User Panel
Posted: 5/12/2023 9:52:02 PM EDT
How about we talk about these?
The Titan Rocket - From War Machine to Space Giant to Obsolescence An interesting piece of hardware. But it probably stayed in service a little longer than it should have. Hypergolic fuels are pretty dangerous. Command and Control (2016) The Socket HD 1980 Damascus Titan II Missile (ICBM) Explosion |
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If you ever get the chance:
https://titanmissilemuseum.org/ |
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View Quote This. Titan II. Was pretty cool. Got to "Turn The Key" for a simulation launch. Facility is very 60's but got the Job done until the 80's. The Titan II was groundbreaking as it could be stored fully fuelled & ready to launch from inside the silo. No waiting to load Kerosene & Lox or having to raise the entire missile up & out to launch. And the Titan II served as the launch platform for the Gemini spaceflights. Bigger_Hammer |
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There were/are underground silos scattered all throughout the desert southwest.
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Quoted: This. Titian II. Was pretty cool. Got to "Turn The Key" for a simulation launch. Facility is very 60's but got the Job done until the 80's. The Titian II was groundbreaking as it could be stored fully fuelled & ready to launch from inside the silo. No waiting to load Kerosene & Lox or having to raise the entire missile up & out to launch. And the Titian II served as the launch platform for the Gemini spaceflights. Bigger_Hammer View Quote |
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Daughter served eight years in the silo and a total of twenty five years in the AF.
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My father worked on the team that devised the guidance system.
All done with slide rules and sine tables. Analog computers. The missiles had their own spinning gyroscope on board. He didn't care to talk about the accuracy of the finalized system they proved in New Mexico and over the Pacific, so long as there were missiles in the ground. He did say that they were very, very pleasantly surprised. Astonished even. He would be 94 today. He did that work when he was in the prime of his life, just out of the Navy. That's a really old system. |
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I did the Titan II museum over a decade ago and it was awesome. I went to Pima the next day as well. They are must see places if you find yourself in Arizona.
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Fun Titan II Fact. The Titan II was primarily the "Big Stick" of the ICBM force for going after Soviet / Chinese Command & Control Bunkers - (A.K.A. leadership).
While each of the later solid fueled Minuteman III carried a MIRV 'package' of three warheads in the 'Kiloton' range + "penetration aids", the Titan II carried one Big & Bad 6 Megaton Monster warhead. Anyplace underneath such a beast... would NOT be a good place to hide when set to surface burst. Bigger_Hammer |
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Minuteman III for the win. Silos are so much simpler with easier access to reentry system if the need arose. Plus we didn’t feel like it would self-launch at any time.
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Quoted: I did the Titan II museum over a decade ago and it was awesome. I went to Pima the next day as well. They are must see places if you find yourself in Arizona. View Quote Did exactly that in April. They are close enough that you can do both in a day (if you start early & have the stamina). Do Pima Air & Space first (lots of outdoors displays and it gets HOT in AZ quickly when the sun comes up), then enjoy the cool comfort of that Titan Facility under ground. Five Stars! Bigger_Hammer |
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Scott Manley vid. He goofed when he said "Michael Burke" perfectly timed a Titan launch during a TV segment--it was James Burke at the end of an episode of Connections, the classic late '70s show about technological change.
I got a tour of the Martin Marietta plant near Denver in 1984, got to see Titan rockets under construction. Very impressive, and kinda old school--old ladies were building the wiring harnesses by stringing various colors of wire on long panels. It was basically a full size schematic of the rocket on a long plywood wall, with every wire and connection painted on the surface. I also saw the bare rocket motors being built--the actual combustion chambers were surprisingly small considering how powerful they were. |
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Quoted: Fun Titian II Fact. The Titian II was primarily the "Big Stick" of the ICBM force for going after Soviet / Chinese Command & Control Bunkers - (A.K.A. leadership). While each of the later solid fueled Minuteman III carried a MIRV 'package' of three warheads in the 'Kiloton' range + "penetration aids", the Titan II carried one Big & Bad 6 Megaton Monster warhead. Anyplace underneath such a beast... would NOT be a good place to hide when set to surface burst. Bigger_Hammer View Quote I believe it was a nine megaton warhead when I was in the business. |
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Quoted: My father worked on the team that devised the guidance system. All done with slide rules and sine tables. Analog computers. The missiles had their own spinning gyroscope on board. He didn't care to talk about the accuracy of the finalized system they proved in New Mexico and over the Pacific, so long as there were missiles in the ground. He did say that they were very, very pleasantly surprised. Astonished even. He would be 94 today. He did that work when he was in the prime of his life, just out of the Navy. That's a really old system. View Quote Neat. Those missiles always knew where they were, because they knew where they weren't |
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Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS has a neat one you can get up close and personal with.
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The engine test stands at Edwards are really cool to see. Locals say they could hear the rumble in town every time they fired one up.
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I went to the museum when I was around 11-12 years old. Would like to go back 30 years later to experience it as an adult. Would leave a different impression for sure.
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There's a Titan I sitting out on display/corroding away at I-75 and 16th Ave in Cordele, GA.
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Quoted: The astronauts said they could tell it was designed to jump off the pad and deliver nukes quickly. During Gemini launches the acceleration was so intense the forces would reach up to 8 Gs inside the capsule. View Quote Yeah, the Atlas & Titan missiles weren't designed for the purpose of launching people into orbit. The Saturn V maxed at 3G's during launch I believe. |
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Quoted: Fun Titan II Fact. The Titan II was primarily the "Big Stick" of the ICBM force for going after Soviet / Chinese Command & Control Bunkers - (A.K.A. leadership). While each of the later solid fueled Minuteman III carried a MIRV 'package' of three warheads in the 'Kiloton' range + "penetration aids", the Titan II carried one Big & Bad 6 Megaton Monster warhead. Anyplace underneath such a beast... would NOT be a good place to hide when set to surface burst. Bigger_Hammer View Quote I thought the W53 was 9 MT? |
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Quoted: Neat. Those missiles always knew where they were, because they knew where they weren't View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: My father worked on the team that devised the guidance system. All done with slide rules and sine tables. Analog computers. The missiles had their own spinning gyroscope on board. He didn't care to talk about the accuracy of the finalized system they proved in New Mexico and over the Pacific, so long as there were missiles in the ground. He did say that they were very, very pleasantly surprised. Astonished even. He would be 94 today. He did that work when he was in the prime of his life, just out of the Navy. That's a really old system. Neat. Those missiles always knew where they were, because they knew where they weren't |
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Quoted: There's a Titan I sitting out on display/corroding away at I-75 and 16th Ave in Cordele, GA. View Quote Passed it yesterday on my way back from my FL house. I always point it out to who ever is with me. Usually my wife. She doesn't care. I wish they would put the real nose cone back on it. The crap they have on it now makes it look weak. |
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drove past that launch site while it was active every time i went to work at the copper mine and had NO idea of what was waiting there...
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Warhead yield alone made it badass when it wasn’t trying to kill its crews. One exploded in a silo in Arkansas, and a site in Kansas was put out of service by a propellant spill that killed a couple guys.
Titan II was obsolete before the first site went on alert. Minuteman actually beat it into service. If not for the giant warhead it probably would have been withdrawn by 1970. |
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Quoted: The astronauts said they could tell it was designed to jump off the pad and deliver nukes quickly. During Gemini launches the acceleration was so intense the forces would reach up to 8 Gs inside the capsule. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: This. Titian II. Was pretty cool. Got to "Turn The Key" for a simulation launch. Facility is very 60's but got the Job done until the 80's. The Titian II was groundbreaking as it could be stored fully fuelled & ready to launch from inside the silo. No waiting to load Kerosene & Lox or having to raise the entire missile up & out to launch. And the Titian II served as the launch platform for the Gemini spaceflights. Bigger_Hammer They also described it as much smoother than an Atlas or Saturn launch. Those rockets had a lot of vibration. |
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View Quote Also got to "Turn the Key" Such a cool experience |
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Quoted: This. Titan II. Was pretty cool. Got to "Turn The Key" for a simulation launch. Facility is very 60's but got the Job done until the 80's. The Titan II was groundbreaking as it could be stored fully fuelled & ready to launch from inside the silo. No waiting to load Kerosene & Lox or having to raise the entire missile up & out to launch. And the Titan II served as the launch platform for the Gemini spaceflights. Bigger_Hammer View Quote |
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Quoted: Passed it yesterday on my way back from my FL house. I always point it out to who ever is with me. Usually my wife. She doesn't care. I wish they would put the real nose cone back on it. The crap they have on it now makes it look weak. View Quote Why is there a nuclearly armed Krystal in Georgia, and wtf is that on the top of it? |
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Quoted: My father worked on the team that devised the guidance system. All done with slide rules and sine tables. Analog computers. The missiles had their own spinning gyroscope on board. He didn't care to talk about the accuracy of the finalized system they proved in New Mexico and over the Pacific, so long as there were missiles in the ground. He did say that they were very, very pleasantly surprised. Astonished even. He would be 94 today. He did that work when he was in the prime of his life, just out of the Navy. That's a really old system. View Quote That's a big leap, the first version of Titan didn't have internal guidance, but rather ground guidance. The had a radar dishes in a separate silos. As the missile was getting ready to launch the radar would be raised out of its silo. The missile was launched. The radar would track it. A computer in launch control would feed the missile course corrections based on data from the radar. The Titan 1 complexes contained multiple missiles, they were huge. |
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Quoted: Warhead yield alone made it badass when it wasn't trying to kill its crews. One exploded in a silo in Arkansas, and a site in Kansas was put out of service by a propellant spill that killed a couple guys. Titan II was obsolete before the first site went on alert. Minuteman actually beat it into service. If not for the giant warhead it probably would have been withdrawn by 1970. View Quote |
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Quoted: There were actually 2 "mishaps" (their words, not mine) in AR, one in 1965, the other in 1980. The same missile was involved in both. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Warhead yield alone made it badass when it wasn't trying to kill its crews. One exploded in a silo in Arkansas, and a site in Kansas was put out of service by a propellant spill that killed a couple guys. Titan II was obsolete before the first site went on alert. Minuteman actually beat it into service. If not for the giant warhead it probably would have been withdrawn by 1970. Same actual missile, or same site? |
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Quoted: That's a big leap, the first version of Titan didn't have internal guidance, but rather ground guidance. The had a radar dishes in a separate silos. As the missile was getting ready to launch the radar would be raised out of its silo. The missile was launched. The radar would track it. A computer in launch control would feed the missile course corrections based on data from the radar. The Titan 1 complexes contained multiple missiles, they were huge. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: My father worked on the team that devised the guidance system. All done with slide rules and sine tables. Analog computers. The missiles had their own spinning gyroscope on board. He didn't care to talk about the accuracy of the finalized system they proved in New Mexico and over the Pacific, so long as there were missiles in the ground. He did say that they were very, very pleasantly surprised. Astonished even. He would be 94 today. He did that work when he was in the prime of his life, just out of the Navy. That's a really old system. That's a big leap, the first version of Titan didn't have internal guidance, but rather ground guidance. The had a radar dishes in a separate silos. As the missile was getting ready to launch the radar would be raised out of its silo. The missile was launched. The radar would track it. A computer in launch control would feed the missile course corrections based on data from the radar. The Titan 1 complexes contained multiple missiles, they were huge. Titan I was supposed to get inertial guidance, but the system developed for it was turned over to the Atlas program for Atlas E and F. I have never seen an explanation for why Titan was switched to radio command guidance instead of using the same inertial system for both missiles. Atlas D used radio command guidance as well. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Warhead yield alone made it badass when it wasn't trying to kill its crews. One exploded in a silo in Arkansas, and a site in Kansas was put out of service by a propellant spill that killed a couple guys. Titan II was obsolete before the first site went on alert. Minuteman actually beat it into service. If not for the giant warhead it probably would have been withdrawn by 1970. Same actual missile, or same site? |
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Quoted: Fun Titan II Fact. The Titan II was primarily the "Big Stick" of the ICBM force for going after Soviet / Chinese Command & Control Bunkers - (A.K.A. leadership). While each of the later solid fueled Minuteman III carried a MIRV 'package' of three warheads in the 'Kiloton' range + "penetration aids", the Titan II carried one Big & Bad 6 Megaton Monster warhead. Anyplace underneath such a beast... would NOT be a good place to hide when set to surface burst. Bigger_Hammer View Quote 9 Mt warhead Eta: everyone needs to visit the museum |
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The pucker factor of watching that giant socket fall down the silo and rupture the fuel tank is something else.
It's a few years old now, but I highly recommend this book about the US' nuclear infrastructure. It is mind blowing how extensive and expensive it was. A Nuclear Family Vacation: Travels in the World of Atomic Weaponry Also tremendous environmental damage all over the country. I guess in a way we are lucky that poisoned soil, water and air probably killed more people than the weapons themselves. Everything has its price. |
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Quoted: Not made anymore, but you sometimes find them for sale on auction sites. https://i.imgur.com/YOQM56V.jpg https://i.imgur.com/gCC0kvb.jpg View Quote Know of the lady who does Marketing for MotoArt, she's hotter than any nuke ever thought about being. One of my old Comair pilots, in addition to flying B-52s, was also Chief of Security at Little Rock AFB. Titan l silos were never imploded, dumb shits go into the silos. Sometimes they don't come back out. |
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