While at the FMCA rally, we visited the Titan Missile Museum, south of Tucson, Arizona.
It is the last cold war era Titan II nuclear missile, kept in a deactivated state as a museum. Read more about it on that site, if interested.
They have a warhead in the display area:
More exhibits:
Of course, there’s a gift shop:
A model of the silo, and the red safe with the launch keys and codes:
We did a 45 minute tour of the underground facilities. Here’s our tour guide, and a cutaway diagram:
The access point:
Heading down stairs:
A blast door:
The cableway to the silo:
But first, the control room:
All three levels of the control area (living, control, mechanical) are encapsulated in an air-gapped structure, suspended on big springs, so they can withstand earthquakes or near misses:
Fancy tech:
Control panels:
Punched tape etc:
The stairs leading up to the living areas, and down to the mechanical areas (unfortunately not part of the tour):
The tour guide had a couple of kids turn the keys to simulate launching the missile:
Verification codes:
The launch control panel:
Suits:
Heading along the cableway to the silo:
The door into the missile silo:
Photos:
The missile and silo:
A spring that provides shock isolation to electrical stuff:
Back above ground, a security jeep:
Info signs:
Looking down into the missile silo:
The hole proves to spy satellites that this missile is inactive (plus the silo door is fixed half open):
Visiting this museum was quite a sober reminder of the Cold War that we grew up with as kids, and the fears of a nuclear World War III. Which fortunately hasn’t borne out… yet.