. But they're: a ) done in paint over plaster; b ) cover the walls; c ) include drawings. Location 1 - the protected shelter housing the melange rocket engine fuel oxidizer component These are mostly the instructions describing in detail the working protocols for handling so-called Melange oxidizer liquid - the unclassified by-name ( all terms in this branch were strictly secret even for the insiders, substituted by the variety of telling-nothing codenames understood only by those in the know! ) of AK-27I " Melange " ( standard V18112-72 fuming nitric acid enriched with nitrogen oxides, phosphoric acid and hydrofluoric acid, ingredients: 1. concentrated Nitric Acid: 69.8-70.2%; 2. Nitrogen Tetroxide: 24-28% ; water: 1.3-2%; 3. aluminum salts: <0.01%; 4. Iodine inhibitor: 0.12-0.16%, density: 1.596-1.613 ). This was a highly volatile and extremely toxic mixture, so the other half of these instructions urge never to enter the shelter without a gasmask and protective overalls on and how to perform breathing reanimation should one of the crew get too much in. In fact the air in this shelter felt very unwell even after it had stood disused for decades and the ground underneath looked very different from any other at this location - reddish-brown and like burt.
One more shelter at the fuelling depot of the same MBRM base - the one for Samin, the by-name for TG-02 catalyst ignition fuel ( 50+/-2% isomeric Xylidine, 50+/-2%; technical Triethylamine, 0.4% water ) used to start the rocket engine, in fact the Soviet version of the WWII German Tonka-250 formulation developed for their A4 ( aka V2 ) ballistic missiles: The technological chart drawing of how to pump the Samine into its tank in the missile.
QUOTE=stickysidedown;23916607] Heading East from home, a quick detour to the Berlin wall[/QUOTE] Awesome pic! Brings back memories, I patrolled the American sector of the wall from 85 thru 87. Wish I could have done one on a KTM...........
Neato! I rode the Duty Train from Frankfurt to visit Berlin back in '87. Entered the east through Checkpoint Charlie. Got to hop on a UH-1 flight that was on schedule and actually landed in East Germany to continue exercising our landing rights. It was a pretty-good experience.
Great shot OhBoy! It would have been great if you could have been doing a wheelie into the sharks mouth though!
Yet another nuclear MRBM operating base abandoned in the forests 150 km west of Kiev being slowly but surely devoured by vegetation. The entrances to the protected missile storage shelters blessed with immortal Lenin's quotes still readable after the twenty years of oblivion: The biggest mural decorative panneau to be found over one of the portals to the protected structure where they'd been doing the final assembly and maintenance of nuclear warheads ( normally stored and serviced separately from missiles ):
Great shots ftw! Has anyone documented these relics of the cold war in your country? I think your photos along with the stories by the people that operated and built these nuclear operating bases, would make a very interesting book.
