Blast Door Control From A Titan II LCC

[opus5150]

You don't see these every day.  Most were scrapped when the silos were decommissioned and imploded.  This controller was what allowed the crew to enter and exit the LCC, (Launch Control Center), behind multi-ton blast door 6.  A pretty cool piece of cold war history.

[everforward]

Cool, and I like that you have it hooked up so it will light up.

[Brian Keith]

Nice artifact of Cold War history!

Thanks for posting it.

BKW

[viking73]

Wow, that's very cool!  Where did you find something like this?!

 

-Derek

 

[opus5150]

2 hours ago, viking73 said:

Wow, that's very cool!  Where did you find something like this?!

 

-Derek

 

Thanks!  This one came from Vandenberg and was purchased from NASA surplus.  There was a lot of testing of the Atlas and Titan weapons systems there, as well as live nuclear launch sites until decommissioning in the mid to late 70's.  Because of the secure locations, these silos weren't stripped and vandalized like others across the US.  I am guessing that is why I found this in the condition it was in.  

Since I'm going down the rabbit hole - here is a light fixture that i restored from a Titan silo in Arkansas.  Note the shock mount acceptance disk on the light.  All fixtures in these silos had to be shock approved for the possibility of a hit from the Soviets, so lights like these would survive the near miss.  (A direct hit would be catastrophic to the silo, and working lights would be the least of the crews' problems).  

WS-107A-2 was the designator for the Titan I weapons system.

[viking73]

That's a pretty awesome light fixture as well, thanks for the photos. How do you know it came from a Little Rock AFB Titan I site, I am intrigued!

 

Also, I don't suppose you have any extra goodies like that for sale?  I have made friends with several owners of former Atlas F sites around Dyess AFB in Abilene, TX and I know they'd love to have stuff like this to put into their LCCs

 

-Derek

[opus5150]

There's a gentleman renovating a silo in Arkansas that auctioned off a few of these lights, I was lucky enough to get one.  As you can see, it was underwater for quite some time.

Unfortunately no, I don't have anything like this for sale.  I've never seen another that was available for purchase, and I can imagine they didn't make a lot of spares.  It's one of those "unobtanium" items that collectors sometimes stumble upon.  

I grew up near a couple Nike bases in New England, and many weekends were spent underground before the town sealed them up.  Seeing these places before they were renovated or destroyed are some great memories.  If only I had taken more pictures...

Are your friends renovating them?  From what I've seen, getting them open after years of seepage and backfill is a huge undertaking.  Are theirs above the water table?  I know some of the AZ silos were bone dry, but the AR sites are swimming pools and swamps.

[viking73]

Yes, these are hard to find items of course that you are very lucky to have purchased!   Very cool to see them.

 

I've been to several the Dallas-Ft Worth Nike sites and Abilene Nike sites (in addition to the Dyess Atlas sites) and it is pretty awesome to spend time exploring them, I agree.  Also a bit sad to see them rotting away but at least some haven't been destroyed.

 

One guy I know has completely renovated his LCC and is living in it.  Most of his cribbing is still intact in the silo and it's amazing to see it.  He has been all 185 feet down via the small spiral staircase.  I chickened out last time I was there and didn't go down very far   The other two I visit somewhat regularly are in the process of being cleaned and fixed up as a livable space.  The bottom level of the LCC in one was completely underwater for may years.  It was pumped out and is looking good.  His cribbing is also intact but it's fallen down 20 feet or so.  Almost like the scrapper cut the springs and just let it fall down into the silo.  It's very strange and must have been loud as heck.  His water level in the silo is pretty high, I'd say about 10 feet below level 2.  The other base I visit had a dry LCC when purchased and entered 20 years ago.  His water level in the silo isn't as deep, maybe 80' or so.
 

Here's what 50+ years underwater looks like.  This is level 2 of the LCC:

 

 

[viking73]

Since those two photos were taken, more work as been done and it's looking better.  Here's shot of level one.  Also, the entryway into the LCC and the bottom of the silo doors looking up from level 2.

 

-Derek

 

 

[viking73]

And here's a few of the site where the owner lives in the LCC.  He found an original piston at a local scrapyard and can open one of his silo doors!  These are photos inside the silo.  You can see the previously mentioned spiral staircase in the second photo.  It goes all 185 feet down to the bottom!

 

Didn't mean to hijack your thread sir.

 

-Derek

 

 

[opus5150]

Hijack away!  I appreciate the detail and photos!  I've been keeping up with a few folks on YouTube who are renovating their silos, and while it would be amazing to rehabilitate one for a living space, I just don't have the ability.  (Or a wife that would go for it).  My hat is off to those who do. 

To find an original hydraulic piston is about as rare as they come.  The one guy on line who did restore the rams tried to lower one of the 115 ton doors once installed but the seal failed, and failed quite spectacularly.  (His doors were left open when decommissioned).  Hopefully, this one will continue to work just fine.

Fun fact:  There is a Titan I ICBM complex near Royal City, WA that offers scuba tours of the flooded complex.  It's on my bucket list.

[easterneagle87]

There was one offered in Eastern Washington some years ago. I saw the article and wish I would have ear marked it some how. But is was only offered as a lease and not a purchase.  

[opus5150]

They come up for sale from time to time, but don't stay on the market for long these days.

Here are some shots of the Titan construction to get an idea of the scale of the site: