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Full Scale Inflatable Atlas Missile Arrives
For the past two years, the Atlas Missile Museum of Texas, Inc. has been in the process of trying to acquire two Atlas missile air frames, transporters and re-entry vehicles. Whether this will be successful or not remains to be seen and this process is ongoing, hopefully to be resolved early in 2025.
In the meantime, the Museum recently purchased a full scale model inflatable version of the Atlas for display in the silo. The model is 70' by 16' and is inflated by two blowers located in it's base. As the original Atlas was an "inflatable" as well, requiring internal pressure to remain rigid and erect, this seemed like an appropriate stand-in to illustrate what the missile in the silo might have looked like. The inflatable will be suspended in the silo by cables/rope guys and inflated while resting a floor which will be to be installed if needed.
The project will likely be accomplished in two phases: Floor fabrication and installation followed by the actual placement and inflation of the model. The model will not maintain pressure and shape without the blowers operating. So, the plan is to operate the blowers during tours to achieve the "missile in the silo" effect.
Videos of the missile being tested at the factory in China can be seen below
The inflatable arrived crated and will be unpacked, inspected and test inflated on site in the coming weeks.
Stay tuned for updates.
Update - November 9th 2024
Below are pictures and videos of our experiences with the inflatable. After unpacking and test inflating, we made efforts to “go vertical”. As you can see while we were successful in some things - we got it unfolded and didn't tear it - we did not “go vertical”. So it is back to the drawing board. But we learned quite a bit about its behavior and now we think we understand how get it to "go vertical"
We would like to have at least one successful missile raising before installing it in the silo. And we will likely want to refold it so it opens in such a way as to facilitate its installation. Plus, it will take some time for us to fabricate and install a floor for the inflatable to rest on. While this is probably not absolutely necessary, it makes life easier and hopefully safer. Plus, if we are able to acquire the "real inflatable", we will need a floor for it.
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