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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Peace on Earth at Missile Silo 571-7 |
| 2008-12-23 |
| Byron York, National Review . . . At one point, there were 54 Titan missile silos in the United States, concentrated in Arizona, Arkansas, and Kansas. Now, this site, which was first armed in 1963 and stayed on duty until 1982, is the only one left; all the rest have been abandoned and destroyed, the result of technological progress and arms-control agreements. But this one, known to the Air Force as Silo 571-7, has been preserved nearly exactly as it was. The missile, of course, is non-functional, the warhead removed (a small rectangular hole has been cut in the nose just to prove it is inactive). The massive, 760-ton silo closure door — designed to protect the Titan from a nearby nuclear hit — is left permanently half-open. To say the site is nondescript would be an exaggeration. It’s barely there. The only building in the area is the one built to house the museum’s offices, a small exhibit, and a tiny store. The silo door is painted desert tan and blends into the surroundings. There’s a 1960s-era jeep and a couple of vintage cars parked around, plus a display of the tanker vehicles used in the tricky operation of loading the missile with highly volatile liquid fuel. That, plus a door leading 55 steps down to the missile control area, is pretty much it. When you tour the site, your first stop underground is the control room. You won’t find a nicer example of mid-century technology, with its institutional green consoles, old-fashioned indicator lights and rotary phones. “It looks exactly like it did,” says Yvonne Morris, the museum’s director who, as a young Air Force first lieutenant, commanded a missile crew here in the early 1980s. “We’ve had young people look at the dial phone and say, ‘What’s that?’” If a missile had ever been launched from here, it would have required two officers turning two old-fashioned brass keys (normally kept in the red emergency war orders safe) after going through a list of safeguards that must be heard to be believed. It’s fair to say that this was a job that required more care than any other in the world, and visitors here get to see just how many safety measures there were. But the bigger message of this site is what it says about American power and its role in the Cold War. “The mission of the Titan II was peace through deterrence,” Morris told me. “What it was supposed to do, in simple terms, was to be the biggest, baddest missile on the block, to show the former Soviet Union that if you launch us against us, we will retaliate.” This place is a monument to the success of Mutual Assured Destruction. . . . Photos at the link; official museum website here. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #1 My father-in-law was a quality control engineer for Martin in Denver, where the Titans were built. He got me admitted to the factory and gave me a tour. Titans were HUGE! Again, much of it was 50's technology, but they were constantly being upgraded. Fueling one took a long time, but they could be on launch ready for up to a week, once fueled. Of course, removing the fuel was even more dangerous than pumping it in to begin with. The Titan-34D is still being manufactured as a launch vehicle for polar orbiting satellites. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-12-23 12:58 |