Friday, June 18, 1999
Underground silo chosen as site of national
Atlas missile museum
By BILLY HARRIS
Correspondent
CLYDE - If all goes according to plan, thousands of travelers
a year may be beckoned off Interstate 20 to visit a forgotten
part of the 1960s Cold War - the first Atlas ICBM museum in the
United States.
Larry Sanders, founder and director of the Atlas ICBM Historical
Society, is pleased with the condition of the massive underground
silo near Clyde that has been chosen as the site.
The massive cavern that once housed nuclear weapons is now
silent, except for the dripping of ground water seeping into the
cement hole 180 feet deep. Over the last 30 years the silo has
collected about 120 feet of water.
Sanders and his society want to restore the site to its original
condition, minus nuclear weapons, of course.
The silo, about three miles east of Clyde and two miles south
of I-20, is one of 12 which ringed Abilene as part of the Dyess
Air Force Base Atlas system. Had Dyess been bombed, the Clyde
site was designated as the alternate command post - information
that was top secret until a few years ago.
Sixty more Atlas F intercontinental ballistic missile sites
protected other major Air Force installations throughout the nation.
There were also about 100 E and B model sites, which differed
from the F by launching techniques.
But none of the locations has a museum to let the public appreciate
the contributions of the missile site and its crews to national
security, Sanders said, and he can envision a well-maintained
museum becoming a popular attraction.
The Clyde school district has owned the Clyde missile site
for about 20 years and now uses the above-ground portion as a
school bus parking area and maintenance barn. Negotiations are
under way between the historical society and school for the property.
Sanders said the society has an agreement with Dyess for a
building that would replace the old contractors building that
was removed from the property after the construction on the silo
was complete.
"We're hoping to restore this site as completely to original
as possible," he told visitors on a walking tour Thursday.
"As we can pump water out of the silo, we will restore the
levels until it is complete from top to bottom."
"We will also have several thousand gallons of water that
could be of use to someone in the area," he said.
Representatives of the City of Clyde and Clyde ISD toured the
facilities. Maintenance employees assisted in guiding the visitors
around the dangers of jagged metal and holes in the silo's walkways.
The tour included the bunker-like living quarters and the three
levels of the silo which have not been covered by water. Cement
and metal stairways and a hallway with ankle-deep water led visitors
into the control rooms that were damaged by a fire set by vandals
several years ago.
"The fire damage to the control rooms is disappointing,
but we have blueprints and all of that can be restored to original,"
Sanders said.
Through a culvert-like tunnel and three, thick blast doors,
the group arrived at the edge of the 180-foot-deep "silo
crib."
Former Abilene airport manager "Fal" Falcioni described
the workings of the missile silo when it was in operation in the
early 1960s. Falcioni was employed by Convair Astro Division,
the forerunner of General Dynamics at the time, and worked at
all of the Big Country Atlas locations.
Convair was the general contractor for the 72 Atlas F missile
sites when H.B. Zachry and Brown and Root were subcontractors
on the Abilene area projects.
Falconi said it was a massive undertaking to dig a hole big
enough to hold a 180-foot deep, 52-foot diameter, concrete structure
that could withstand a 5-megaton nuclear blast within four miles
of the silo.
The metal structure that held the Atlas missile was carefully
cradled between "shock struts" on the sides and dangled
from huge springs to cushion vibrations from a nearby bomb blast.
The springs were as big as 55-gallon barrels.
The silo was covered by two doors, each 5 feet thick and weighing
more than 70 tons. The doors were attached to a slab 9 feet thick.
Huge motors could open the doors to vertical positions to allow
the missile to be launched. No missiles were launched with a nuclear
warhead.
Falcioni said the entire structure had to be built to within
one-quarter inch tolerance. A 10-inch diameter calibration tube
that stretched 130 feet from the Level 6 "stable table"
was installed so steering instruments on the rocket could be set
according to the position of the North star, which was always
visible through the sighting tube.
The only visible part to the casual onlooker at ground level
is a 40-by-100-foot Quonset-style building for maintenance and
the concrete bunker entrance. All are enclosed by a 6-foot chain-link
fence.
Nine-man crews worked in shifts to operate, maintain and guard
the military installation. All were based at Dyess and worked
24 hours before taking three days off.
Orders for a launch would come to the control room from Dyess.
Then it took two officers to start the launch sequence. Within
41/2 to 5 minutes the rocket would be fueled, a strike location
would be set and the rocket would elevate to the above-ground
position and launched.
Falcioni said all the pre-launch procedures and equipment used
was the cause of the 15 to 20 percent reliability rate of the
Atlas. But the Soviets still were very much intimidated by the
number of nuclear warheads that could land in their borders and
the Atlas Missile System may very well have stopped the USSR from
starting a third world war, he said.
The 12 Atlas F sites around Abilene were fully operational
in October 1962 and were disbanded in 1965. The short life of
the Atlas defense system was partly due to the solid fuel rocket
engines it used.
R-1 rocket fuel, a grade of kerosene, and liquid oxygen made
up the fuel to propel the rockets about 2 feet in diameter and
20 feet long. The fuel could not be left loaded in the rocket
because of the danger of an explosion if the oxygen and kerosene
accidentally mixed. Instead, it had to be kept in storage tanks
deep in the silo until just before launch.
"We never had an accidental explosion in the Dyess system,
but a similar system in New Mexico had three," Falcioni said.
"There was a near accident at the Albany silo, but cool heads
kept a disaster in check."
In addition to Clyde and Albany, other locations of Dyess Atlas
missile silos were Winters, Bradshaw, Lawn, Oplin, Denton Valley,
Shep, Nolan, Anson, Corynth West and Fort Phantom.
The aide to state Sen. Troy Fraser said he is also working
on getting FM 604 designated "the Atlas Highway" because
so many of the 12 silos (Clyde, Bradshaw, Lawn, Oplin and Denton
Valley) are nearby.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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