Hardened IRCS blueprints

[palagi]

Hi i'm a new comer to the forums, last year I was able to purchase site 6 "Antioch" in Arkansas. I'm am looking for the blue prints to the hardened antenna silos. I would be grateful to anyone that could provide me with blueprints.

Thanks

[CaptainWeekend]

Congratulations on your purchase! I'm almost certain that someone on these forum has the information you are looking for. Just give it a couple of days. If you don't get any responses, I'd recommend contacting someone at the Titan Missile Museum in Tucson. They definitely have the information you're looking for and have always been very helpful.

So now I have a question for you: How did go about finding and purchasing this property?

I've been trying to find a site for sale in either Arkansas or Kansas for a while now. I contacted a real estate agent in Arkansas about purchasing Heber Springs, but he told me the property owner wasn't interested in selling. I've been reminding him every few months or so about my interest in any of the Titan properties around Little Rock, but haven't gotten any leads yet.

How did you find out that this property was for sale? Did you know the previous owner, or did you just happen to be at the right place at the right time?

Very interested in getting some advice about how to find and purchase one of these amazing pieces of history.

-Steve

[palagi]

I was very lucky my in-laws live about 2 miles from the site and noticed it went up for sale. I had been talking to Jim "the owner of site 16" about his site, but I was able to get site 6 for a very reasonable price less than 40k. I hate to tell you that your out of luck on the Heber Springs site it's not for sell, I've personally been to the Heber Springs site several times and it is nicest site I have seen in Arkansas. I have been to 13 of the 18 sites in Arkansas. It took me 6 months to finally contact the owners of site 3 they are snow birds that live up north and the land was in their family since the 1800's and they are not interested in selling that site.

I'm not sure what state your in atm but if your in or come to Arkansas I can easily show you several of the sites.

Troy

[GTHill]

Steve,

I sent you a PM regarding Arkansas sites.

GT

[CaptainWeekend]

Troy,

There is a nice diagram of the IRCS antenna silo in Chuck Penson's book "The Titan II Handbook" on page 35. It's a great book and I highly recommend it.

- Steve

[njh621]

Hello! For any sort of detailed blueprints, you'll want to call the missile museum and ask for Chuck Penson, the archivist. He's usually in Mon-Wed and Friday. Out of curiosity, what are your plans for the site? I've been wondering what the inside of an abandoned site at the other wings looks like. Since Little Rock was the last wing to shut down, there is a high probability that a lot of stuff was left in the control center (aka, a source of parts for people, like me, who want to restore a DMAFB site).

[palagi]

Nick i'm working on opening up the ventilation shaft of the LLC currently, i'm only about 5 feet in and still in concrete so I will not be in the LLC anytime soon, but as soon as I can get in i'll take some video of the inside, but do not expect any of them to be dry in Arkansas. I looked at the ground water tables for all the sites in Ar and only 4 of the 18 LLC might be above the ground water table, mine is one of the ones that will probably have lots of water in it.

Troy

[sherwood]

Yeah. Hate to tell you, but by my memory, 373-6 had the highest water table of any site I pulled alert at, including some of the 374th Squadron sites I went to after certification as a spare crew member before I got my first crew assignment.

Back then, you could expect to see the silo sump pumps come on at least once every hour, twenty-four hours a day, and if either of them required maintenance, it was a 24 hour limit high priority item.

I don't recall a similar frequency of operation for the control center sump pump, however. You may get lucky there.

Just curious, but wouldn't it have been easier to excavate the access portal instead of chipping all that concrete?

[njh621]

Going down the access portable or excavating the long cableway opening (assuming the long cableway was removed at the other two wings, like DMAFB) would be the easiest. Entry through the LCC airshaft is not for the faint at heart (or without proper ventilation). Some crazy guy was determined to get into 570-3 the same way. He jack-hammered out the grout down to the blast valve, and then cut through the valve to get in. EXTREMELY dangerous and crazy, but I have to admire the dedication. The federal/local government wasn't amused (570-3 is on Bureau of Land Management land), and welded a cap over the shaft...which was promptly cut off by explorers/vandals.

Personally, I would have just brought a backhoe on site and dig until the sheriff shows up (one missile historian/engineer "living on the edge" ). I should try this at 571-4 and 571-9 (both owned by Pima County). It'd be making better use of the land compared to the county mining the sites for dirt. Anyways, half-joking aside...

You'll either have to slice through the blast valve, the escape hatch (and that's something you'd want to keep intact), or you could be lucky and the escape hatch could be open. If you're still going to take that route, cut through the blast valve (carefully). But for restoration and easy access, I would suggest digging out the access portal eventually.

[palagi]

Excavating out the access portal is my goal but i'm a fairly new BSN grad and i'm working on the ventilation shaft because I can afford that currently. It will cost 10-15k to open up the access portal. i'm currently in about 1k in equipment for opening up the ventilation shaft. I know it will take awhile to get it cleaned out, but I have alot more time than money atm. I am hoping that the escape hatch is open but i'm willing to cut the center out if I have to. I have no plans on damaging the blast valve, I plan in keeping or repairing the valve to a working condition. Anyone that has served in 373-6 please give me any information that might be helpful, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Troy

[sherwood]

Excavating out the access portal is my goal but i'm a fairly new BSN grad and i'm working on the ventilation shaft because I can afford that currently. It will cost 10-15k to open up the access portal. i'm currently in about 1k in equipment for opening up the ventilation shaft. I know it will take awhile to get it cleaned out, but I have alot more time than money atm. I am hoping that the escape hatch is open but i'm willing to cut the center out if I have to. I have no plans on damaging the blast valve, I plan in keeping or repairing the valve to a working condition. Anyone that has served in 373-6 please give me any information that might be helpful, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Troy

I'm afraid it wasn't one of my regular sites. We usually went to 3-2, 3-7, or 3-9, so I'm not as clear about 3-6 as a site I went to regularly.

The other problem is that I'm trying to remember stuff from nearly 40 years ago.

The one thing that stood out about 3-6 was that unlike any other site I know of, it had a pipe in the silo sump that went through the silo wall with an electrically controlled valve on it (my memory was that it was smaller than a 3 inch pipe, maybe 1.5 inch diameter). This pipe's valve was normally kept open; it drained water from outside the silo into the sump, and its purpose was to keep the local water table from getting too high around the silo.

That was the root cause of the frequent activation of the silo sump pumps.

Other than that, I don't remember it being significantly different from any other site (other than it was the closest site of them all to the base)

[njh621]

I am hoping that the escape hatch is open but i'm willing to cut the center out if I have to. I have no plans on damaging the blast valve, I plan in keeping or repairing the valve to a working condition.

The blast valve seems pretty simple in construction, and that would be the thing to cut apart as opposed to the escape hatch. The valve might already have the hydraulics cut out of it (as seen in at least one Tucson site). If you want to make it operational for demonstration purposes, that can be done even if you cut it apart and weld it back together, but I'm not sure if it can be made to function as it did operational (close on shock-wave detection). But I'm hoping that your escape shaft will be open so you don't have to cut anything.

When you get the point of cleaning out the control center, PLEASE don't rush into cutting up any unwanted equipment cabinets for scrap metal. There is a high probability that Little Rock has more cabinets left in the LCC than other wings, and I'm sure some site owners (or future site owners...*raises hand*) might be interested in saving them from the scrap yard. Food for thought...

[eschling]

Hi i'm a new comer to the forums, last year I was able to purchase site 6 "Antioch" in Arkansas.

Welcome to the website Mr. Paligi, you have certainly come to the right place for help with all things Titan II as there are a lot of helpful people out there with a heap of knowledge. My wife and I bought the 571-1 site just outside Benson, AZ a few years ago, so I am most interested in hearing about your experience with opening the ventilation shaft. I hope to do the same in the future although only for an air supply path and not for access. The escape hatch is a a rather large and very thick chunk of metal and as Nick mentioned, it would be preferable to keep it intact. Probably can't get a replacement hatch at Home Depot even in Tucson or Littlerock Hopefully you will find it open, although I don't think any of them in AZ have been found that way. Cutting through the blast valve and frame work would not be much easier. Although it was done at 0-3 (I met the goofy kid who pulled that off) I just think its a dangerously bad idea.
So what kind of equipment is working for you to get the grout out of the shaft? We would all enjoy seeing some pictures of your operation if you get a chance.
Someone earlier mentioned checking out Siloworld for info, but it appears that website has gone dark. How unfortunate for all of us. Anybody know whats going on with it?
Good luck with your efforts, many of us would love to be there helping if we could.
Sincerely,
Ed

[TerrorOfTucson]

Congrats on your purchase. Just for info--have you bought the Titan CD set from http://www.afmissileers.org/? $10. Only one of the 5 CDs is on TII, but it has the ops manual in it's entirety (as of Sep '75), and lots of photos.

Bad Sam

[njh621]

nly one of the 5 CDs is on TII, but it has the ops manual in it's entirety (as of Sep '75), and lots of photos.

Bad Sam

Yeah...I've been working on sending a few DVDs worth of content to the AAFM to expand the Titan II CDs. I'm lazy...sorry .