U.S . ICBM Misssile Base Discussion

Newspaper Accounts

Photos Of Missile Bases

Coming Soon:   Diagrams of the Atlas-F Missile Bases

Recently, I have come across some Web Sites that deal with old Missile Silos. There are a lot of stories behind the U.S.A.F. missile program. I read a lot of stories from former and current missile people. I can't recommend it enough ... thousands of people, dedicating their lives to protecting the rest of us ... working in some of the most undesireable locations you can imagine, working long hours, and putting up with all the crap that comes with special assignments. I hope to put some Links in here sometime soon ... I spent literally days researching silos, and special accounts of what really happened. I did a lot of laughing, and a lot of remembering ... Many people don't realize what is going on day and night, just to keep this a free country. Like me, as a kid, things just happened, and everything was peachy. I had no way of knowing what it took in order to make this a safe place to live. If you have some personal accounts you'd like to share, send them to me, and I'll put them on this page.

14 May 2000

Linda and I recently took a four day trip to Abilene, Texas, to visit and tour some of the former Atlas-F Nuclear Missile Bases  that were closed about two (2) years after they were opened.  The following articles that were researched from the Abilene Public Library, and the city of Baird Courthouse Library, tell about the appropriation of the funds for, the construction of the missile bases, and a general mind-set of U.S. politicians, military leaders, and citizens of the Abilene area.   There were dozens of micro-fische rolls, but I fell asleep while auto-scanning the one roll I had loaded, so I gave it up ... we were limited on how much time we could spend on the machines.  I wish we had taken many more detailed photos (like the enormous hinges of the Blast & Debris Doors, between the LCC and the Silo).  On our next trip we'll get the ones we missed!

The development of, and the existence of ICBM missiles,  were new to the U.S. people at this time.  National defense was important, due to the inception of the Cold War, thanks to our great leaders.  Justification for, modernization, and the reasoning behind these missiles were depicted in such a way as to make John Q. Public feel as though this was the only way to go.  Of course, the great SAC leaders couldn't have enough "stuff" in their inventory to make them happy (even though millions of dollars were spent on short-sighted plans for missile systems that were to be short-lived, to make way for new missile systems).

I am in no way against the defense of our country, and the placement and use of ICBMs, but it seems as though the U.S. couldn't put enough missiles in ... fast enough.  This surely led to the USSR's overspending, and eventual failure of their economy.  Problem now is, their weapons systems are not properly maintained (as reported to us), are controlled & operated by unqualified, and underpaid (if, and when) people.  The Missile Force Commander (again, as reported to us) isn't ever sure if there is going to be another paycheck in the mail, which, by the way, isn't much - considering the enormous responsibilty that he carries.  These factors alone are enough reason to be concerned about our own protective TRIAD.  Missile defense is as important now as it ever was.  One just wonders ... what is over the horizon?   Is the good and safety of the nation as important as the good and safety of the "agendas" of our politicians and the military leaders?  The SALT agreements caused us to publicly (if you have a spy satelite ) destroy billions of dollars worth of missile defense systems, making them totaly useless to anyone.  These missile bases could have provided myself and many others an exciting place to live, and help preserve a part of our history.  Just who in the hell devised all of these SALT plans ... I hope they are sleeping well tonight!

Oh, gee, I got carried away.  Hope you enjoy the articles and the photos that follow ...  there are many more photos at other Web Sites  ("The Silo") ... even many that depict the construction phases of the missile bases.  If you have trouble finding them, I can provide some URLs for to research.

Rikki and Bruce have taken on a monumental task, in refurbishing & rebuilding their missile bases.  If I were 10 or 15 years younger, I'd like to have done the same thing.  Tornadoes ... let them come!  They don't affect a missile LCC very much.   Bruce is already living in his LCC (Level 1), and has done a fantastic (can't think of a strong enough word) job in making a beautiful and spacious new living area.  I'd trade my land and house for his in a moment ... problem is, I still have to work for a living, and my job is in San Antonio.

Dan Walters

NOTE: The photocopies of the originals were of poor quality, so I have retyped the text of the articles and  included a .jpg file of the scanned photocopies.  Following the retyped text is a link to view the original photocopies - they take about 6 minutes to download.

Bids Due Thursday On Huge AF Project

By Gayle McNutt

The past 12 months have been big ones for national defense-minded Abilene.

By far the biggest – and most significant – was the announcement last Jan. 26 that Dyess Air Force Base had been selected as the site for a squadron complex of Atlas intercontinental ballistic missiles.

At first, nine sites were planned for the complex, but the program was enlarged to add three more. Estimated cost of the 12 missile sites is $60 million.

Even more significant, it assured the continuing importance of military establishments to Abilene.

Besides the Atlas sites, an Army Nike Hercules battalion was assigned here, with two firing sites - one now being occupied and the other in finishing stages. It will be the Nike unit’s duty to supply defense for Dyess and this West Texas area in the event of air attack.

Brig. Gen. William R. Yancey, recently promoted from the rank of colonel, was given an additional base under his 819^th Air Division. Schilling AFB, Kan., will become part of the 819^th next month. Besides a bombardment wing, an Atlas ICBM complex identical in scope to that to be built here is under construction there.

Work is already underway in preparing for construction of the Atlas sites here. Bids will be taken for the general contract work at a special bid opening to be held here next Thursday, with several hundred contractors and sub-contractors in attendance.

The Army Corps of Engineers has set up an area office at Dyess, from which it will supervise construction under the command of Lt. Col. Albert M Antonelli. Located in the same office quarters will be a field office of both Air Materiel Command, in charge of supply for the Atlas project, and the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division, charged with overall supervision of the installation’s construction. More than 300 men will work from the three offices.

Locations for the 12 sites, in relation to Dyess are: 17 miles northeast, near Lake Phantom Hill; 25 miles south, southeast near Lawn; 22 miles south near Bradshaw; 19 miles south, southwest near Shep; 20 miles west, southwest near Nolan; 21 miles north, northwest near Anson; 35 miles north near Corinth; 31 miles northeast near Albany; 20 miles south, southeast near Oplin; and 27 miles south, southwest near Winters.

The sites will all be "hardened," or underground silos, as deep as a 17-story building is tall. Down in this huge hole will be all refueling and maintenance equipment necessary to maintain the Atlas. Located 100 yard from the silo and connected to it by tunnel, will be the firing control center, also underground. The huge Atlas will be stored underground and then raised to launch position above ground by a huge elevator for firing – which will never come unless the U.S. is attacked.

The Atlas itself is a huge missile, capable of delivering a nuclear warhead from Abilene to the heart of Russia.

And it would take only 25 to 30 minutes to reach its target.

The Atlas is more than 80 feet tall, 10 feet in diameter and weighs about 200,000 pounds at launch. Manufactured by Convair, at the company’s San Diego, Calif., plant, it travels at speeds in excess of 16,000 miles an hour and has a range of more than 7,000 miles with amazingly deadly accuracy.

Once the local Atlas squadron is in operation, probably early in 1962, it will mean an additional 700 men for Dyess with an annual payroll of more than $2 million.

Under a top priority government contract, construction is expected to get under way in June, with the general contract to be fulfilled within 14 months.

Complete with all facilities, the installation will be valued at nearly $150 million.

There is also talk that sometime within the next few years, the present B47 bombers of Dyess will be "phased out" and replaced with a more modern aircraft – possibly with the huge B52G, the supersonic B58 or some other modern aircraft. It is relatively unimportant, as Gen. Yancey pointed out in stating: "It would seem to me that Abilene sits in a solid ‘saddle’ with its feet firmly planted in the ‘stirrups’ – the missile and the aircraft. Regardless of which way the emphasis swings – and is should be a matter of emphasis, rather than elimination of either the manned-bomber or missile force – Dyess appears to be in the future planning of our aerospace program."

END OF TEXT

By S. Sgt. Dick Cassin

The past year has been a big one for both Dyess Air Force Base and Abilene, as Dyess was named one of the 11 U.S. sites for the location of an Atlas ICBM squadron.

The announcement in February virtually assured the future Abilene in the role of national defense and the continued operation of Dyess – "the base the people went out and got."

Abilene was a city of 45,000 persons in 1951 when action was first taken to raise $893,621 to purchase the land necessary for an air base. After numerous trips to Washington by members of the National Defense Committee of the Abilene Chamber of Commerce, the base "they wanted" was committed to the Key City.

In May, 1952, the Secretary of Defense included a $32,273,000 request for the base in Abilene, an appropriation which Congress approved in July of the same year.

Today Abilene is a city of approximately 75,000 persons, a good number of which are from it’s "dream" – Dyess Air Force Base, an installation of the Strategic Air Command

Dyess Air Force Base, named in honor of the late Lt. Col. William E. Dyess, in many circles is called the pride of SAC. It’s appearance is both businesslike and beautiful. It’s permanent dormitories and red brick buildings are second to none in the Air Force.

Initial ground-breaking ceremonies for Dyess took place Sept. 24, 1953, at the north end of the runway.

In January, 1955, the base consisted of an Air Base Squadron housed in the tar paper shacks of World War II on the old Tye Army Air Field. Less than a year later the first B-47 jet bomber of the 341^st Bombardment Wing arrived. The bombers were followed shortly by KC97 Stratotankers of the 11^th Air Refueling Squadron.

Abilene Air Force Base (initially named), was dedicated at the conclusion of Abilene'’ Diamond Jubilee on April 15, 1956, and in late December of the same year the base was memorialized in the name of Col. Dyess, a native Texan whose parents live in Albany.

A $12,500,000 contract for the first 944 family housing units was completed in December, 1956. Since that time, the completion of 56 more homes has raised the number of Capehart units to an even 1,000.

In 1957, the 819^th Air Division and Dyess was a one-wing installation of SAC. That year, the 4^th Strategic Support Squadron arrived for permanent assignment with it’s cargo-carrying C-124 Globemasters, from Ellsworth AFB, S.D. Also in 1957, the 96^th Bombardment Wing was transferred to Dyess from Altus AFB, Okla., bringing the division to it’s present combat strength.

No history of Dyess Air Force Base would be complete without the mention of Lt. James E. Obenauf. World-wide attention was focused on Dyess in April 1958, when Obenauf of Dyess’ 10^th Bomb Squadron, 341^st Bombardment Wing, was personally awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by Gen. Thomas S. Power, SAC commander, for safely landing his crippled B-47 at Dyess and saving the life of a fellow crew member.

Since the activation of the base, Dyess units too, have distinguished themselves throughout the command and Air Force wide.

The 11^th Air Refueling Squadron in 1957, earned the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award for refueling support to SAC’s history-making non-stop B-52 flight around the world’s equatorial waist.

In 1957 the 96^th Bombardment Wing tied for sixth place in the SAC Bombing-Navigation competition, in 1958, the 341^st Bombardment Wing returned, as the number one wing in bombing and fifth overall in the same competition; and in 1959 the 341^st won second in bombing and sixth overall.

The men of Dyess and the citizens of Abilene and the surrounding communities are proud of the young, but impressive history of the base.

The community relationship between Dyess and Abilene is unique in it’s origin. No city has ever done as much to bring a military establishment to it’s town and no military man has encountered such a wealth of community effort to make his assignment comfortable.

In the words of Brig. Gen. William R. Yancey, 819^th Air Division Commander, commenting on the selection of Dyess as a ballistic missile site: "Most certainly it is a step forward for the Abilene-Dyess community."

END OF TEXT

 Text From "Minuteman Holds SAC’s Future Hope"

Friday, May 20, 1960

Earmarked for Strategic Air Command is a new development in the ballistic missile program, the Minuteman. This three-stage, missile – the first of it’s kind – offers a tremendous potential to SAC’s mixed force.

In October 1958, the Air Force awarded the contract for assembly and testing of Minuteman to Boeing Airplane Co.

The Minuteman will increase SAC’s arsenal of missiles to eight types, four of which are intercontinental. It is smaller and lighter than the liquid-fueled Atlas and Titan, and promises more power with greater simplicity and less cost.

Speed, range, dimensions and power of this land-based missile have not been announced.

Because of Minuteman’s solid fuel the weapon has an instantaneous reaction capability far surpassing that of it’s predecessors.

Simplicity of storage and maintenance allows the missile to lend itself more readily to "hardening" whereby it can be protected underground to withstand explosive attack of all but a direct hit.

In Minuteman, SAC holds high hopes as actual test launches progress at the Air Forces’s Missile Test Center, Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Engineers have noted that the 12 Atlas sites to be built around Dyess Air Force Base are being designed with future conversion for more modern missiles in mind. Should the Minuteman program prove as successful as present hopes, it could well be a futue replacement for the Atlas at local sites.

First launch, tests and delivery dates for Minuteman have not been announced.

END OF TEXT

Thursday Evening, July 14, 1960

The silo shafting at the Oplin Atlas missile launching site was down 75 feet below ground level, according to reports released by the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division Thursday

The Oplin site, in the southwest corner of Callahan County, southeast of Abilene, is the fartherest along of the 12 sites.

At Baird, digging was down 63 feet, and at Denton Valley, 50 feet. The other two Callahan County sites are almost in a straight north – south line with the Oplin site.

About 30 feet of the reported depths represent open excavation clearings at the sites. This amount of earth is removed, and then the shafting for the site -–about 50 feet in diameter – begins. When completed the silo will extend about eight feet above ground level.

Shoring rings of about five-foot width are placed inside the shaftings with a total of 28 to be placed in each site. At Oplin, eight rings were in, five at Baird and three at Denton.

At Baird finishing was being put on bridging of the concrete collar at the site. This bridge is used for personnel elevators and for the removal of earth from the excavation.

At the Lawn site, due west of the Oplin project in Taylor County, open excavation work was done and the concrete collar was being finished.

Further west, at the Bradshaw site, open excavation was finished and the collar had been started.

Two feet of open excavation remained to be dug at the Winters site.

Some 15 feet of dirt had been removed in the open excavation at the Shep site.

Just across the Nolan County line, at the Nolan site, a layer of rock had been hit some six feet below the surface in the excavation clearing.

Preliminary work consisting of fence building, erection of barricades and signs, was going on at the four northern sites. The northern group includes Anson, Albany, Phantom Lake and Corinth sites.

END OF TEXT

Sunday, Mar 29, 1981

By Larry Lawrence

Military Editor

For slightly more than two years in the 1960s Dyess Air Force Base was the support base and higher headquarters for an ICBM squadron which manned a dozen Atlas F missile sites. The firing silos were located within a 35 mile radius of Abilene.

The 180 foot deep, 53 foot wide silos which housed the nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles still are exiant (sic), but many years ago were sold to individuals by the government. Today the silos are about the only physical reminders of Abilene’s missile days and are visible only to people searching for or familiar with the locations.

It was a great day for Abilene in January 1960 when Rep Omar Burlesen and Sen Lyndon B. Johnson announced that the Abilene area had been selected as the only Texas location for construction of an Atlas F missile complex. Dyess AFB was still new itself in 1960, having been activated only about four years before.

The original missile announcement disclosed that nine firing sites would be constructed. Three months later a second announcement was made by the Department of Defense which said the Abilene complex was being increased to 12 firing sites.

The 12 silos were constructed in six different counties surrounding Abilene. They were near the communities of Nolan, Bradshaw, Shep, Lawn, Oplin, Baird, Phantom Hill, Denton Valley, Albany, Anson, Winters and Corinth West and were identified by the names of those communities.

More than 2 1/2 years elapsed between the date of the original announcement and the turn-over of the completed sites to the Strategic Air Command. That occurred in November 1962 when the final complex – the one located near Albany – was declared operational. The Albany completion had been delayed for several weeks when a heavy steel platform fell to the bottom of the silo during final installation work.

General construction contract for the silos was let in May 1960 with Zachry-Brown of San Antonio as the successful bidder at $20 million. Total cost of the complexes was set at $60 million by the Defense Department.

Finances were not the only costs involved in building the huge silos which housed one of the most awesome strategic weapons then in the nation’s arsenal. There were no accidents with missiles during construction and installation stages but three workers died in falls and a fourth was electrocuted.

On June 21, 1961, approximately 13 months after the letting of the general contract, the Oplin site was completed. It was the first Atlas F site in the nation at which construction was finished on schedule. Construction on the 12^th site – Corinth West – was wrappd (sic) up about four months later and General Dynamics Astronautics, manufacturer of the Atlas, began the final checkout phase prior to Air Force acceptance.

During ceremonies in November 1962 Col. William L McDowell Jr. commander of the 96^th Strategic Aerospace Wing at Dyess, accepted the sites from Col. Hugh B. Manson, commander of the Site Activation Task Force. Col. Ray M. Cole was commander of the 578^th Strategic Missile Squadron which was the unit with operational control over the complex.

The acceptance of the sites marked an end to the construction and activation phases. Only a few technicians still were on hand for the turnover. The civilian work force had hit it’s peak in February 1962 when it reached 3,500 persons. The few civilians remained for several more months to provide technical assistance to the missile crews of the 578^th.

At the time of the formal acceptance it was noted that the completion announcement was an "after the fact" statement and that the missile sites all had become operational sometime prior to acceptance. Col. Cole’s answer, when asked how long they had been operational, was "for some time."

The first Atlas missile was delivered to Dyess by air on Tuesday, December 5, 1961, almost 20 years to the date from Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. None of the sites was far enough along in construction and preparation to receive the 82-foot tall longrange giant at the time.

Dyess AFB was the fourth base to receive Series F Atlas missiles. Others were located at Schilling AFB, Kan., Lincoln AFB, Neb., and Altus AFB, Okla.

One of the early generation ICBMs, the 82-foot Atlas was one of three missiles designed by General Dynamics. It was capable of traveling more than 6,300 miles with a maximum speed of 15,000 miles per hour. The three engines were powered by liquid oxygen and RP-1, a kerosene-like fuel. They could generate 389,000 pounds of thrust.

Although the Atlas missiles were in place here for slightly more than two years, it can be said that they accomplished their mission as part of the nation’s deterrent force. They were never used because, fortunately for the world, they were not needed before they became obsolete to be replaced by more powerful and more modern ICBMs at other locales.

The phaseout of the Abilene missile complexes was announced in November 1964, to be completed no later than March 31, 1965. The announcement from the Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara included the Dyess missiles along with two Navy shipyards and six Air Force bomber bases. A total of 150 overage missiles were included in the cutback

The effect on the Abilene economy was not major in nature, although a large number of military personnel were transferred to other bases. The 578^th Strategic Missile Squadron had 950 military personnel and 12 civilians assigned at the time. Loss of those personnel was compenseated for in part by the assignment of an air refueling squadron, with about 500 personnel, as a subordinate unit of the 96^th Wing. The only personnel lost to the wing were the missilemen of the 578^th.

Transfer of the missiles from Dyess to a storage depot at Norton AFB, Calif., started Jan. 1, 1965. The Atlases had come in by air. They were returned to California via highway, aboard huge trailer transporters, a testament to the low priority assigned to old missiles.

Abilene said goodbye to the last Atlas on Feb., 10, 1965, a little over three years from the date the first one arrived aboard a C-133B aircraft.

COMING SOON:  Diagrams of the Atlas-F Missile Complexes, and LINKS to other sources.

Missile Base Photos

Former Atlas-F Nuclear Missile Base "Corinth West"

Former Atlas-F Nuclear Missile Base "Oplin"

My thanks to Rikki and Bruce, for the invitation to visit their Missile Bases.

It's an experience I'll never forget.

E-Mail Me

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