Day 5
Part 1
I wake up, work on the blog a bit and head downstairs for some motel breakfast. I grab a
coffee (Bold) it says and some cereal. Bad coffee, I try and save it by putting a instant
coffee pouch in it. That almost works. Not the best selection, but not the worst.
Maybe later for the hot tub and pool. Actually, people were using both when I returned.
The bike is safety where I left her, I can see the bike from my motel window.
My first stop of the day is the Titan Missile Museum. It's about 30 minutes outside of Tucson,
AZ. I have a 10 am tour booked.
Having grown up during the 80's and the cold war, I love going to things like this, and today
is special, as I get to go here, and to the Air force's Boneyard. This is the view that greets you
while waiting for the museum to open. They open 15 minutes before the first tour, 9:45 am.
That's one hell of a nose cone.
One big ass H bomb. 9 megatons and designed to bust Soviet command bunkers and destroy
cities.
All you need to know about the "accident" Damascus Titan missile explosion.
The brains that got the titan to where it was going.
One nice model of the silo.
Does anyone actually buy these?
We start the tour with a 15 minute video about the site. Lot's of stuff on YouTube for you to
watch. The most impressive thing is that all the silo's and complexes were built in only 36
months. Not just one, but all 54 of them.
Building a Titan Missile silo
The command bunker is under all of that stuff.
The entrance, 54 stairs going down, and 54 stairs going up.
Down we go!
One hell of a door. Though, finely balanced that a kid could close it
That's how you got in, if the guy's in control liked you, they'd turn on the power to pull the
pins locking the door back.
The in between 2 blast doors. Close one then you get power to open up the second.
Blast door after blast door after blast door.
Once you got power, you can open or close the door
These are the pins that lock the door. 2 per side for 4 total.
Easily as thick as your hand, arm.
Everything is spring mounted in case of a near miss.
Even the warning lights.
The long walk down to the missile silo.
This is where the action happens.
The bad news comes from here.
The air intake, if there is a near miss, there is a plug that stops the air coming in. You live off
the air left in side. I think he said 6 days worth.
That's where the keys and codes are locked in.
I wasn't the lucky one who got to turn the key.
Upstairs to the crew quarters, downstairs to the machinery room and escape hatch.
Time to head over to the missile silo,
Still there after all these years.
The way you got from one level to another.
This reminds me of all those shows showing the missile ready to lunch.
Down, down , down it goes 140 feet.
Emergency shower, I think this is for the fuel handlers, toxic it is..
That's all for the underground tour, now back up all those stairs. Just like work.
The tour guides said there would be a unit that would cover 3 missile silo's
This missile base is rather high up, and like the last one, close to the highway.
A good display and it explains on how the missiles were secured from unauthorized launch.
I assume it's a piece between the first and second stage.
Typical airforce, always having spare nosecones lying around
Some of the underground plumbing.
Kept far away for the propellant on the other side of the base.
One hell of a big silo door, a mixture of ships armor and concrete. What I learned is that they
actually would close it after launch to help the guy's inside survive.
Back up antenna 3
Back up antenna 2
The antenna that would normally be used for day to day
That's it for the tour, it takes around a hour and a half. They also have a gift shop as well, and
yes, I did buy something. Part 2 of the day is the Pima Air Museum and the US Air force's
Boneyard. The problem is my motel internet is so bad that I can't upload the pics, so hence,
part 1 and part 2.
On a side note, on YouTube I follow a guy who bought a decommissioned Titan missile silo,
and has spent a few years cleaning it up. So the great thing about this visit, is to actually
see a silo for myself. It gives you scale on what he's trying to accomplish. Watching these guys
opening up the blast doors after 30 years, wow.
Here's the site if your interested:
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