Ham Radio - The giant Collins HF discone antenna at the Titan Missile Museum.

Back in the 1970s when I was stationed at Little Rock AFB, I knew someone who was a Titan missile crew member and ham radio operator. He told me he had once operated the radio in the silo on the ham bands at the 10 KW that it put out. I fortunately don't remember his name or call sign so I can do no more damage.

 

You were at the Center Hill site?? You quoting that site number, I seem to remember the sign on the highway saying "373-4 -->" or at least some number similar. And boy, you have me curious with the 'Ghost Site' reference... was that what it was called back then? Or are you just making reference to it as that now & my pics? Please DM ('Start A Conversation' after clicking on my callsign to the left) or e-mail me if you prefer not to post publicly. Wow, my childhood come back to life!

 

Did a little research... 373-4 was at Pangburn and 373-5 was the one near Center Hill close to where I was at. Hey only one number (and about 8.5 miles) off.

It says 373-4 was the first one constructed... and I am assuming I discovered the reason for the name 'Ghost Site': (The Military Standard website) I was two then.

Looks like site 373-5 in Center Hill has been listed in the National Historic Register. (link to historic register site) (link to wikipedia site)
If you look up that site on google, you'll see a 'Mt Zion Church' about 1 mile to the NNW of it... that is the site of the former Morris School I attended. I stopped by there in 2018 and had a look around. It was SO weird!!! There was not a sole around. The church group was gone on a trip and I assume the caretaker was in town. Kinda helped myself to a tour to see all the changes. Took some pics to show an old classmate. So strange how both our memories and the actual thing we remember change differently with time.

Thanks for posting!

 

The Ghost Site, so called, was called that by the 373rd SMS Missile Combat Crews who "owned" the site (373-4, or as we called it, just "3-4") because of what happened during its construction in the 60s. While it was being built. There were dozens of government contractors at the complex working in the silo, finishing everything up. Then, one of the workers, a welder, cut through a line carrying flammable hydraulic fluid. There was a flash fire that killed approximately 50 people (I can't' be exact because my Missileer days were a long time ago, and here, half a century later, I don't think about those times too much anymore).

Anyhow, what could you see in the glory days of the 70s out in the silo? Plenty of black scorch marks on concrete that couldn't be cleaned off. Near the escape ladder, there were scratches in the concrete. It was SAID those were fingernail gouges of workers trying to escape (multiple bodies were found near the ladder).

Any stories from me? A few. You'd be sitting in the Control Center/Capsule/LCC late at night with only the crew on-site. Then a phone would ring, you'd look at the console and see it was A PHONE CALL FROM OUT IN THE SILO. Of course, if you picked it up, nobody would be on the other end. One night me and my fellow crew member were sitting there at the consoles about 3 in the morning. There was a closed-circuit TV monitor above the Alternate Launch Officer (ALOC) Console that showed the access portal, the surface entry. We both saw a hand move in front of the camera. NO intrusion alarms, no alarm on the access portal door, gate locked. I believe we called for a SAT response team. Can't remember if they sent someone or just laughed.

The official explanation for these goings-on? The fire left problems with hundreds and hundreds of miles of wiring at the complex that could never be traced down. Sounds reasonable, I guess.

Anyhow, in the 80s 3-4 was completely destroyed in compliance with SALT (those 9+ megaton, very accurate Titan IIs were largely targeted on Russian cities, and the Soviets didn't like that and feared them) along with all the other 373rd and 374th Titan II sites spread in an arc north of Little Rock/Jacksonville. I hope if there were any spirits of those poor contractors out there, that that allowed them to rest.

One last story before I quit to end on a lighter note?

One afternoon, my crew was running a Launch Verification. That was a test of everything up to activating missile batteries ignition of the engines. The silo closure door would open, surface sirens and warning beacons would go off. In the middle of this the gate phone rings. It's the farmer who the SAC leased the site from, Old Macdonald.

Says he (sounded a lot like Slim Pickens), "BOYS, IS THIS IT!?"

I replied, "Nope, not yet old timer. We'll let you know when it's IT."

 

About the intrusion detection system...it worked.

In the late 60s, the area around Tucson (and the nearby silos) were host to a series of "Hoax UFO" landings. I can remember sitting in my HS civics class and seeing a pair of F4s, in full afterburner, cutting across Tucson - heading for the Catalina Mountains. The classic double thump of breaking the sound barrier was unmistakable.
A few min later, a pair of Huey's (no doubt full of heavily armed SPs) were seen heading in the same direction.

The local rag reported a coule of days later that the hoaxers had managed to set off the silo alarm at the (village of) Catalina site and they were "surprised" when a pair of F4s showed up to see what was going on.

I've no doubt that had they been on site, the outcome would have been lethal.

Now they are just horribly expensive holes in the ground full of bad memories. UTOOB has several videos where folks have dug out access to parts of the decommissioned silos, if that is of any interest.
More here - Photos: Decommissioned Titan II Missile complexes around Tucson

Like this dig site - Unearthed Titan II ICBM Nuclear Missile Silo Complex at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (placesthatwere.com)

 

Ah, yes, the good old AN/TPS-39. You know what? They were a headache for everybody, especially for the SAT Teams. They really got tired of us calling them when an alarm reset, then went off again. Usually from birds.

But the SAT guys somewhat got their revenge. They had one of their pickups inside the fence one day. Mr. Airman then proceeded to back into one of the Tipsies.

We soon discover they are no longer made (this was the mid 70s). Luckily, and no doubt to the SAT guards' dismay, we were able to replace the antenna with one the ATC had down at Keesler.

 

I was a NATO Radio Op with one of the three Pershing 1A Nuc. Units in "West" Germany 1980-1982 ~ 1/41st FA BN S3 Ops- 56FA Bde.. Schwaebisch Gmuend.. Understandably, we weren't very popular with our local hosts....QRA...QRA...73, n6spp

 

Nukes... been there and done that. Oh what fun they were to work around -- not! I did my time with a two-year special assignment working around and on the Ground Launch Cruise Missile system (GLCM) and its nuke-tipped Tomahawk cruise missiles (BGM-109G). One year of electronic systems training surrounding the mobile Launch Control Centers and their comms systems, then a year in Europe. From April, 1987 to April of 1988, I was stationed with the 487th TMMS at Comiso AS, Sicily, working 12-hour days at the GLCM Alert Maintenance Facility (GAMA).

This photo was taken at Davis-Monthan AFB in 1987, the training base for becoming a "deployable" GLCM Ranger. I could be the 21-year old standing, second from the left ... the one with the chitty grin.



We could launch nukes within minutes of orders...


Thankfully, this field-deployable system, along with the air and sea launched Tomahawk missile systems, caused the USSR to sign the INF Treaty. That Treaty's signage marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War, Glasnost within the USSR, the Iron Curtain being lifted, and the freeing of eastern European block countries.

It was a good time for me. I enjoyed my free time on the Island of Sicily. And, I got to see the Russians show up and inspect our GAMA for INF Treaty compliance. My work there was fulfilling.

Thankfully, after working within 2 to 3 feet of Da Bombs, I didn't and don't glow in the dark today.

73 and Peace!

 

The museum is a fascinating (and sobering) place.
Back in the day it was in the middle of nowhere but now development has encroached.

My favorite story was that the entrance to the silo was down some metal stairs into a concrete well with a door and a telephone. Beyond the door was an intermediate chamber.
The local snakes would tend to go down into the well and then get trapped there, which made for an interesting situation when it was time to cycle through to the next crew. I believe the crews (4 people per crew?) would be down there for like a week each.

 

Nuclear arms. May they rust in peace.

 

And given our recent Veterans Day celebration, a big THANK YOU to all those who served with honor.

I want to personally thank those who, over the decades, served with sobering discretion and distinction surrounding our triad of nuclear forces. And may our current group of special young men and women serving around our nukes continue to put safety and service before today's outside distractions. God bless them.

 

Interesting Thank you for Sharing de; wa4ukx

 

I used to install, align and maintain the SWP Microwave perimeter systems and even worse to work on Litton Terminus systems used on these facilities. Heady days, those.

 

Back to the antenna: in the early ‘90’s Fair Radio Sales was selling a few of these antennas, brand new on the pallets. If any of you have old catalogues you can read about them there. I drooled over them for a long time but shipping to my QTH in the Canadian Arctic would have been prohibitive.

 

Picked up a fresh copy of Chuck Penson's Titan II handbook third edition at the Mesa Hamfest on Saturday! Chuck even autographed it for me...