The walkways and superstructure are rusted and graffiti is everywhere. In contrast to the command center, the silo is, well, trashed. This multilevel chamber goes down 185 feet from the surface. Next, we head down a corridor - really, a steel culvert - and enter through another thick door into the missile silo. The lower floor, where the command consoles were arrayed, is scraped clean and under construction. The space is tastefully designed, with an oriental motif, quietly paying homage to evil geniuses and their underground lairs. Above the kitchen serving island is an escape tube that exits on the surface. Bruce had help renovating the suspension system, so that it now just sways slightly horizontally, not the original up and down missiliers endured. The floor hangs away from the concrete walls on suspension rods, originally designed to minimize motion damage if the Russkies lobbed in a close one. This floor is where he resides, a circular studio arrangement with a kitchen, living room, den, bedroom and dining room. It was 'get it done, put it together, we're not making anything special.'" (.other than a launch site for a nuclear weapon that could travel 6,000 miles).īefore we enter the Command and Control Center one half flight further down, Bruce asks us to remove our shoes so the carpet won't be soiled. "That was built a year after this one, and by that standard, this site is primitive. this one has been turned into a reception hall.this one is a dive site.this one is a toxic waste site."īruce says the Oplin Atlas site isn't as elaborate as the Titan Missile Museum site in Green Valley, AZ. Bruce knows all the local silos he points at a map and rattles off status: "This one is owned by the school district, and it's filled with water.this one has been completely stripped. An arrangement of photos and artifacts in display cases sit on the first level. Everything echoes down here, footsteps boom ominously, thick metal doors clank into thick metal latches. We head down into the control center, descending a steep flight of stairs. It could keep me busy the rest of my life."
"There's always something that needs work. And the local community pitched in to help him get the place back into shape. Most of the work has not required any sort of building permits, something a big city guy had to get used to. The site is in better shape than most, more stable, and in a pleasant setting of slight hills and woods. "I moved down here from Chicago just to do this." Though he knew nothing of savvy silo shopping at the time, his turned out to be a fortuitous selection. In 1997, Bruce found his dream silo in Texas. I always remembered the missile base and thought it would be a great challenge as I got older." "I had modeled a lot of houses, and kind of got bored with it. You can buy your own missile base.' And that just sort of stuck in my head." Over time, the notion grew. "I saw a fellow (Ed Peden) on Johnny Carson, in about 1985, and he talked about owning a missile silo. "The Feds took it."īruce was a home remodeler in Chicago when he first pondered the virtues of bunker living.
MAN TOURS ABANDONED MISSILE SILO INSTALL
A crane provided by local volunteers eased the giant metal and concrete slab open, allowing him to install a "ram" - similar in principle to the hydraulic lifters that used to muscle the hatch open for missile drills and maintenance. We head over to the open silo door, which Bruce considers his greatest accomplishment to date on the site. still no answer.įifteen minutes later, we are detected by the surveillance system, and Bruce appears. We open the door and shout "HELLO" down the stairs. Then we spot a small concrete blockhouse with a door, perhaps leading down to the bunker. We peer down into the Atlas missile silo - we'd heard Bruce managed to open one of the multi-ton, 3-ft.thick blast doors in 2002 for the first time in decades. For some reason, when we roll in security is lax, and we go unnoticed. From his entertainment console deep underground in the Command and Control Center, Bruce can watch visitors via video cameras as the enter the front gate. Arrangements for a visit must be made in advance, and the hardened nature of the bunker discourages just dropping in.Ī straight, dusty drive off FM 604 leads to the Oplin site. Bruce Townsley, private owner of a decommissioned site in Oplin, conducts an Atlas Missile Bunker Tour.
0 kommentar(er)
