El misil Titan II de 103 pies: el incendio en el silo que mató a 53 trabajadores a 150 pies bajo ...
Video from the channel Steel & Sacrifice about Titan II, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 37:27. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.
What it's about
Narrated documentary about the fire on August 9, 1965, at Titan II launch complex 373-4. The complex was 11 miles north of Searcy, Arkansas, and the fire killed 53 workers. The video argues that the threat wasn't the missile but an ordinary malfunction. The silo's own architecture, designed to withstand a nuclear attack, became a trap.
Historical context
373-4 was one of 18 Titan II silos of the 308th Strategic Missile Wing, based in Little Rock. The Titan II measured 103 feet, used hypergolic propellants (Aerozine 50 and nitrogen tetroxide), and carried a 9-megaton W53 warhead. There were 54 missiles spread across three wings, in Arizona, Kansas, and Arkansas, ready to launch within 60 seconds. The silo was a nine-story reinforced concrete shaft about 150 feet deep.
Six weeks earlier, the facility had come off alert for reinforcement work under the Yard Fence project, and the warhead had been moved to Little Rock. Civilian contractors were working on it: industrial plumbers, electricians, welders, and laborers.
Key facts
Shortly after 1 p.m., a high-pressure hydraulic line failed and the atomized fluid ignited. The Air Force investigation attributed it to a welder's electrode, though at least one survivor denied welding was taking place at the time. The shaft acted like a chimney: smoke and heat rose through the only escape route. Of the 55 men on site, only Hubert Saunders, 59, and Gary Lay, 17 and on his first day, survived, escaping through a level-2 passage into the control center. Some victims, aged 21 to 69, drowned in water that had pooled at the bottom. The rescue effort lasted all night.
The missile came out intact, and the silo was repaired and returned to alert, with stricter controls for hot work and evacuation. The video compares it to the Damascus accident of September 18, 1980, at complex 374-7. There, a dropped socket punctured the first-stage fuel tank, and the explosion threw the warhead clear without it detonating; airman David Livingston died and 21 were injured. It closes with the creation of OSHA in 1970 and the small memorial at the site.