The Atlas missile was 85 feet tall, weighed 244,000 lbs., and had three rocket engines with approximately 360,000 lbs. of thrust.
Dyess hosted SAC's last operational variant of the Atlas ICBM, the Atlas F. Atlas Fs were deployed in squadrons of 12 widely dispersed sites around a host Air Force base.
The Atlas F sites featured a two story launch control center (LCC) that housed living quarters on level one and launch control systems on level two. The LCC supported eight or nine Atlas crew members per 24 hour duty rotation.
The separate missile silo was connected to the
LCC via a forty foot tunnel some forty-five feet underground. The massive
silo, approximately 363,000 square feet, supported a heavy steel gantry,
referred to as the "crib". On the "crib" was mounted the Atlas launch
platform elevator system, all fuel storage tanks, system machinery, generators,
and system support equipment. To give an idea of the size of the silo
structure, it could conceal a building over fourteen stories tall. The
Atlas missile systems were monumental in every context.
The Atlas F was the first missile system to be stored in hardened, vertical silos. Earlier versions had been deployed in shallow, horizontal launch facilities called "coffins". As
Soviet technology improved, the Department of Defense feared for the safety of our nuclear ICBM forces, thus, the deeper silo complexes, costing approximately 18 to 22 million
dollars each to construct, were commissioned. Convair Astronautics, in cooperation with other subcontractors, constructed seventy-two sites in one year; a construction effort
rivaling any America had ever witnessed.
Last Date Modified: 9-7-01
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