Rare Look Inside Excavated Minuteman Missile Launch Complex
Вставка
- Опубліковано 9 жов 2015
- It took two years of fighting red tape into months of excavating concrete and water but Russ Nielsen was determined to find out what was inside this long ago decommissioned missile launch complex in central Missouri.
If anyone wants to check out what a missile alert facility from the 60s looks like now, and actually go into the capsule without having to excavate it, go to Wyoming. They have a decommissioned missile alert facility that's been converted into a museum. It's called Quebec 01 MAF.
I spent 5 years there, been right down to that door! Never thought they would be decommissioned ever🇺🇸
Thank you for your service and yeah after I just start digging into like the Nike Hercules missiles and everything and finding out about what those bunkers and all were I never even knew anything about them and after all this history and how much time the Army spent and Military spent putting in these places it's a shame that a lot more of them aren't restored and preserved so Generations in the future can see what was a part of our great countries protection and Heritage of the past
I did 200+ alerts at Whiteman in various LCCs and was very happy...no ecstatic to not have to do another one. About 25 years later I did visit Oscar one after it was shutdown and used as a museum piece. Going down the elevator the smell was just the same and brought those 200+ alert memories right back.
Now I can better appreciate what and how we all did our jobs: security, maintenance, site managers, cooks and launch crews. Given a technical order manual and the same equipment I believe I could still pull a safe alert.
I thought we were pretty good and we were but what makes me so confident was the training, testing and the high standards that really made us good. I never had that feeling again in either in other military or civilian occupations.
One of the most unique first person accounts I have seen from dozens and dozens of exploration videos of old bunkers. Very very few people ever comment that actually worked in them. Really any details you care to share would be great for history.
@@geronimo5537 Thank you for the kind words. Sometimes it takes a bit of time to accurately reflect on a situation and this is true about missile alert duty.
Tremendous pressure to perform and be mistake free. Not only the nature of dealing with nuclear weapons but the monthly testing, training and the occasional evaluations.
There were three monthly test: codes, weapon system and emergency war order (EWO) and minimum passing was 90 percent.
However to get your job or become a trainer or evaluator then 100 percent was the bar.
Once on alert great care was required to monitor missile status and quickly and accurately respond to all situations. Each missile alert was disegated afterwards for mistakes.
I went on to work in another nuclear weapon system (Ground Launched Cruise Missile) as a crew member , battle planner, instructor then finally as an INF and START Treaty officer.
My work in and around two different nuclear weapon systems over many years leaves with the appreciation for those who do the job with them but more importantly it left me with fear of their use either accidentally or on purpose.
I worked at Mike-01 and many other missile sites from 1985 until 1994. There are many guys still around that area that could fill in the missing information.
It was in my squadron...I pulled alert there 83-87
Yes that's what I really liked it there still officers around and crewmen that served and worked at these places and one place I saw where they had did a restoration of the base they were actually being a tour guide and I remember where they opened up the cabinet in one video showing all the vacuum tubes and everything inside and the nice thing about the vacuum tube technology is it was immune to an electromagnetic pulse and wouldn't get fried like IC chips can
I wish some young people would get interested in this more so that the people around from the past could teach them what they know and they can pass it on to other generation and keep the history from being forgotten especially after so much effort was put into it to protect our country and all the service
Thank you for your service and I can just imagine what that would be like being on alert there was a Nike Hercules video that I watched and a servicemen from there when they were found out to remove the red caps off of the missiles and they thought hey this is maybe something serious here and then they we're waiting and have the order hold the fire for a long time and then finally it was over but for a while he said that everyone thought that they were actually going to be serious and go into launch mode for real
I was on a Titan II launch crew back in the 70's. What a fun and interesting job. Good luck on your project.
Shame there's no UA-cam channel documenting his progress. Would like to have seen how he got on with it after 5 years.
so as far as i can tell, these guys got the outer blast door open in 2015 when that news story you posted was filmed, but were still trying to get the water out and try the inner door to the capsule, as far as i can tell from some googling, by 2017 they got into the capsule i think, still a little unsure on that but i know that Russell posted to for sale on ebay, I never got to see the actual page on ebay but from what i saw on the plethora of news articles on it being listed on ebay it appears they may have gotten the capsule door open, which would have been anti-climatic because the minute man sites are pretty much just giant holes in the ground after the decommissioning, certainly not worth digging them back out
That is so good to hear that someone's actually getting into one of those again and going to use it. I don't know if I would have went through all the red tape because it's thirty feet below ground
There's also a sodium chromate matter. Hopefully none spilled.
@@TheMrTTT There were no missiles there.
@@schwags1969 True for LCC.
There is an Old LCF (Launch control Facility) turned museum located in Wyoming called Quebec 01. It had control of 10 Minute man missiles and then was converted over to the Peacekeeper. I did a a full tour video of the topside facility as well as the underground capsule on my channel. You can see this in all its (almost) restored glory.
In 1964/65/66 I was a food service specialist that prepared, cooked, and served ''hot'' meals to missile officers, security force, site mgr. And any maintenance crews that were at that LCF. So I went up and down that elevator shaft and opened/closed that dreaded blast door 3 & sometimes 4 times aday to bring the missiles their meals they ordered.
The missiles ordered food? Wow! Who knew they ate?
So tell us, did the missiles have any special dietary restrictions? I would imagine there were calorie restrictions to prevent them from getting too fat and stuck in their silos.
you too are smart asses , this guy protected our nation/freedom! we all know what he meant go choke on a bone somewhere soyboys.
how annoying was going through a slow blast door multiple times a day?
@@haywoodyoudome I can confirm that the tv dinners for the alert crews were prepared specially in a secured building by SAC cooks and kept under lock and key until they were delivered. Any other way of feeding them was considered too vulnerable to Cold War sabotage. Unfortunately this meant the food rode in a truck for sometimes hours before getting to each site. Cold and unappetizing was the general synopsis, with the only benefit being you got to order which tv dinner you wanted from a list of ~25 entrees. You tended to pick ones that were okay cold.
I found your video because I saw the eBay listing03/04/2016 in residential real estate. Thanks for sharing this.
Took a our through the Titan missile museum in Green Valley Arizona once. All the control boards are labeled Allis-Chalmers on them, fascinating.
Is there another video of entering the LCC?
Nice find!
So great to see!
Amazing!
Very cool!!
Cool stuff hope it works out
This was published 4 years ago in 2015 after you opened the 1st door but I don't see any subsequent videos like opening door 2. You left us hanging in suspense. LOL
so these guys got the outer blast door open in 2015 when that news story you posted was filmed, but were still trying to get the water out and try the inner door to the capsule, as far as i can tell from some googling, by 2017 they got into the capsule i think, still a little unsure on that but i know that Russell posted to for sale on ebay, I never got to see the actual page on ebay but from what i saw on the plethora of news articles on it being listed on ebay it appears they may have gotten the capsule door open
They got it open. The blast door that leads into the capsule was the one with Yosemite Sam painted on it. The inside of that door is where you can see that large box shaped structure that was the suspended launch center…it had the things that looked like train rails hanging from the ceiling.
Thank you for this video and this is really cool and very interesting I just had recently started finding out about these underground bunkers and bases and it is just fascinating about the history behind them and the men that served here and some of them had the guard dogs and everything and even had their own kennels for them one video I saw it even still have the names of the kennel or the dogs on the kennel after all these years which I thought was pretty cool I had a chance to check out an army Proving Grounds ordinance property and that was really neat to be standing on a piece of History like that I'm glad that you were able to get it swing to where you are allowed to go down there good luck with that project
I would love to see an update on this
I was at Ellsworth Air Force Base in 1991 (because that's when Russia became our "friends" and we were required by treaty to inactivate)when inactivation first started. I was a missileer. If the guy is hoping to find any computer systems left in the Launch Control Capsule (LCC) where missileers were, he's outta luck!
Jennifer Wilcox hi Jennifer, I too was at Ellsworth from 75 to 79 and out in the complex Security from the 66th to the 68th, worked Echo, No ember and Kilo sites mostly, I loved it! Many didn’t. I was dis heartened when I found out it was decommissioned, never thought that could happen. Also we had no female officers in the LCC as of that time so I’m glad you were able to do it!
Yeah they were suppose to remove all that equipment but from what I seen from Titan sites, they got lazier as they went from site to site. Who knows they could still be there but very doubtful. It don't hurt to be optimistic and hope to see some stuff they left behind.
I was in Hardened Antenna Maintenance at Whiteman AFB from 1975 - 1978. I maintained the Antennas at the Launch Control Centers, including I am sure this one. Where is this one located?
I believe this one was in Holden. I may be wrong, I know of a few locations not too far from where I live in Leeton.
Here in New Mexico we have some very interesting missile sites that have been abandoned and people go all the time to drink or mess around in there but it’s pretty cool
Did you get past the final door ? Pretty cool you got as far as you dad!
I maintained those and the missile sites from 90-93 at Whiteman AFB
In addition to Yosimite Sam there should have been some other artwork on one of the blast doors. It was part of Project Warrior. Does anyone remember the name of the 351st B-17 that was chosen? Thanks
what are the changes of a decommissioned command or missile base of still being on the target list..just asking?
The USSR typically targeted the silos themselves, but it would not be surprising if some of the old launch control facilities were, and still might be, on Russia's target list. I saw an interesting piece from the Russian media, bragging about the so-called "top" USA targets for their new, fancy missiles. Most of those targets are now decommissioned and used for something else, or completely abandoned.
I doubt Russia would waste a warhead on a now non-target. I would guess all the decommissioned sites have had Russian military eyes up close on them, but you never really know if they visually verified them all or used satellite coverage to verify
ALL of these "De-Commissioned" silos were signified because of nuclear arms treaty agreements. Some were imploded, others were concreted in accordance with the treaties and we verified the Russian sites and they verified ours. There would be NO CHANCE an inactive and essentially destroyed launch control site or silo would still be on a target list.
@@crocodile1313 actually no, the LCCs were what was targeted, as there were less of them and the silos were useless without them
Actually, the silos were not useless without the LCCs. The missiles could still be launched by an airborne launch crew on board an E-6 TACAMO aircraft if all of the ground LCCs were destroyed.
This is the former Mike 01, just outside Holden, on State Rt U.
yes i live very near this location ...
That vac truck must have been a pretty penny to rent out
shaggy in the oilfield here we use them to excavate around buried production lines. They come with 2 guys and are around $300/hr.
Actually! They suck.
Any idea which one this is (and where)?
Well its a Kansas City news agency so somewhere around KC I would guess!
@@thecman26 I found out some years ago, it is the old Mike LCC, outside Holden on State Route U.
Totally agree, there was all type of stuff they probably forgot, great bomb shelters, or apartment. I think it’s so cool what your doing, what is your ultimate goal? Living area? Man cave?
Would be a small living area,the minuteman control bunkers are significantly smaller then the old Titan/Atlas ones that still dot the country.
Is this site in Missouri?
Yes this missile silo is located in central Missouri. Once controlled by air force base near warrensburg mo.
I know this is a really old thread but was wondering if you could contact Russ and ask him if he would PM me. I was in contact with his friend Terry. I too own one of these sites. Any help would be appreciated.
This is very interesting. Used to be a missileer in the not to distance past, at a different base. It's weird seeing a site in this condition, seeing what it looks like empty.
Colodie. what are the changes of a decommissioned command or missile base of still being on the target list..just asking?
@@andrewbarley6941 2nd time I've read this question here. The other reply said no. That I believed.
I've watched so many on their abandonment and nature reclaiming them. Absolutely amazed by some. Good luck in finding your answer.
BOOM!
I don't see any red tape if you own the land. You can do what you like with it.
I agree. Screw the permit from the Air force or whoever you had to get it from. I would have just started digging I seriously doubt anybody would have said anything.
He signed a deed restriction. That's the issue.
You are talking federal goverment, I would be tempted to but what if they did come out and check on the site? Federal prison time for digging a hole in the ground, no thanks. He did the right thing and got through the red tape the smart and legal way.
The reason for the deed restriction is liability. They don't want anybody getting hurt trying to dig it up and sue. They probably finally agreed to have him sign a wavier so if anything happens he can't sue.
That's quite an education to learn the hard way. Be careful not to fall in. Sometimes it takes 3 or 4 attorney's to correct the damage to your financial health.
That is a lot of work
enzo Tlou yes to end waste of time and money.
That is alot of concrete. Explains the shape of the planet.
Sale on toilet paper at Walmart 24 rolls for 699. 0 Sem Sam's picture in a Minuteman silo, priceless...
Whoa dem dar missiles varmint!
How much $$ was it to get that far?
Leave it to the Government to design a wonderfully practical and expensive facility and then rather than let society use it. They destroy it.. because.
Late to the party on this one, but they were decommissioned in this manner due to international treaties to which the United States is a signatory. Similar facilities in other signatory nations were decommissioned in an equivalent manner.
@@raygunsforronnie847 All the Nations affixing their “signatures” to such ridiculousness… are moronic. The Governments wasted/spent more money on getting the politicians to the “signing ceremony” and “crafting” such fine legislation than the average human man make in a lifetime of skilled toil. Flush.
@@jastrapper190 You wanted to know why, so I told you. You may wish to brush up on Jr High civics to understand that treaties are contracts between nations. You may personally object to the content or nature of those treaties but I'm sure you'll understand why it is critical that nations abide by their agreements. Some future use of a property is inconsequential when nuclear disarmament is the topic.
Would love to see an update. Keep those oxygen & poisonous gas meters going.
I was what is known as a "316" stationed here at Whiteman in the late 70s which was a team member who maintained all the systems that kept the LCCs, including this one, and the LF (missile sites) on strategic alert. It's odd to me that videos like this are approved for public viewing because there are still sites like this in active use. My suspicion is that they have been heavily retrofitted and any ideological foes already know what things look like inside. To show my grandkids what I did in the military I must show them videos like these because, had I taken even still photos of these same views while on active duty then I'd still be in prison for such a security violation.
You can now visit and photograph 3 LCC's (ND, WY. SD). I was on a tour with some Russian guys.....
You do realize there are at least 3 decommissioned, intact minuteman LCCs that the public can visit, right?
The site East of Kansas City Missouri on the way to Columbia is still active.
BOBBY GLICK China, Iran, Russia all thank you for the intel
All missile launch control centers at Whiteman AFB have been destroyed or decommissioned and are no longer active. The one remaining Launch Control Center is opened to visitors only is located on Whiteman AFB Oscar 01. There are no longer any connections to any launch facilities because there are none. OSCAR O1 is for tourist. As a missiler serving at this base and someone who worked both the INF and Start Treaty, Bobbies information is incorrect.
Exactly. I was a missileer at the 44SMW (then 44MW after 1991). Ellsworth has D01 on the National Parks registry. It's open for toursits. Too.
So much work I salute you! PS nice graffiti at 1:15.
Since the site was controlled by the U.S. Air Force and/or DoD contractors until deactivation was complete, I doubt it's graffiti. Just as the old Army Air Defense Artillery used Oozelfinch as its mascot, at least one Air Force unit used Taz as its mascot. It was probably painted by one or more missilemen in the last days of the site, when things were more lax and they knew it didn't matter to senior leadership. Sometimes these mascots were viewed as unofficial moral boosters. I'm sure moral among the crews was low when they learned their mission was about to come to an end. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oozlefinch#/media/File:OozleFortWarren01.jpg
Definitely not graffiti. Each flight had their mascot that was painted on the blast door and/or the wall in the tunnel junction. My husband actually painted the art that you can still see at Oscar-01 launch facility.
I'd be curious to know what Launch Control Facility this was, I was stationed at Whiteman AFB in the late 80's early 90s as a Security Specialist guarding the Minuteman, chances are I had been at this LCF while it was operational.
I looked it up. This is Mike-1.
Ah, ty Colodie. If memory serves i did one tour out at Mike, normally i was sent to the southern LCFs, Golf, Juliet, Kilo etc. Ty for the info.
Talk about a pie job.
It's for sale, $239,000. www.ebay.com/itm/Minuteman-Missile-Launch-Control-Center-With-Access-to-Underground-Facility-/132097000820?hash=item1ec1984574:g:420AAOSwT~9Wlvgj
Ya ever been to Hotel 6 in Cheyenne Wyoming?
Yosemite Sam at 1:14!!! lol
I would have forced them to give it to me for a song, if they were going to slap me with a deed restriction. Either that or tell them to remove it from any sales agreements.
Did they intentionally fill the complex with water or is it just leaky? Crazy to try to open these things up. Too much effort and money. My respects to those that do though.
I would SO deck this beauty out with the comforts of home as a civilian bomb shelter for my family!
Labor of love. Cool, I would do the same
Seen um!!
I'll show them a minuteman.
Great work, one thing that issues me : asbestos
Yes, also gases that can build up and be trapped in there. Definitely need to approach these sites with caution.
They did build em to last
All these AF people coming out the wood work, wish I could buy you guys a been and get some history.
That's great but the water you're pumping out and then dumping on the land could be contaminated?
With what?
Martin Campbell-Smith No not likely if it were everything would have been left they stripped the vent power controls. Not to mention air pumps. As for radiation not a chance.
Mart every drop of water you ever drank, cooked with bathed in, has been pissed out, bathed in, dead bodies rotted in, phosphated, crapped in, and used to wash slaughter house floors and pig pens, pesticided ... tens of thousands of years, get over it
This looks like trying to restore the Titanic...
Hope Government pulled all the batteries out from under the floor in capsule....
I was stationed at Grand Forks in the late '70s and early '80s. I have been to all of the LCFs and LFs there.
Why spend so much money digging out that site? There can't be anything of value left.
I agree. You can visit a couple of restored and maintained sites why do what he's doing?
Because it is his. I'd dig it out myself it it was on my property. It's part of history and one hell of a wine cellar.
I'm pretty sure he means concrete. cement is a dry powder that is caustic. when mixed with water, large and small aggregates, you get concrete...
not important !
Habibi46611 You are incorrect. It is extremely important. Especially when you are providing information to the public, you should not sound like an idiot.
Hallo,
Leute, die hier schauen, interessieren sich für Raketen, für Geschichte.
Für diesen Personenkreis ist es unwichtig, was für Architekten
oder Statiker sicher sehr wichtig ist.
Sorry!
Habibi46611 Sie sind ganz verruckt!
nickjandrews
Meinen Sie?
Das ist aber ebenfalls völlig unwichtig für mich.
why ?
Would love to dig the one out at Kilo-1
Is it still there
Seems like a tremendous amount of time & expense. Do you think it's really worth it? Must be fabulously wealthy to get into a project like this.
It’s not cement!! It’s concrete. That’s like calling cake flower. It’s an ingredient. Geeze mon.
Meh. Would have been a much better video expose' having someone dedicated to capturing video and photographs instead of just as a second thought. The multi-flash of whomever was in charge of still photography just seemed to bang away without ANY thought to what the video portion would end up being compromised by.
A shame as this could have been a truly unique and interesting story.
not profi.
A lot of work for nothing. The National Park Service has a restored and complete Minuteman ICBM control center and also a Minuteman silo with inert missile inside and these are located in South Dakota. The start of the tour is at the headquarters of the site at exit 131 on Interstate 90 near Wall, South Dakota. In early July 1963, myself and one other launch officer were the first Air Force personnel to accept this site (Delta 1) from the Boeing Company representives. It and site Bravo 1 and each sites 10 missiles were the first active Minuteman sites in South Dakota assigned to Ellsworth Air Force Base, 44th Strategic Missile Wing, SAC.
There is also a museum site and silo located at Cooperstown, North Dakota and this is the newer Minuteman III facility. The control center there was built by Sylvania and is much larger than the ones built by Boeing at the other 5 Minuteman Wings. If you are close to either of these sites, stop in and learn a lot about the cold war.
What exactly are you trying to do? If you want to buy a hole in the ground I could arrange to sell you one for far less than your property and excavation costs.
Bret Territo still cheaper then buying a hole in the ocean.
it's concrete not cement, Cement is a powder used with sand and stone and water to make concrete
agreed I worked concrete for 15 years and I hate when people call it cement.
sowas von egal !
Some of it is concrete, but the people who sealed these also used plain cement. Another channel doing something similar (Death Wears Bunny Slippers) commented on it - that they were glad that it was not proper concrete.
There is no substantial evidence that can cement your theory concretely.
I'm thinking its a dialect thing dependinding on which part of the country you were raised in, "You say tomato, and I say tamato".
What happens when all these silos are bought and opened and the government says hey we have all these old silos that people bought and opened when they weren't suppose too we are going to take these back and make them operational again or we are gonna make something else out of them
Well, you go down there, shut the door and sit in your own faraday cage.
They will not use silos like this ever again. The bulk of our nuclear strength is in the ocean on submarines and who knows probably in space too, but I can't confirm that just a thought.
Still 500 sites left , some used some unused
@@craigschofield3222 The launch tubes were destroyed by pulling out the metal tube by collapsing it. so there is nothing left. the command centers are different.
Toxic
A great waste of money. Right on Whiteman Air Force Base is another Launch Control Center that is made into a museum and was an actual LCC in it's days of use. Also museums at Ellsworth AFB, SD and Grand Forks AFB, ND, Titan Museum also in Tucson, AZ.
Why bother? 🤷🏻♂️
wow. what a waste of time, effort and money. ~USAF Vet, 2M0X2, Missile MX.