Major Locales of the Titan I Complex
This is a log of changes and updates to the web site listed in descending order from newest to oldest. This site is very much a Work in Progress and my work on it is ever on-going though updates may be slow.
If you are looking for what's new, you've come to the right place! Links are provided to updated material when applicable, and postings are organized by date. Check back often, you never know when I'll add something new!
Site Updates 2011
07/02/2011- Major Update! The Adventures of Groundskeeper Pete - Part VI now online and the debut of a new section: Titan I Topside. Also, 3 new documents
Titan I Epitaph is not dead! In what is perhaps the greatest delay ever, the long dry spell is past! I have been working on things in the meantime and finally I have updates.
First up, Part VI of the Adventures of Groundskeeper Pete is now online with part VII fast on its heels (maybe).
And now, presenting a new little section I threw together over the last 8 months-- Titan I Topside. Part 1 looks at the Entry Portal and its surroundings.
New in the document library, there are 3 new additions:
First in the Other Contractors section of the Document Library:
AMF On Schedule - AMF brochure highlighting their Titan I contract and showing details of the WS107A-2 launcher system. Lots of great photos and diagrams in this document.
My search for a copy of this document (see below: "Another Plea") was quickly answered by Mr. Epler, who had a scan of this document on hand from a friend. Many thanks again to Fred for his contributions!
Next in the Other Contractors section of the Document library:
HUMAN FACTORS ENGINEERING REVIEW AND EVALUATION - WEAPON SYSTEM 107A-2 LAUNCHER, OSTF AND TF-1 - FINAL REPORT - VOLUME I - Documents the AMF human factors engineering effort covering the over-all system review and evaluation of the AMF launcher system for the 107A-2 weapon system, OSTF and TF-1.
Thanks to Mr. K.B. for locating this document-- it can be found along with the other 2 volumes at www.dtic.mil.
What the heck is Human Factors Engineering you ask? Well, HFE is a very broad discipline so I lifted (read: swiped) the following definition from sandia.gov to explain it:
Human Factors Engineering is the discipline of applying what is known about human capabilities and limitations to the design of products, processes, systems, and work environments. It can be applied to the design of all systems having a human interface, including hardware and software. Its application to system design improves ease of use, system performance and reliability, and user satisfaction, while reducing operational errors, operator stress, training requirements, user fatigue, and product liability.
From the standpoint of ICBMs and other weapon systems, it is not difficult to see how HFE is extremely important to designing them with the human element in mind. Most accidents in industry and military environments are the direct result of human error. Think of Chernobyl and the Gulf Oil Spill where human error and mechanical malfunction worked together to create two of the greatest-- and tragically-- avoidable industrial disasters in history. One great goal of HFE is to reduce, as much as possible, the occurrence of such terrible mistakes and failures through good design and implementation. A lofty goal indeed.
And lastly, also in the Other Contractors section of the Document library:
TFOD News - An AMF newsletter from the Titan Field Operations Division detailing milestones and events within the division. This document gives some insight into the scope of AMF's work on the Titan I project. Lots of nice photos in this one. If anyone has copies of any other TFOD newsletters, please, please, please contact me! Thanks.
As always, more to come-- hopefully a bit quicker than this last update. I have been extremely busy with work, what sort of constitutes a life and a new house so bear with me, I am by no means done working on this site!
01/27/2011 - The Adventures of Groundskeeper Pete - Part V now online!
Part V of the ongoing saga of silo-slogging and dark-delving at Larson 568-C by Walter and Pete continues with our incursion into the control center where we meet a very OSHA-unfriendly staircase.
Less Is More (Maybe)
Another reason updates are slow in coming is the time I spend writing about the photos and going on at great length about the particular area in question in a given section. This actually takes me a really long time because I am just plain slow and suffer occasional bouts of writers' block.
To remedy this somewhat, I am opting for a "Less Is More" approach for now, whereby I will focus more on the photos and their captions and limit the amount of accompanying text in the interest of a more regular update schedule.
I suspect that many people are far more interested in seeing the site and its features than they are in reading my dry ramblings about salvaged motors, rusty metal and the function of obscure pieces of equipment.
Later, I can return to these sections to further flesh them out and add more material and greater detail where it can be useful. So for now, I am going to try out this approach and see if it works for me.
Another Plea
Another interesting document slipped from my fingers on ebay the other day. It was a 14-page document entitled "AMF On Schedule" about AMF's progress on the Titan I project and had some great construction photos in it. Sadly I was not able to win the bid and lost it in the last few seconds.
Have you seen this document? Please contact me.
My interest in this document is of course to compile it along with the other material on the Titan I. I am greatly interested in a scan of said document to provide here. If the party who won the document would be willing to work out some way to provide a scan of this document I would be overjoyed to hear from them. Please contact me! Thank you.
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