For
all the cost of research and development, for all the defense dollars
and planning, for all the labor, ingenuity and commitment by thousands
of men and women working together toward a common goal of security,
defense and deterrence, the focus of all this "energy" falls
directly on the missile silo and the weapon within.
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Another
lousy-quality blueprint showing the launcher silo and its quadrants.
When referring to a piece of equipment in the silo, its location was
generally specified by what quadrant (or Face: A, B, C or D) and service platform level it
resided on: e.g.: Face A, level #4.
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All
the massive resources and an absolutely mind-boggling quantity of
man-hours spent realizing and creating this weapon, from the facility
that houses and protects it, to the factories that built the airframe
and the systems that make it work, to the crews and command centers
and myriad other supporting infrastructures to make it possible,
all exist around one comparatively small device: the warhead.
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A
Slightly more detailed view of the launcher silo showing tunnel
entrances and locations of some main structures
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It
is important after seeing all this technology, time, money and effort
expended, not to lose sight of the fact that it all exists, solely for
the purpose of transporting accurately, a piece of machinery about the
size of an automobile to a point on the Earth several thousand
nautical miles distant, as quickly as possible. It must do so
given only minutes to determine its destination and it must do so with
a high degree of success, landing within a fraction of a mile of the
coordinates provided to it.
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A
"roll out" view of the upper portion of the launcher silo
showing the many tunnels entering the silo in the upper 60 feet of the
structure.
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Without
this small bit of machinery, all of this, the Titan Complex, its crew,
support equipment, command structure and the massive support base
built to make it possible would be completely useless.
Wasted. Ineffectual.
It
is for this reason that the silos, for most people, harbor the most
mystery and fascination over all other aspects of the Titan I weapon
system. Consequently, I felt justified in devoting the largest
amount of photos provided on any one section of the complex to the
silos.
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A
"roll out" view of the lower portion of the launcher silo
showing shock mounts, counterweight guide rails and locations of work
platforms 7-8.
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Detailed
information on some parts of the silos is difficult to come by.
In particular, the cribwork as labeled in most blueprints is
represented by a box with NIC (Not In Contract) printed inside it as
the launcher elevator, cribwork and associated equipment were built
chiefly by AMF
(now QubicaAMF
as of 2005) and not The Martin Company.
The
bowlers out there will recognize AMF as the manufacturer of automatic
pin-setters at bowling alleys throughout the world. Desperate to
get more details on the cribwork, of which I had not seen so much as a
sketch back in 2001, I tried contacting AMF by phone to see if they
might have retained some information in a library or historical
archive. After all, AMF was a major defense contractor, a
manufacturer of very large, heavy equipment and as a result surely had
a lot of history behind it. AMF is in fact an abbreviation for
American Machine and Foundry.
When I contacted AMF, I got handed
off several times and finally to some bewildered rep who was neither
prepared nor inclined to assist me with my inquiry, which surprised me
very little but you have to try. He told me that AMF had nothing
related to missile silos, having devoted their efforts to peaceful
leisure activities such as bowling, golf and the like, as well as
competing with the Brunswick
company. He went on to tell me
that in place of "American Machine and Foundry" the company
had recently assigned to the abbreviated name the rather limp-wristed
slogan "Always Means Fun".
Looking
further I found that AMF's industrial divisions had been sold off so
clearly I was barking up the wrong tree. This was no longer the
same AMF that once manufactured nuclear power plants and military
hardware and it seemed they wanted to distance themselves from any
perception of ever having done so in the past. I did manage to
locate some product materials on the Launcher Elevator System and a
few other less interesting items, but never found actual plans for the
cribwork for the Titan I missile. If any readers out there have
had more luck finding such resources I would love to hear from them!
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A1C
Brannon at silo level 1 inspecting the missile. Below him there
are 100 feet of missile, cribwork and a massive amount of conduit, wire,
piping, ductwork and heavily reinforced concrete.
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The
WS-107A-2 launcher silo is an intensely hardened protective container,
40' in diameter and 155' deep, constructed from specially formulated concrete
and tons of reinforcing steel rods, some of which are well over an inch
thick.
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Looking
down the silo from the launcher elevator motor platform. An airman
is indicated by the arrow, standing at the base of the missile.
You can see the large, flexible LOX vent and relief line connecting to the 1st stage
near the center of the photo. This line allowed gaseous oxygen to
be vented as it boiled off during missile loading and standby.
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The
missile is protected within the silo by 2 silo doors, each weighing
around 115 tons each and opened and closed hydraulically by 2 pistons
that control movement in both directions. Within this steel and
concrete chrysalis, the missile rests atop its launcher platform,
ensconced within a massive steel cribwork comprising the launcher
system where it waits for the orders that will transform it from a
mass of inert metals and propellants into a weapon of terrible power.
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Maintenance
at the base of the missile in another great shot of the cribwork. I
am sorry I don't know the names of the men shown in some of these
pictures performing missile inspection and/or maintenance. If
anyone can name these airmen, please contact me so I can give them due
credit.
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The
missile platform is the actual elevator that raises the weapon to the
surface to launch and this platform is surrounded by a steel framework
over 12 stories tall and suspended on shock damping springs while in
the lowered position. This suspension protects the missile from
shocks (read: "nearby nuclear explosions from Russian
ICBMs") which might otherwise be transmitted to it through the silo
structure which is designed to carry shock loads down into the
surrounding earth without damaging the weapon.
Beneath
the missile platform there is a scoop-shaped structure called the
"flame deflector" or "flame bucket" constructed of
heavy steel and lined with a thick layer of heat resistant concrete
which would redirect the rocket exhaust out to the side of the
launcher and away from the silo. Special platforms would seal
the mouth of the silo to keep the heat and flame from damaging the
launcher and the whole platform was sprayed down with a deluge of
water to cool and protect it.
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A
sergeant scales a personnel ladder on the missile cribwork. Note
the very large stainless steel wire mesh-wrapped flexible connections
routed through the cribwork at left. You won't find those at your
local plumbing or builders supply retailer.
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Next
to the missile on the missile platform stands the umbilical
tower. This tower supports and supplies to the missile services it receives from the complex. This includes
power, gases such as nitrogen and helium and
data via microwave channels, all of which were routed through
quick-release connected lines that were severed as explosive bolts
retracted the umbilical tower just prior to lift off.
The
cribwork is a supporting structure much like a cradle and has
maintenance platforms at 8 levels along its vertical length to permit
crew access. A personnel elevator and emergency ladder provide
access to all levels of the cribwork.
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An
excellent cutaway rendering showing most of the features such as
cribwork, launcher and personnel elevators and other equipment now long
gone from most sites. The operational design had evolved a bit
after this picture was created, but it remains a fairly accurate
representation of Lowry Titan sites.
Image
provided by F. Epler.
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The
launcher elevator system was a cantankerous beast and a source of
continuous consternation for the airmen who manned the Titans.
Manufactured by AMF (American Machine and Foundry) it was said to be
referred to as the "Automatic Mother F*****" among other
choice titles by some of the crews who struggled at times to complete
their exercises with the moody giant. Sometimes it would refuse
to raise the missile to the surface, and others it would refuse to
lower once raised, resulting in a "Popsicle" where the LOX
would have to be boiled off in huge clouds of vapor. Frost would
coat the missile as the terrifically cold LOX rapidly expanded inside
the missile as its temperature rose. As the temperature of the
LOX rose it changed from a liquid back to a gas-- a state requiring
far more space than in liquid form. To prevent bursting the
tanks, valves were opened to allow the gaseous oxygen to escape
safely.
At
other times the launcher system was absolutely dangerous: In the most
spectacular incident a fully loaded missile was being lowered after an
exercise and the braking mechanism of the elevator
system failed (see
page 6 of the linked document)
allowing the missile to crash to the bottom of the silo where it
exploded destroying the missile and the silo and sending one massive
concrete door flying hundreds of feet away and destroying the other
completely. The re-entry vehicle, which I believe contained a
dummy warhead was found in a nearby drainage ditch. No one was
killed or seriously injured in the blast however. I would be
very curious to know if AMF or any other contractors were held liable
for this incident.
The
missile Silos section continues in the next section. Click
below.
Missile
Silos Part II
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