Major Locales of the Titan I Complex

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Missile Silos

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

A Slightly more detailed view of the launcher silo showing tunnel entrances and locations of some main structures

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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!

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.  

 

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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