"There was metal debris, concrete, all sorts of stuff we had to pull out," he said. Oh yes, Jackie's checkup, despite her MS, showed her to be in excellent health. 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. Created with Sketch. Like us on Facebook to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. 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. The Pentagon plans to spend $264 billion on its next-generation ICBM program, which . Incredible Active Missile Silos In Arkansas Ideas. However, a new threat arose from the growing heat inside the silo. During the next year, the other 18 missile silos in central arkansas received icbms, and jan. 5 megaton hydrogen bomb and was likely a target of the soviet nuclear arsenal. Titan Ranch has a little gift shop with some fun coffee mugs and t-shirts and I bought my kids t-shirts. Offer subject to change without notice. But the newly constructed test facility was so badly damaged it wasnt worth salvaging. Please try viewing this website in Edge, Mozilla, Chrome, or another modern browser. We may earn commission if you buy from a link. After a decommissioned Titan II missile silo in Arizona was sold in just two weeks late last year, two more desert silos . Sign up for our newsletter and enter to win the second edition of our book. [7][8], Livingston died at the hospital, and 21 others in the immediate vicinity of the blast sustained various injuries; Kennedy struggled with respiratory issues from inhaling oxidizer but survived. And the origin of those dates back to the height of the Cold War in the 1950s and '60s, specifically the Soviet launch of the Sputnik satellite in 1957. Also some used to be in Arkansasthe Titan or Atlas missilesuntil one blew its fuel loadbecause of a dropped wrenchand threw its payload quite a distance. The newly formed 308th Strategic Missile Wing oversaw the operation of 18 missile sites, manned by groups of four soldiers 24 hours a day. Not that the Air Force was sharing that information. Today they are still used, although . The Damascus missile complex was at the Southside location, indicated by the red star on the map above. While the warhead inside the rocket remained in one piece, preventing a nuclear disaster, the crew working on the site did not escape without harm: One man died and more than 20 others were injured. 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. Dig for Fossils in Northeast Texas. But this never happened. [2][12] The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 18, 2000. They were simple-looking white canisters. It took six years to retire the missiles, demolish the launch ducts and fill in the silos with debris. That's how far it is from Rockyford to Limon. On Sept. 19, 1980, a silo near Damascus, Arkansas, exploded, killing one airman. After the missiles were retired, they were again used as space launchcraft until the last one was launched in 2003. 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. Visitors to the site first descend down the 50 feet to a concrete pad, where they are greeted by the first of two 6,000-pound blast doors, one of which was kept closed at all times during the Cold War. The warhead was found 100 feet from the launch complex. Suddenly the flies began to land on everything and in the process they flew by the hundreds into the back of our SUV. This design allows the structure to absorb the force from a nearby nuclear strike, with eight giant springs serving as shock absorbers. 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. By 1960, teams at Cape Canaveral had run several successful tests of the new missiles, and a new facility, located at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, was ready to start testing out the missile under operational conditions. The Reagan Administration decided to . But somethinglater determined to be an elevator malfunctionwent wrong. The fire started whena high-pressure hydraulic line was cut by anoxyacetylene torch. His book Children Left Behind was awarded the Bronze Medal by Independent Book Publishers. The Air Force-owned property houses the only remaining Titan II intercontinental ballistic missile complex left of the 54 that were active during the Cold War. But we dealt with hydrazine [the fuel] and nitrogen tetroxide [the oxidizer] every day. The united states built many missile silos in the midwest, away from populated areas. Titan II rockets were adapted to use in the space program and launched the first Gemini manned missions in the early 1960s. A total of 21 people were injured. This was the first missile site to become operational in Arkansas in 1963. It takes a certain mental toughness. The missile not only survived the explosion in 1965, it was the same missile which exploded in 1980 near Damascus. Lucky for us, Nick was very knowledgeable and answered all of our questions. "And we don't have any vacancies because there's a tournament in town," he spat. What Happens When a Giant Nuclear Missile Accidentally Falls Back Into Its Silo. President Ronald Reagan announced the retirement of the Titan II program, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. He called the station, and word spread. 2023 Atlas Obscura. The Damascus incident was front page news for at least a few days. The process was eye-opening, and a great history lesson. Investigations including a congressional inquiry delved into the Damascus tragedy. The police facilitating the movement of the population in Little Rock following the explosion at Damascus. This hidden gem, a former missile silo in Vilonia, Arkansas, was designed not only to survive a nuclear explosion, but also launch a nuclear . Jackie and I set out from Rapid City to Albuquerque for two reasons. Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety, National Register of Historic Places listings in Van Buren County, Arkansas, "Titan II Missile Explosion (1980) Encyclopedia of Arkansas", "Missile silo blast kills 1, hurts 21; no radiation leak", "Colonel Replaced in Action Linked to Fatal Titan Explosion", "Command and Control American Experience WGBH PBS", "Air Force truck removes damaged warhead", "Titan warhead flown to nuclear arms plant", "Season 4, Episode 4 Nuke Kids on the Block", "The night we almost lost Arkansas a 1980 nuclear Armageddon that almost was", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1980_Damascus_Titan_missile_explosion&oldid=1137032445, National Register of Historic Places in Van Buren County, Arkansas, September 1980 events in the United States, Nuclear accidents and incidents in the United States, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 2 February 2023, at 12:19. Titan Ranch, located just northeast of Conway, Arkansas, is one of these nuclear missile bases. But the investigative crew was in a holding position for a while, and finally, around 1 a.m., Devlin and Hukle went into the silo. Investigators later discovered that a welder working on level 3 had "hit a hydraulic line with his welding rod, rupturing the hose and causing the spray of hydraulic fuel to catch fire." "You didn't know if it was going to Cuba or if it was going to Moscow," Hill said. Both areas were then filled in with concrete, scrap iron, gravel and dirt, and the property wasreturned to the previous landowners. Originally, the launch control center had standard steps to reach multiple levels. And around 3:05 a.m., all hell broke loose, he tells Popular Mechanics. These sites in Springhill in Faulkner County, Southside in Van Buren County and Center Hill in White County are now on the National Register of Historic Places. I can recall vividly the September 1980 explosion which destroyed a missile in its silo located near Damascus on the Faulkner-Van Buren County line. Christ explained that the deaths were not caused by the explosion itself, but by the rapid loss of oxygen. "People who stay here do so willingly, and they have a blast.". Kennedy went down into the silo by himself to get readings. Jan 14, 2020. In Arkansas, three launch sites remain with both launch pads and control centers. Now she writes adventures to send her characters on journeys, too. Today, theres still a giant hole in the ground, now overgrown and given over to wild animals. [8][17], Jeff Plumb's account of his role in the incident was featured in a 2017 episode of WBEZ's This American Life. Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) were developed in response to the Soviet Union achieving nuclear capabilities. The Damascus Titan missile explosion (also called the Damascus accident) was a 1980 U.S. nuclear weapons incident involving a Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). Extremist groups like to destroy cities. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused! An official website of the United States government, 19th AW InfoSplash & Digital Bulletin Board, Sexual Assault Prevention & Response Office, https://www.dimoc.mil/resources/limitations, Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil. The first was for Jackie to have her annual Multiple Sclerosis checkup at the University of New Mexico's Pete Dominici Medical Building and the second was to have dinner with one set of friends and lunch with another. Senior Airman David Livingston, one of the two airmen on the scene, died from injuries sustained during the explosion. [6] There was concern for the possible collapse of the now empty first-stage fuel tank, which could cause the rest of the 8-story missile to fall and rupture, allowing the oxidizer to contact the fuel already in the silo. Two of the most serious disasters to plague the Titan II missile program during the Cold War occurred in Arkansas. There were tons of movie options for children and my kids had a blast watching Paddington on the huge white walls of the silo. I said, We just left a bunch of dead people back there. He said Yeah, I know. We were sick about it. Airmen Jeffrey Plumb and David Powell were in the silo working on the missile. Within a couple hours, there was a crowd of about 25 to 30 journalists and law enforcement personnel gathered just outside the gate. In 1965, dozens of people died after a fire started in a Titan II silo in Arkansas. Airbnb feels you, so now you can for $324 a night. Lieutenant General Lloyd R. Leavitt Jr., the Vice Commander of the Strategic Air Command, commanded the effort to save the launch complex. This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. Material from the Associated Press is Copyright 2023, Associated Press and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Mark Christ set the stage: "Senior Airman David Livingston and Sergeant Jeff K. Kennedy then entered the launch complex early on the morning of Sept. 19 to get readings on airborne fuel concentrations, which they found to be at their maximum. Don't go passed the gate without permission! Feeling very unwelcome we decided to try reaching Limon, Colorado, before dark. However, thanks to the ingenuity and tenacity of one person with a unique determination, one of those missile sites have been renovated into a luxury rental that you can stay in! The nosecone from the Judsonia site sits atop a time capsule that will be opened Aug. 17, 2037. [1] It focused on the explosion, as well as other Broken Arrow incidents during the Cold War. Only two men escaped the silo, both telling stories of horror. (By comparison, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima was around 15 kilotons, and the one dropped on Nagasaki was around 21 kilotons. There are 1,000 kilotons in a megaton). "We could excavate it, but if you think about it, it's like, 'Why?' Civilian construction workers were working in all nine levels of the launch duct, painting and flushing the hydraulic systems that operated the steel platforms beside the missile. They all knew each other. On May 22, 1958, a crew was servicing Nike missiles at a site in Middletown, N.J. One missile exploded, starting a chain reaction that set off seven others, causing what the Associated Press . The team had met its goal. Hill said he had no plans to excavate the silo in the immediate future. Due to the safety features built into the warhead, it did not detonate and was recovered about 300 feet away from the explosion. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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. One moment, the team at the new operational test facility had been on the verge of celebrating, finally, a successful trial run of the launch sequence for the powerful Titan I missile. There still wasnt any official word about what was going on, but they all put on rocket fuel handlers coverall outfits (RFHCO)rubberized protective gear that resembled space suitsand walked to the silo, which had been filling with corrosive and potentially explosive vapor for hours. "This was a half-a-million project, and I didn't have half-a-million," Hill said. Soviet Ukraine held around one-third of the U.S.S.R.'s nuclear arsenal, most of . This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. The weapons here in Montana are intercontinental ballistic missiles or ICBMs. When in service, the 110-foot long, 10-foot wide Titan II missile carried the largest warhead the United States military ever placed on an ICBM. My son was absolutely thrilled to learn how to use the tablet to control the lights in the room. Titan II was developed as much for use in space flight as it was for an ICBM, Stumpf says. The North Star Missile Silo was used during the height of the Cold War in the early 1960s and is up for sale, with a price tag of $989,000. Take the time to ask questions and hear the stories. [11], The launch complex was never repaired. The missiles were stored in massive underground silos, which were constructed in the early 1960s and closed in the early 1980s. The Titans sat fueled and ready to go at a moments noticebut that meant constant monitoring and maintenance.
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