Completd Projects

The LCC

The Missile Launch Complex in Oplin, Texas – Site 5 of the 578th Strategic Missile Squadron (SMS) – and home of the Atlas Missile Museum of Texas, has had a number of projects undertaken and completed over the years. Remodeling the Launch Control Center (LCC) in to a residence where the owners have lived for the past 25 years was the beginning and a major goal.

The Door

One of the biggest projects was making the overhead silo door functional. This required finding, and acquiring, an original hydraulic cylinder/actuator, and installing it. The installation required opening the 75 ton overhead door using a 100 ton capacity crane. While only one door was made operable, that did allow sufficient access to the silo to make other improvements to the silo including cleaning and removing debris from several floors. The door was finally opened and the ram installed in 2002. The door became operational in November, 2005. The ram was found in a scrap yard in Houston, Texas, which had 6 of them.

The Door Bracket

As part of the door project a door mounting bracket had to be found or made. The silo door bracket, the large cast fitting that attaches the ram eye to the overhead door did not come with the ram and the original, along with the ram, had been removed during salvage operations in the late 1960s. We could not find a bracket. So Dick Meade of Ebba Iron in Eastland, Texas, made one. Dick did the drawings, made the mold and cast the 1800 lbs mounting point from malleable iron. It took the better part of two years to complete the design and casting process, followed by mounting it to the door using an extension forklift, pictured below with Dick taking measurements. It fit perfectly. Once the bracket was in in place, the ram eye was attached and the door could then be tested and made operational.

The Launch Control Console

Another major project was recently completed. A group of silo owners had acquired an original launch control console from an Atlas F site in Nebraska. It sat, untouched, in storage for more than 20 years when Jeff Stephens decided he wanted to restore it. After a year of machining new parts, sourcing switches, lights and gauges, and creating the programming to control the timing and sequencing of the console indicator lights, the face frame of the console – now functioning - was reinstalled and ready for display. Completed, the console will on command mimic a successful Atlas F launch sequence much as it would have appeared when originally used.