Tim Frakes Productions Inc. Tour a Cold War Era Atlas Missile Silo

Video from the channel Tim Frakes about Atlas (familia), linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 10:24. Language: English. Video type: Onboard.

A visit to a partially restored Atlas F missile launch site in central Texas, guided by Larry Sanders. The complex was built in 1961 and cost between 8 and 22 million dollars.

Entry required passing through a sally port between two doors, identifying oneself by phone with a numeric code known only to the two commanders. Next came two one-ton manganese-armored doors that could not be opened at the same time. The launch control center had two levels. The crew lived on the first level during 24-hour shifts, with bunks, a kitchen and showers. The entire structure hung from four pneumatic shock absorbers to withstand a nuclear attack.

An emergency exit allowed draining a tube filled with four tons of sand and climbing a ladder. The steel walls of the second level formed a Faraday cage against electromagnetic pulse. A tunnel 45 feet underground leads to the silo, 52 feet in diameter and 185 feet deep, with walls of 9 feet of densely reinforced concrete.

According to the guide, the Atlas F had no internal structure: it held its shape through tank pressure, with RP-1 kerosene in the lower third and liquid oxygen in the rest. He also argues that the Faraday cage contradicts the claim that it was a first-strike weapon. 72 sites were built in one year. After deactivation, the missiles were sent to Norton Air Force Base in California and converted into satellite launchers.