A far more deadly disaster struck a Titan launch site near Searcy in White County on Aug. 9, 1965, resulting in the deaths of 53 men. The missiles were housed in 54 launch sites located in three states; Arkansas had 18 launch complexes located in Faulkner, Conway, White, Van Buren, and Cleburne counties. The Titan II missiles were the largest intercontinental ballistic missiles ever developed. In southeastern Wyoming, portions of the silo field are . Decommissioning the former missile silos included destroying the top 25 feet of each silo and the access portal and elevator to the LCC. (Kennedy died in 2011 at the age of 56.) Theres a unique history surrounding Little Rock, Arkansas that you may not know about. Over its 25 years in the service, the Titan II series had it share of accidents, two of the most well-known occurring in Arkansas. At about 3 a.m., the two men returned to the surface to await further instructions. One can visualize men in uniform going about their business far below the surface of the earth, manning and maintaining the silos with their guided missiles armed with nuclear warheads smack in the middle of Colorado while cattle graze peacefully just outside of the wire fences enclosing the silos. Nobodys saying its from that, but nobody else in my family has a thyroid condition.. Within a couple hours, there was a crowd of about 25 to 30 journalists and law enforcement personnel gathered just outside the gate. Sid King had just sat down to dinner on September 18, 1980 when he got the call. "So you work on things when you can. The missiles were shipped off to a base in Utah, and the silos were destroyed. President Reagan announced plans to retire the Titan II program in September 1981, only one year after the Damascus disaster. Due to the safety features built into the warhead, it did not detonate and was recovered about 300 feet away from the explosion. It has been painstakingly restored by GT Hill. [5] The 8lb (3.6kg) socket fell off the ratchet and dropped approximately 80 feet (24m) before bouncing off a thrust mount and piercing the missile's skin over the first-stage fuel tank, causing it to leak a cloud of its aerozine 50 fuel. The team started running the procedure for readying the missile for liftoff. The entire motel was quite ramshackled and we entered number 20 with trepidation. While the Polaris, a solid-fuel missile, was developed at the same time as the Titan missiles for use in submarines, the military was attached to the Titan II for diplomatic reasons. We were so used to it that it didnt scare us.. King and Phillips arrived at the site at the same time as Van Buren County Sheriff Gus Anglin, and they were all greeted by military security personnel, who told them no evacuation of the area was necessary at that point. It is eerie to see military vehicles and military personnel going to and from these scary silos in the middle of wheat country. The incident began with a fuel leak at 6:30 p.m. on September 18, and culminated with the explosion at around 3:00 a.m. on September 19, ejecting the warhead from its silo. Two years earlier, a trailer at Damascus leaked oxidizer, the component that mixes with rocket fuel to propel a rocket into space or toward a strategic target. Titan II - Zero Hour By the evening of December 3, 1960, eight tests had already failed because of minor equipment malfunctions, Stumpf writes. The first thing that makes this particular route interesting is the still active missile silos that dot the highway from Kimball to the Colorado border. The elevator structure and the launchertons and tons of steel that one witness later likened to red spaghetticame flying from the silo as the test team ran for cover. "We never wanted to build rooms," Hill said, referring to the circular layout and feel to the LCC. Around 1 a.m. on September 19, they watched a helicopter and a bus full of people enter the base. The missile base I visited, Foxtrot-01, is right there on Google Maps. Itll be in a port in a shipping container or something like that.. Pieces of debris were taken away from the 400 acres (1.6km2) surrounding the facility, and the site was buried under a mound of gravel, soil, and small concrete debris. Human error in a nuclear facility nearly destroyed Arkansas These sites stayed active until President George H.W. The team had met its goal. Robert Rhodus, the test conductor for the company that had built the missile, watched in fascination as the elevator, carrying a missile fully loaded with propellants, plummeted to the bottom of the silo, Stumpf writes. The SALT I Treaty, signed in 1972 by the U.S. and Soviet Union, allowed for the Titans to be traded for more missile submarines, but Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev wouldnt sign the treaty without assurances the trade wouldnt happen. The Titan II missile was the tallest ICBM used by the U.S. military. Is Russias Only Aircraft Carrier Cursed? It was the loudest explosion Id ever heard in my lifebefore or since, Devlin says. NORTH DAKOTA MISSILE SITES: Living in a nuclear world Warren Air Force Base oversees ICBM fields that cover parts of Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado. The Titan missile silo disasters - Arkansas' Best News Source Then it faded into relative obscurity. Many were built in Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota. Heres what the terrifying incident was like, from those who were there. I just hope it doesnt hurt., After what seemed like an eternity of silence, Kennedy could be heard on the radio saying, Im dying.. Designed by The Twiggs Group. U.S. The four men at the silo were blown off their feet. Vince Guerrieri is a writer based in the Cleveland area. Three years later the Pangburn launch site was rocked by an explosion which killed 53 of the 55 contract workers doing maintenance work. But it doesn't come cheap at $600 a night but only if you can . The missile was installed later that month at the Albion site, northwest of Searcy, Ark., but not active until May. The first missile launch facility was located in jersey shore,. By 1986 these sites were all decommissioned and destroyed. They told of groping around in total darkness, hearing the screams of co-workers: "Men were screaming and crying. My son was absolutely thrilled to learn how to use the tablet to control the lights in the room. The next morning, my kids enjoyed the donuts Id brought for them and another movie on the projector. Don't go passed the gate without permission! Air Force personnel were evacuated, and a civilian evacuation soon followed as concerns grew that the empty fuel tank could collapse and bring the rest of the rocket and missile down on top of it. Jimmy Roberts and Donald Green saw the explosion. An airman dropped a wrench socket and it fell 80 . The station called King while he was eating at sales representative Tom Phillipss home. Powell was working on a Titan II missile fitted with a thermonuclear warhead, tucked away underground in Damascus, Arkansas. Created with Sketch. GT and Nick met us again to check out and we got to see a sneak peek into the other side of the complex. The nuclear warhead was also ejected from the missile silo. However, thanks to the ingenuity and tenacity of one person with a unique determination, one of those missile sites have been renovated into a luxury rental that you can stay in! A total of 54 Titan II missiles, capable of going from launch to a target 8,000 miles away in about half an hour, were installed in Arizona, Kansas, and Arkansas. He called the station, and word spread. Shannon Seidler, a mechanic near Garrison, North Dakota, has lived on family land housing a nuclear missile silo for his entire life. The missile silo near Pervomaysk is the only intact remainder of what was once an array of nuclear bases in Ukraine. [1] It focused on the explosion, as well as other Broken Arrow incidents during the Cold War. "There was metal debris, concrete, all sorts of stuff we had to pull out," he said. The silo which housed the Gemini missile is sealed off and still remains destroyed. No purchase necessary. Ten years ago, Hill purchased the site that Titan Ranch sits on. Explosive era: Tour visits site where Titan II blast in 1980 sent From 1963 to 1987, crews maintained the missiles on 24-hour alert and were ready to initiate launch within minutes after receipt of authenticated orders from the National Command Authorities. Offer available only in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico). The situation was critical. USS Cyclops Is the Navys Last Missing Big Ship, Russias New Warhead Is an Engine of Destruction, How Drones and Sats Have Given Ukraine a Chance. The man behind the counter actually looked like a street person, a homeless man. If you would like to republish please give the photographer appropriate credit. Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) systems were . You may know that theres an Air Force base there. The three-story facility previously housed a crew of four airmen two officers and two enlisted men who manned the site 24 hours a day and awaited launch instructions that thankfully were never issued. King was part owner of KGFL-AM in Clinton, Arkansas. This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. Material from the Associated Press is Copyright 2023, Associated Press and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Sign up for our newsletter and enter to win the second edition of our book. "From a weapon of mass destruction to hosting birthday parties and weddings, that's pretty wild ride," Hill said. Founder, Native American Journalists Association. The missile was not armed at the time. The site is also booked for a wedding later this year. If we hadnt been ordered off, we would have stayed, Ayala says. Titan II Missile Explosion in Arkansas - 40 Year Anniversary ICBM Missile Silos - Newsthink Of course, thats just as true on purpose as it is on accident. But now, the socket fell all the way down the missile shaft66 feetbounced off the shaft mount ring, and hit the side of the missile, puncturing its eighth-inch hull. At the end of the 1950s, the United States military began developing the Titans as part of its growing supply of intercontinental ballistic missiles. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing. The elderly man behind the counter was a dead ringer for the man lying on a gurney in the movie Young Frankenstein who Gene Wilder, Dr. Frankenstein, assaults unintentionally while instructing a group of medical students. It was still dark outside early the next morning when we dropped the room key in the office mailbox and boogied down the highway eager to get back to good old Rapid City. Jackie and I set out from Rapid City to Albuquerque for two reasons. A projector turns the far wall into a giant screen for movies or events, and a raised platform creates a bar area and kitchen space overlooking the floor along the other wall. These are MAJOR nuclear war targets, each one of these silo's will be hit with minimum one warhead with a fairly large yield as part of a Russian counterforce attack. We didnt want to leave, but I understand why they wanted us to leave.. But we dealt with hydrazine [the fuel] and nitrogen tetroxide [the oxidizer] every day. That night, the only clue we had that it was way past bedtime was our fatigue. Mondale and Jimmy Carter lost their bid for re-election in 1980. The U.S. Doesn't Need More Nuclear Weapons to Counter China's New Slumbering just beneath the earth, a silent army of nuclear warheads waited for the outbreak of armageddon during the Cold War. KGFL, Sid Kings radio station, had a daytime-only license, but this was a big enough exception that King was on the air by 3:30 a.m., telling everyone to get the hell out of there. By 4 a.m., the studio was full of people and a flurry of activity. After nearly being run over by the sheriff, King and Phillips jumped in their car and took off. The Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs is famous across the state and [] Titan II was a nuclear-tipped missile, also known as an intercontinental ballistic missile, designed to [], [] the early 1960s, the Air Force built 18 Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Silos in Arkansas. The second airmen survived his injuries, while 21 others suffered injuries from the blast and following rescue operation and cleanup. I can recall vividly the September 1980 explosion which destroyed a missile in its silo located near Damascus on the Faulkner-Van Buren County line. It was the same warhead that had been atop the missile during the deadly Searcy fire 15 years earlier. The Titan II's earth-shattering payload was 30 times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. What Happens to Pilots That Defect to the U.S.? Arkansas' missiles were manned and operated by airmen from the Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville, Arkansas, with air bases near Tucson, Arizona, and Wichita, Kansas, maintaining nearby Titan II silos there. Meanwhile, as a countermeasure, the silo was filling with water to douse potential flames and dilute the vapor. The Titan II ICBM Missile Silo 374-7 Site, located west of U.S. 65, 1.7 miles north of intersection with Arkansas Highway 124 near Southside in Van Buren County, is nationally significant by virtue of its unique and exceptionally important history within the Titan II program: it was the site of a September 1980 accident that severely damaged . We were joined by GT himself, who gave us an incredible tour, along with stories about the restoration effort and a few SNAFU moments during the massive project. Tell Us About the Most Amazing Parts of Tulsa, Oklahoma! The discovery follows the report earlier this month that China appears to be constructing 120 missile silos near Yumen in Gansu province. but I couldn't see him." Missile Site 8 in Green Valley, Arizona, is a national historic landmark and the home of the Titan Missile Museum. If you need to flag this entry as abusive. The nitrogen tetroxide is kept in a second tank in the rocket's first stage, directly above the fuel tank and below the second stage and its nine-megaton W-53 nuclear warhead. Where are the nuclear silos in the US? - KnowledgeBurrow.com PBS explores 1980 nuclear threat triggered by socket wrench She has hiked the Inca Trail, walked into Panama on a rickety wooden bridge and once missed the last train of the night in Paris and walked several miles home (with friends). History - Little Rock Air Force Base Livingston was posthumously promoted to staff sergeant. The former disaster took far more lives, but the Damascus explosion posed a far greater potential threat because the missile was armed with its warhead at the time. NORTHERN WELD COUNTY If it weren't for the 184-foot tall antenna tower stretching far above the prairie, many . These shortcomings led to the rapid development of the Titan II missiles, which would become part of the three-pronged nuclear strategy the U.S. military used for the next 25 years. [6] There was concern for the possible collapse of the now empty first-stage fuel tank, which could cause the rest of the 8-story missile to fall and rupture, allowing the oxidizer to contact the fuel already in the silo. He saw the explosion, and he told the New York Times his first thought was, It kind of reminded me of the old days. The blast and thermal effects within a dozen miles or so of each of these silo's will be deadly, and the fallout radiation will . Minuteman Missiles on the Great Plains - National Park Service It had happened before. For a one-night stay, I would recommend bringing all of your own food. As if they didn't have enough to worry about. A 1961 decommissioned Atlas-F intercontinental ballistic missile silo complex is for sale. Two airmen were performing maintenance at Missile Complex 374-7, located 3 miles north of Damascus, the evening of September 18th. 2023 Atlas Obscura. The silos were of necessity deep, about 150 feet. [2] The entire missile launch complex was destroyed. For a minute, it was the same deal as an A-bomb. But Peters realized it wasnt a nuclear explosion, because he had time to think. Fuel vapor started to fill the silo. Senior Airman David Livingston, one of the two airmen on the scene, died from injuries sustained during the explosion. She believes magic can be found in life and books, loves to watch the stars appear, and still dreams of backpacking the world. 6. Deactivated silos were located in Arizona, California, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, New York, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington. Titan Ranch is located in Vilonia, Arkansas, just northeast of Conway. Perhaps most famously, as the investigative journalist Eric Schlosser recounts in his book Command and Control . The blaze occurred while the 750-ton silo lid was closed, which contributed to a reduced oxygen level for the men who survived the initial fire. Print Headline: The Titan missile silo disasters. The discovery of what appear to be hundreds of new missile silos under construction in China has inspired arguments that imply the United States needs more nuclear weapons. It took six years to retire the missiles, demolish the launch ducts and fill in the silos with debris. Further, any commercial or non-commercial use of this photograph or any other The North Star Missile Silo was used during the height of the Cold War in the early 1960s and is up for sale, with a price tag of $989,000. Required fields are marked *. "Two officers would each turn a key, and 58 seconds later the Titan II would be out the door," Hill said. The aim was to bring the weapon right up to the point where it could be launched, without actually sending it off: They needed to know the missile would be ready to use in attack, if needed. After a half hourthey could only stay in the silo that long because of their oxygen tanksthey came back up. AddThis Utility Frame. which pertains to intellectual property restrictions (e.g., copyright and In the early morning hours of September 19th, two airmen entered the complex to measure the airborne fuel concentration. Your email address will not be published. This isnt ancient history, Schlosser, who wrote Command and Control, the seminal book about the Damascus incident and the history of nuclear weapons in America, tells Popular Mechanics. There were tons of movie options for children and my kids had a blast watching Paddington on the huge white walls of the silo. Airbnb in New Mexico is a missile silo from Cold War - The Sacramento Bee Whiteman Air Force Base (AFB) was headquarters for the 510th Strategic Missile Squadron of the 351st Strategic Missile Wing, consisting of 150 Minuteman II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) silos and 15 launch control facilities spread over 14 counties of west central Missouri . The United States quickly developed a second model of ICBMs called Titan. Two More Titan II Nuclear Missile Silos Blast Onto the Market in Arizona Visitors actually drive over the top of the former missile silo on their way to the LCC. Where's this story? China is building a sprawling network of missile silos, satellite - CNN There are no windows in the space and no inclination that the sun had retreated and the moon was up. They would meet at the Air Force base in the morning and drive to the missile launch control silo to begin their work day. "It's a little weird," Hill said. Take the time to ask questions and hear the stories. The fuels so volatile, it could explode on its own, Greg Devlin, who was a 21-year old Airman in the U.S. Air Force at Damascus on the night of the explosion, tells Popular Mechanics. The first Titan II missile in Arkansas was installed in a silo near Searcy in 1963. "It's all illuminated. The missile was more than 100 feet in length and 10 feet wide. Since that time there have been hundreds of Atlas, Titan, Minuteman and Peacekeeper sites constructed all the way from Texas to North Dakota, New Mexico to Montana.