"Restoration" of Atlas Silo

Pretty good stuff here http://www.killerjeanne.com/
...............Doc

wrote:
Pretty good stuff here http://www.killerjeanne.com/
..............Doc


That looks like a lot of fun to have a gander at...
I'm trying to remember.... was it a Atlas or Titan I that snapped the
cables on the counterweights the first time they tried to raise it
vertically to the surface at fell right back down the silo again?

Pat

Pat Flannery wrote:

That looks like a lot of fun to have a gander at...
I'm trying to remember.... was it a Atlas or Titan I that snapped the
cables on the counterweights the first time they tried to raise it
vertically to the surface at fell right back down the silo again?

It was a Titan I. They raised the missile (which was carrying a full load
of fuel) to the surface, but before they could lower it back down, the
elevator collapsed.

"ablo" wrote in message
...
Pat Flannery wrote:

That looks like a lot of fun to have a gander at...
I'm trying to remember.... was it a Atlas or Titan I that snapped the
cables on the counterweights the first time they tried to raise it
vertically to the surface at fell right back down the silo again?

It was a Titan I. They raised the missile (which was carrying a full load
of fuel) to the surface, but before they could lower it back down, the
elevator collapsed.

Which leads to, "maybe it's better to design a silo where the missile can
launch from underground, instead of using an elevator to lift tons of rocket
fuel and nuclear warheads". :-)

Jeff
--
beb - To paraphrase Stephen Colbert, reality has an anti-Ares I bias.

ablo wrote:


That looks like a lot of fun to have a gander at...
I'm trying to remember.... was it a Atlas or Titan I that snapped the
cables on the counterweights the first time they tried to raise it
vertically to the surface at fell right back down the silo again?


It was a Titan I. They raised the missile (which was carrying a full load
of fuel) to the surface, but before they could lower it back down, the
elevator collapsed.



Did the LOX and Kerosene go "boom" at that point?
I once saw some really funny video of a attempted liftoff of a Titan II
out of a "hot launch" silo.
The camera is looking at the top of the silo, and you slowly see this
warhead rise into view over the edge of the silo...then it just sits
there for a second or so...and begins to slowly descend back into the
silo...then all hell breaks loose. I assume the turbopumps on the first
stage malfunctioned shortly after ignition.

Pat

Pat Flannery wroteL

Did the LOX and Kerosene go "boom" at that point?

Sure did.

I once saw some really funny video of a attempted liftoff of a Titan
II out of a "hot launch" silo.
The camera is looking at the top of the silo, and you slowly see this
warhead rise into view over the edge of the silo...then it just sits
there for a second or so...and begins to slowly descend back into the
silo...then all hell breaks loose. I assume the turbopumps on the
first stage malfunctioned shortly after ignition.

A lot of things can cause thrust decay or engine shutdown. I never saw
the video you mentioned, but I did see one of a disastrous Titan II silo
launch. Upon liftoff some wiring was ripped out of the base of the
missile, cutting off the power supply. The Titan thus had no functioning
guidance system and immediately started spinning around erratically. The
range safety officer couldn't destroy it because of the power loss.

Everyone was in a panic because the Titan could reach a populated area
in a matter of minutes and crash, spraying toxic propellants everywhere.
But it never got that far. After about 30 or so seconds of flight, it
pitched over and broke apart from structural stress. Date of the
incident was February 1963.

ablo wrote:
A lot of things can cause thrust decay or engine shutdown. I never saw
the video you mentioned, but I did see one of a disastrous Titan II silo
launch. Upon liftoff some wiring was ripped out of the base of the
missile, cutting off the power supply. The Titan thus had no functioning
guidance system and immediately started spinning around erratically. The
range safety officer couldn't destroy it because of the power loss.

Everyone was in a panic because the Titan could reach a populated area
in a matter of minutes and crash, spraying toxic propellants everywhere.
But it never got that far. After about 30 or so seconds of flight, it
pitched over and broke apart from structural stress. Date of the
incident was February 1963.


The one I mentioned appeared on "Rowen & Martin's Laugh-In" when the
Pentagon (or was it the Air Force?) was awarded "The Flying Fickle
Finger Of Fate" prize... the same collection of clips had a really wild
one of a Bomarc lifting off, getting around 2,000 feet up, and then
start spinning around in very tight loops... amazingly, it manages to
stay airborne for 15-20 seconds before slamming back into the ground. It
almost looks like one of the ramjets lit, and the other one didn't, but
it didn't look like it was going fast enough for the ramjets to generate
much thrust, so it was probably something going off-kilter with the
rocket engine.

Pat