in Executive Order mission, Mason and Woods are sent to sabotage Soviet ICBMs which they refer to as Soyuz 1 and Soyuz 2. This Mission takes place during November 17, 1963, however first launch of unmanned Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome was in 1966. Due to in-game year and shape of rocket, it is safe to assume, that rocket in the picture is R7 Voskhod (3KV), that first launched on November 16, 1963.

It might be mistake, but it might also suggest that USA knew about future missions thanks to spy activity in Soviet space program and assumed, that this is one of future Soyuz rockets - which exceeded Voskhod in many ways. Meaning, that this mission (sabotage Soyuz launch) was unsuccessful even when player destroyed the rocket shortly after launch.

Picture shows "Soyuz" rocket from Launch multiplayer map, however the same model is used in campaign for both rockets Soyuz 1 and Soyuz 2

Mission U.S.D.D. takes place at Pentagon on November 10, 1963 which is 12 days before assassination. President J.F. K. spent this day at a home he owned in Atoka Virginia. Atoka is only 1 hour away from Pentagon, Washington D.C. meaning that it was possible that these two character could have met.

In WMD mission player takes role of U.S. Air Force Captain, Devin Mosely. He and co-pilot Major Neitsch are in control of SR-71A "Blackbird" 61-7973.

Serial No. can be seen in a cutscene for a brief moment when player initiates engine start. This specific SR-71 is on display at the Blackbird Airpark in Palmdale, CA to this day! Assembly of this aircraft started on 14 January 1966 and its roll out was on 17 October 1966. Mission in game takes place on February 18, 1968, just one year after it's first flight on 8th February 1967!

In this mission, pilots launched from Beale Air Force Base in CA, which nowadays also has one SR-71 on display for public. Specifically SR-71A 61-7963. Fun fact: Lockheed U-2 "Dragon Lady" can be found close to this SR-71, which is present as Spy Plane killstreak in Black ops multiplayer.

When Nixon took office, seemingly not progressing Vietnam conflict has become major political issue in US, spawning many protest rallies.

The use of the peace symbol on flags was rare in early protests, where signs of protest leaned more heavily on the burning of flags rather than carrying them. However, as the protest movement changed to the Peace Movement, several popular flag designs emerged.

"Peace flag" found at U.S. military base in Vietnam. Mission takes place on January 21, 1968 - first day in office of president R. Nixon.


In May of 1969, Nixon proposed to withdraw all American troops from South Vietnam. There is another reference Nixons actions from Cracked multiplayer map. Sign Phaitra no mau means "must pay for the blood debt" which was meant for no other than Nixon himself.

In mission "Payback" player and Woods finds Mi-24 attack helicopter in jungle. Thing is that this helicopter does not look like standard Mi-24. It's cockpit windows are much more rectangular than its real life counterpart. First thing that most of us would think is that it is result of graphic limitation of old CoD engine. Truth is that first prototype models of Mi-24 looked exactly like this.


And thanks to Woods description of its assault capabilities, we can find specific version of this helicopter.

(click to enlarge images)

This is Janet shuttle schedule from Area 51 in map Hangar 18, which is multiplayer map from Annihilation DLC.

"Janet" is the call sign for the flights that shuttle workers back and forth between Area 51, Tonopah Test Range and Las Vegas. Each weekday about 20 flights in each direction transport about 1000 workers from Las Vegas to their jobs at Area 51 and at the TTR. The first Janet plane lands at Groom at 4:35am. Its bright landing lights when landing at Area 51 have often been mistaken for a UFO.

Janet "airline" performed fisrt flight in March 1972. During this time, its fleet consisted of 6 Boeing 737-200series, 3 Beechcraft 1900 (of which 2 were model C) and one Douglas DC-6.

Doomsday clock is symbolic time measurement device that visualizes how far away is humanity from annihilation. Clock is operated by people - scientists - which move its setting manually, based on real life events. It is operational since 1947 and it was established by former scientists from Manhattan project. There is in-game rendition of Doomsday clock in Nuketown multiplayer map. It is placed near the atom bomb which explodes at the end of the round.

Between 1951 and 1992, the U.S. government conducted a total of 1,021 nuclear tests in Nevada Test Site (Nuketown location).

Sky spy 2
In Array multiplayer map, there is this poster of military Soviet satellite Zenit. Suggesting that main radar dish on map might be Yevpatoria RT-70 radio telescope.

Regan & McDonald
There is this fast food stand in Drive-in multiplayer map from Annihilation DLC. Looking at the prices on the menu, we can assume that Drive-in closed in mid 80's.

McDonalds (1980): Big Mac $2.50 Cheeseburger $0.80
Burger King (1981): Whopper $1.39 Cheeseburger $0.99

Date and Day
In Silo multiplayer map from Annihilation DLC, there is calendar hanging on the wall. Calendar is set to Sunday, December 12th. This date and day match happened in 1954, 1965, 1971, 1982 and 1993. Judging from food prices in Drive-in DLC map, Zenit satellite poster from Array map and Duga radar from Grid map being completed (construction started in 1972), I believe that calendar on Silo map is pointing on December 12, 1982.

ZORK PARADOX
There is this easter egg in main menus, where you can play text adventure Zork on computer behind Mason. You can access it by freeing yourself from interrogation chair and typing zork into mentioned computer. (this gives you 2 achievements straight away!).
However, Last mission in CoD Black ops takes place at February 26, 1968 but development of Zork started in 1977 and game was first realeased in 1980, meaning that Alex Mason (protagonist) should not be able to play the game.