We took a ride twenty minutes south of Tucson to the Titan
Missile Museum. The Titan II missile was the largest missile built by the U.S. during
the Cold War and became operational in 1963 and deactivation started in 1982. In
1987 the last Titan II site was deactivated. 54 Titan II missiles stood alert in their underground silos across the
country. 18 in Wichita Kansas, 17 in Little Rock Arkansas (one was damaged
during a repair) and 18 in Tucson. This is the only site that remains. We had a
tour of the facility, went into the bunker, and saw the underground structure,
the control center and the missile in the silo. They even had a mock launch.
The highest state of alert was when President Kennedy was shot. At that time the
launch keys were removed from the red storage box and placed on the table in
front of the key switch. After their decommissioning
the missiles were disarmed and used to send satellites into space. The missiles are 103 feet tall and the complex
was built with steel reinforced cement walls up to 8 feet thick.
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| Control Panel - only 4 people are on duty at a time for a 24 hr. shift. |
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| "The Red Box" contains the 2 keys for launching the missile. |
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| The binder with the code to confirm the command to launch. |
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| One of the keys |
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| View of missile - the top remains 1/2 sealed to show the Russians it can't be fired. |
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| Viewing downward |
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| Notice the hole on the nose, it is there as proof it can not be launched. |
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| Missile engine |
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| View from the parking lot. |
The temperature high for today was 25C with no clouds. We
have noticed the air is very dry here and it is taking its’ toll on our skin.
All for now.....
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