Titan II silos info

[TooMuchCoffee]

I did an earlier thread on Titan II's in Arkansas. With all the new info from the Quitman silo I have come up with some more info, but didn't want to hijack that thread. Hang on, this is a long one.

I grew up surrounded by those things and have always had an interest in their history.
My father worked for the Corp of Engineers for 35 years in Project Management. I asked him some questions about the dismantlement of the silos since the Corp were the ones responsible.

According to my father, my earlier info that all the 373 silos and command units being imploded is wrong. Only the silos had to be imploded by treaty with the USSR. The silo had to have the missile removed and left open for 90 days for satellite confirmation. Then the silo had to be imploded and left untouched for another 60 to 90 days. Then the hole was back filled.

As for the command units, the original idea was to implode them also. He said that they either imploded one or two or tried to implode them (he couldn't remember) and decided it was way too much of a pain in the arse. He said you had to remember that the command units were designed to take a near miss from a nuclear warhead. It takes alot of work to destroy one. everything was shock isolated, and he thinks one or two actually sits on giant oil bags for absorbing vibrations. The Air Force decided since the Titan II's were obsolete, they weren't going to worry about it or even worry about removing all the equipment inside.

The Air Force and Corps responsibility to protect the public from harm in an old command unit was to simply ensure the thing was sealed and buried. Then all responsibility was transfered to the new property owners (which in most cases were the original farmers).

He said they had the idea to remove 30 feet of the tunnels and fill with sand because the tunnels were designed to fill up with sand in the event of a near by explosion. So there was already sand there. Plus if you tried digging in the sand, the hole would keep filling up. Then they decided that was expensive. And really, who cared if you dug out an obsolete command unit anyway? There was nothing top secret left. Plus, once they sold the property, they were done.

This whole operation was subcontracted out. He thinks that most tunnels were only removed for about 5 to 10 feet in reality, mostly because the contractors discovered that trying to destroy the things was, again, a pain in the arse. The AF wanted rid of these pretty quickly. They were mostly worried with removing the hazardous chemicals and oxidizers.

The three that are on the Historic Registar are important in that each had one or more people die in the silo. The Searcy site had 53 workers die during construction due to a flash fire. There were only two suvivors. There is a memorial at that site now. The second had an Air Force crewman fall 70 to 100 feet and die. The third is 374-7, the Damascus site, which exploded killing one. This was the final blow for the Titan II's. Dad said there was a strong push to reopen either the Damascus or the Searcy site as a musuem at one time. He said all three were preserved. Trying to reopen them with definately raise up opinions from former co-workers and families.

Most farmers originally said they were going to build barns on the site due to the entire thing was a reinforced pad made up of gravel several inches think. Most of that is now covered by grass.

As for airing them out, he said he thinks each compartment was individually sealed. So once you open one and air it out, you would have to wait then open the next and wait, etc. He said they used to have some pretty strong chemicals on site so be careful.

As for water, he just doesn't know. The Corps destroyed lots of old communication bunkers. Some would be dry as a bone, others filled to the top. He figures the command bubbles would be the same. Just depends on how well they were sealed.

Speaking of communication bunkers, I'm trying to locate some of them in the state. Dad said they were "everywhere" and go about two levels down. They were heavily reinforced also. He said they mostly removed the surface level and buried 'em because it was damn near impossible to destroy them.

[fsp]

This might be a starting point, the communications
bunkers were usually located at or near Bell system
relay points for long distance.


This page has the map for AR...


Here is a link to a map which has a route
type legend on the middle lower section..
http://long-lines.net/places-routes/maps/MW6610-E.jpg

Most of the middle of the state had telephone routes
under construction, about the same time the
silos would have been built, so that might be a good
starting point.

Most of the missile silo areas had a wireline connection
backed up by microwave relay sites in case the cable
got cut...if you know of any microwave relay towers
in the towns marked, check near the base of the tower
and see if there is an underground structure.

[TooMuchCoffee]

Sweet. And these were old DOD bunkers on the map?
MissileSilos.com had some listed that were for sale.

[fsp]

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is
responsible for all subterrainian structures
under DOD. The Bell system facilities were
operated by the Bell-AT&T Long Lines Division,
a primary contractor for the DOD. I'm guessing
that you'll find most of them to be AT&T operated.

[TooMuchCoffee]

Dad worked in the Little Rock district of the USACE in OES and Project Management. He described destroying the bunkers as almost an exercise in futility. He said they were so hardened, it would take massive efforts just to remove the above ground structures. Usually with the underground, they just buried 'em and called it good.
There's a current DOD tower and vault off Hwy 303 at the Washington/Benton county line in Arkansas. It's a DOD/Navy microwave relay station. Looks just like an ordinary radio/microwave tower until you're up against the fence.