active missile silos in arkansas

They were Titan II missile silos that housed nuclear weapons on a Gemini rocket, designed to be launched into space in under one minute. 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. The explosion scattered debris across 400 acres of farmland. "It's all illuminated. 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. By 9 p.m. the Air Force had a team on site and began evacuating personnel as well as some local residents. Owen Sims, a cattle farmer, says he is breathing easier now that the last Titan 2 nuclear missile silo, situated over a ridge less than 2,000 feet from his home, has been dismantled. By then, a lot of the documents detailing just how bad the incident wasand how close wed come before to accidental nuclear explosions had been declassified. We hurriedly put our food away, closed the hatchback and put some distance between ourselves and the pasture. The next, they were bracing against an explosion that destroyed the facility beyond repair. You know you're definitely in someplace different, but we wanted to make it nice enough that you didn't think you were in a silo.". Eventually, it was foundin a ditch about 200 yards away from the silo. At the end of the 1950s, the United States military began developing the Titans as part of its growing supply of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Warren Air Force Base oversees ICBM fields that cover parts of Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado. The land was sold back to the owners for as little as $600 to as much as $12,000. The Titans sat fueled and ready to go at a moments noticebut that meant constant monitoring and maintenance. They were situated in north-central Arkansas to ensure ready access to Little Rock Air Force Base, where the 308th Strategic Missile Wing coordinated the work in Arkansas. The missile was installed later that month at the Albion site, northwest of Searcy, Ark., but not active until May. The lake was blue and beautiful and we parked about 25 yards away and opened the hatch of our SUV intent on a nice, tailgate lunch. Airmen Jeffrey Plumb and David Powell were in the silo working on the missile. I tucked my children into the beds on the second floor, while my son picked a color for the light to stay while they fell asleep. 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 . Sid King had just sat down to dinner on September 18, 1980 when he got the call. A missile took 15 minutes to launch and had to be fueled with a highly flammable mix of kerosene and liquid oxygen. Construction on the Minuteman II structures began in 1946. What Happens When a Giant Nuclear Missile Accidentally Falls Back Into Its Silo. It takes a certain mental toughness. 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. How far is it from Rockyford to Limon? Unsettling as that history may be, its worth it just to say you did it. "Thank you" will n, We were so proud to be awarded New Boston's Busine, Do you have home improvements planned for this spr, Were counting down the days until the Arkansas, Congratulations to Lairie Kincaid on his well-dese, SAU Trap Team Takes Top Prize at 3rd Annual South Arkansas Outdoor Social, Farmers Bank & Trust Announces NCAA Name, Image, Likeness Student-Athletes, Farmers Bank Foundation Grants $125,000 to the Hope Public Schools, Farmers Bank & Trust to Acquire Community First Trust Company, Farmers Bank & Trust Opens New Full-Service Branch in Bryant, AR, Farmers Bank & Trust Opens New Full-Service Branch in Paris, TX, AR Governor appoints Chris Gosnell to Arkansas Economic Development Council, Prescott Donation to Benefit Families in Need, Shark Teeth in the Sulphur River? Eventually, the missile combat crew and the PTS team evacuated the launch control center, while military and civilian response teams arrived to tackle the hazardous situation. Inside the super-hardened silo, meant to be protected from nuclear attacks, the team loaded the rocket with oxidizer, a key ingredient for blast-off, and sent it up to the surface. The likely missile field, comprising 120 silos that could potentially house weapons capable of reaching the United States mainland, was documented by researchers at the James Martin Center for . The Titan II missile program was terminated by the Reagan administration, but memories still burn brightly among many Arkansans. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. file size: 5 MB. Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. The first missile silo was listed in november 2019 for $395,000, and sold for $420,000. Further, any commercial or non-commercial use of this photograph or any other Since it was very hot outside I asked this cadaver of a man, "What's the temperature." 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. On the way up, Livingston and Kennedy were told to turn an exhaust fan on. The Air Force refused to confirm or deny if a nuclear weapon was involved in the explosioneven to Vice President Walter Mondale, who was in Arkansas that day for the state Democratic convention, trying to help the states young governor, Bill Clinton, in a re-election bid. But the site King and Phillips were driving to in their company Dodge Omni was worse. Two of the most serious disasters to plague the Titan II missile program during the Cold War occurred in Arkansas. The Titan II missile was the tallest ICBM used by the U.S. military. The United States built many missile silos in the Midwest, away from populated areas. The 308th Strategic Missile Wing was created and operated from the base, overseeing the missiles, [], Your email address will not be published. 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. Heres what the terrifying incident was like, from those who were there. Level 3 also contains the facility's emergency escape tunnel and ladder. 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. Workers from . Back in September 1980, September 18, Jeff Plumb climbed into his pickup and headed toward the nuclear missile silo near a tiny town in Arkansas called Damascus. Air Force crews reacted quickly to the disaster, putting out fires and searching for survivors. This wasnt the first time; in most instances, it hit the platform. Perhaps most famously, as the investigative journalist Eric Schlosser recounts in his book Command and Control, in 1980, a Titan II missile exploded in its silo in Damascus, Arkansas, while carrying a nuclear warhead. It took a while to locate the nine-megaton nuclear warhead in the dark and gloom; it was still intact and not leaking. Matthew Kroenig, a Defense Department adviser during the Trump administration, suggested in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed that "the Pentagon should . On the night of September 18, 1980, a Titan II missile carrying a thermonuclear warhead exploded in rural Arkansas. Its safety features prevented any loss of radioactive material or nuclear detonation. A socket from a large socket wrench rolled off a platform and punctured the missile's lower-stage fuel tank, starting a fuel leak that eventually led to the explosion a few hours later. Bottom: Damascus after the explosion. The demon core that killed two scientists, the underground test that didnt stay that way, One man died and more than 20 others were injured. At about 6:30 p.m. Sept. 18, 1980, an airman working on the missile dropped a wrench socket, which fell 80 feet before hitting and piercing the rocket's first-stage fuel tank, causing a leak, but not an immediate explosion. We met with Nick, one of the current hosts, who led us down the steps into the bunker. The Titan II, on the other hand, had a longer range and could be used for defense as well as for the nations nascent space program. This time, Livingston and Kennedy went down. But the newly constructed test facility was so badly damaged it wasnt worth salvaging. Titan Ranch began hosting conferences and meetings in 2019, and added its AirBnB listing in November 2020. That made the trip well worth the bumps along the way. 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. The site was closed, and President Ronald Reagan chose to retire the Titan II missile program, announcing his decision a year after the Damascus Titan II missile explosion. "If we built rooms, it would kind of take away from it.". On Sept. 19, 1980, a silo near Damascus, Arkansas, exploded, killing one airman. 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 second airmen survived his injuries, while 21 others suffered injuries from the blast and following rescue operation and cleanup. It never bounced into the missile.. More than half of the potential arsenal is in Amarillo, Texas, at the Pantex plant, which will dismantle them. You have to try it to see what I mean. Find out more at KSMitchell.com. This left the powerful nuclear warheads exposed to attack. Along with bombers and sea-launched ballistic missiles, the Titan II missile program was a bulwark in the nation's three pronged-response to threats posed by the Soviet Union's large nuclear warfare capacity. At a station that small, King couldnt afford to specialize. In his official statement in the investigation, Kennedy said it didnt make sense: Why would you energize an electrical circuit in a fuel leak? Livingston flipped the switch and then came topside. Meanwhile, as a countermeasure, the silo was filling with water to douse potential flames and dilute the vapor. 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The other B-52 wing at Barksdale AFB in Louisiana has more than 900 warheads, and White-man AFB in Missouri has more than 130 bombs for its B-2 bombers. "And we don't have any vacancies because there's a tournament in town," he spat. "This was a half-a-million project, and I didn't have half-a-million," Hill said. 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. Titan Ranch has a little gift shop with some fun coffee mugs and t-shirts and I bought my kids t-shirts. Driving up to the ranch, you would never guess that youre headed to an underground missile silo. After the missiles were retired, they were again used as space launchcraft until the last one was launched in 2003. The second missile silo field is located 380 kilometers (240 miles) northwest of the Yumen field near the prefecture-level city of Hami in Eastern Xinjiang. We stopped at Rockyford, Colorado about 6 p.m. and walked into the lobby of the only motel in town. Christ explained that the deaths were not caused by the explosion itself, but by the rapid loss of oxygen. 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. The nuclear warhead was also ejected from the missile silo. GT has renovated the second level to be a multipurpose space, complete with projectors, a sound system, party lights, multiple whiteboards, and tables and chairs if needed. The team started running the procedure for readying the missile for liftoff. One of the workers, Airman David P. Powell, had brought a ratchet wrench 3ft (0.9m) long weighing 25lb (11kg) into the silo instead of a torque wrench, the latter having been newly mandated by Air Force regulations. Eric Ayala was topside, at ground level near the silo. You may know that theres an Air Force base there. 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. All too soon, it was time to check out. It was the loudest explosion Id ever heard in my lifebefore or since, Devlin says. All missiles in the silos are currently Minuteman III (LGM-30G). Offer subject to change without notice. The Strategic Air Command facility of Little Rock Air Force Base was one of eighteen silos in the command of the 308th Strategic Missile Wing (308th SMW), specifically one of the nine silos within its 374th Strategic Missile Squadron (374th SMS), at the time of the explosion. What to Know Before You Get Started, 4 Essential Tips for Applying for a Mortgage Online as an MBA Student. The first U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), like the Atlas and the Titan I, were cryogenically fueled, relying on substances like liquid oxygen, which had to be kept cold. In Arkansas, three launch sites remain with both launch pads and control centers. The only thought I had at that point was, I know Im a dead man. [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. Nodak, based in Grand Forks, served 55 missile silos around the region. By 1986 these sites were all decommissioned and destroyed. 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. Senator David Pryor's office had been concerned about the safety of the Titan sites since January 1978 when a cloud of toxic vapor was accidentally released at the Damascus launch site, resulting in four hospitalizations. He said, "The same as it was when you came in."

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