Comments on: A California Titan Missile Base

By: Ralph Motto

Ralph Motto — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 08:46:35 +0000

Hello i wanted to say my father used to be a techinician on the titan missles up and around the denver area he used to tell me all kinds of stories of being there and for years i always wanted to go to see a silo until i moved to Roswell,NM there are a few still intact Atlas-c silos everywhere. These are much smaller than the titan silos and have an elevator to raise the missle to ground level to launch but its verry neat to see its an experience.

By: Jonathan Haeber

Jonathan Haeber — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:49:38 +0000

Thank You, too, Herb. I love all these memories. They make for incredible stories.

By: Herb Sissom

Herb Sissom — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:39:16 +0000

I served in the USAF in the three Titan sites, Buttes, Chico, and Lincoln in the early sixties. I was a guidance and flight control technician, Propellent Loading and Pressure tech, Corrosion Control Technician, and other assignments during my tour in California. Thanks for the postings, interesting to run across the reports. I had already located the site locations on Google Earth, and wondered about the site’s conditions. I was locked down in the Sutter Buttes site during the Cuban Milssile Crisis. What an experience, quite un-nerving… Thanks again.

By: U.S. War Spending in Cartograms - Bearings

U.S. War Spending in Cartograms - Bearings — Tue, 13 May 2008 06:39:01 +0000

[...] Posts Inside Neverland RanchBreaking News: SS Independence Leaving San FranciscoSo Alang SS IndyA California Titan Missile BaseColorado Sugar Beet History & ArchitectureTreatise on TrespassingHighway 101 in a Post-Industrial [...]

By: Jonathan Haeber

Jonathan Haeber — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 05:51:11 +0000

Thank you so much for the recollections, David.

By: david

david — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 05:44:53 +0000

When I was a teenager in Chico Ca. we would go out to “the silos” our abandoned titan missile base.From time to time I’ll tell people about our adventures.The silo doors were open and you could look down to the water 150′ down.Walking down the metal steps around the main elevator shaft with that musty smell that you never forget .Going through the blast doors more than a foot thick that still swing just fine.There was a forklift sitting at the bottom level,your tax dollars at work.Two huge domes,control rooms, filled with debris.The tunnels branched out to the silos, more blast doors along the way,massive tanks that used to contain the fuel for the rockets were off to one side. If you were’nt careful you could pass through an open door and plunge down 50′ or so to the watery bottom of one of the silos, apparently that happened to two unfortunate visitors.The sounds of fluttering pidgons living above by the open silo doors echoed throughout.You could see where they stopped painting like every one suddenly left.Trash, debris, decay and an abandoned nuclear missile base a perfect setting for memories I’ll never forget.

By: A Bisset

A Bisset — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:29:33 +0000

Glad we could help break you in on the Titans…I’m supremely jealous you have one in such pristine order. I’m hoping to be down your way sometime in February though…

By: Scott Haefner

Scott Haefner — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 04:25:37 +0000

Wow, Jon…you did an excellent job of capturing the essence of being 50-feet underground in a dark, moist, hostile environment that very few people are able (fortunate?) to witness for themselves. It is an unmatched experience as you reveal.

One thing you didn’t mention is the wide variance in temperature depending on how close you are to an air intake / exhaust silos. This was especially noticeable on my second trip when the ambient air temperature outside was in the 40s. Photographing near the exhaust silo, I was freezing, but away from the opening where the air circulation / exchange is reduced, it was warm enough to walk around in a T-shirt comfortably.

I think you definitely made a wise choice when you decided to bring us along with you for your second trip (rather than going it alone)…for your own sake and mine too

By: eric

eric — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:17:30 +0000

Titan 1 locations:

LARSON AFB - MOSES LAKE, WASHINGTON
BEALE AFB - MARYSVILLE, CALIFORNIA
ELLSWORTH AFB - RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA
MT. HOME AFB - MT. HOME, IDAHO
LOWRY AFB - DENVER, COLORADO
VANDENBERG AFB -LOMPOC, CALIFORNIA

Try http://www.siloworld.com as a great source for vast quantities of ICBM information.