Topside
You might think that there would not be much to
see at the surface of an underground base. You would be right, to an extent;
but only to an extent. What little there is to see, is fascinating. 
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ABOVE: What was the inner gate, when the silo was in service. This is now the entrance to the topside exhibit. LEFT: Just inside of the gates, are some former air force vehicles, which had serviced the site, when it was active. |
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Years ago, if you were too close, hung
around too long, or showed a bit too much curiosity about the site, you might
find yourself seeing this. The air police patrolled the missile fields, and
responded to alarms, and to calls from the underground crews. |
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LEFT: A few of the old service and support vehicles, used during the operation of the silo. Nothing very exciting here; but day to day operation of the sites was no different than day to day operation of any other industrial grade facility. BELOW: An overview of the silo door, and a few of the topside displays. |
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LEFT: A view of the door stops, for the silo door. The concrete blocks were added latter, to prevent the door from ever opening completely. This was done in order to remain compliant with disarmament treaties. BELOW: The silo door, door stops, and the observation deck and greenhouse built over the half open silo door. |
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A fueling truck, over the fueling hardstand. |
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This was a temperature control unit for
refueling. Though the Titan II did not use cryogenic fuel, temperature control
is still important. Nitrogen tetroxide vaporizes at 70 degrees, while Hydrazine
freezes at 34 degrees. The fuels, rocket, and silo are kept to a constant
temperature of 61 degrees. |
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A look at the topside area. Visible behind
the silo door, is the extensive antenna farm of the site. Also visible, just
to the right, are the "topsies", which were Doppler detectors. They were set
to detect anything above a limit of about 80 pounds, and were deployed at
various locations around the site. |
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This is the "back" of the silo door. THe
door would be moved back, until it shock buffers hit the stops. Here you can
see that several concrete blocks have been set in place in front of the stops,
to prevent the door from ever opening all the way. This was required to stay
in compliance with treaty talks. |
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A pop up antenna, which was designed to
be retracted, during a nuclear attack, and then be raised for communications,
after things cleared. |
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A large, multi band antennas sits just outside
the inner fence. It was to be used for day to day communications, and would
not have survived a nuclear attack. |
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