I was stationed at LRAFB from 83 to 87 and went to all of the Missile Sites and repaired and maintained all of the Communications Equipment. This brings back great memories!
'Hat Tip' to the engineers who designed the warhead safety devices/systems that prevented the warhead from detonating, even after it was blown through a 20 ton concrete and steel silo door and hurled hundreds of yards away into a ditch.
Media coverage to this very day still downplays just how bad this incident was, incidents like this were so heavily compartmentalized that other maintainer crews were not aware of it or at least weren't willing to admit it. In the late 90's we still had incidents of nuclear ordinance going missing or other issues.
2:40, The risk of nuclear explosion was NOT an issue. The warhead is protected from many different directions to prevent that type of event from ever happening. However, the risk of an HE explosion was very real.
One big big reason I’ve always so scared is that turning a knob is so much easier psychologically than to pierce or shoot face to face. This young man probably would not be able to obey if ordered to mow down a line of civilians with his machine gun. Not even captured enemies.
He knows what is about to happen if he has to turn that key. A unique personality is required to man a position like that. They screen for and test for that. It's not like they hire a bunch of folk and "hope" they turn the key when crunch time comes. They go through multiple test launches during their careers and their response is evaluated. I'm the polar opposite. I could take down those in my immediate area but I'm not sure I could executedefense
"What is there to understand? They hate you. They hate you before you got here. They hate you while you're here and they're gona keep on hating you after you leave." - Yossarian, *Catch-22*
At the time (after the warhead was found in a farmers field), I remember joking with my college buddies about "beating swords into plowshares". ;-) Seriously;' this is a tribute to the engineers who designed the shit out of the warhead to prevent accidental detonation in the event that an idiot does what an idiot does. I salute the engineers!
And almost started WW III. Soviet subs at the Cuban missile blockade could've used nuclear torpedos. A Soviet lower-level base commander saw what seemed to be incoming US missiles but used incredible judgement to deem them a false alarm and didn't fire his missiles.
Temporality prevented. I'll bet my ass that China is looking forward to full scale war in the next 5-10 years. The worst part is that whoever wins the war the masses will foot the bill with thier bodies, freedoms and future.
It was never explained: Was the socket more secured to the newer torque wrench than the old ratchet wrench, and thus, could the socket have just fallen off the torque wrench also? What was the significance of using the newer torque wrench vs the older ratchet wrench? Also- how was the torque wrench different than the ratchet in that it would have prevented the socket from falling off. And finally, what kind of torque wrench do mechanics use to UNBOLT a fastener???
The only difference between the torque wrench and the old wrench was the age. The one Powell used, the little ball that locks the socket on did not work, as did most of them that were stored in the silo. The one he used would hold open the door of the long cableway during normal duty hours. It would be rusted, and there was no one to do maintenance that I recall to keep it oiled and not rusted. If he had used the torque wrench, the little ball would work because torque wrenches had to have normal maintenance done on them so that they could be calibrated.
Air Force regs definitely don’t allow loosening or tightening fasteners with a torque wrench. You use non-calibrated tools to get close, then use the torque wrench ONLY to torque to specified value. Any different and Quality Assurance will immediately stop your task and retrain on-the-spot. That’s not to say using them incorrectly never happened/happens because QA isn’t always there to oversee your task, but any missileer knows the proper way. I was trained as such, and I trained many of my maintainer team members in kind.
Read the book and you'll learn otherwise of just how many times the SAFETIES FAILED and that just sheer LUCK was all that separated us from a full DETONATION ! Read how the weapons safety designers fought for 20 years to change and improve the FAIL SAFES on the nukes . INDESTRUCTABLE is what everyone thought , EXCEPEPT the weaponeers at SANDIA who knew different ! Read about the 1-POINT SAFETY TESTS done at the Nevada Test Site and how 1 of the 4 nukes detonated and FAILED the test !
@@stevearizona521 The video of the missile, the control center in the film itself is basically from the Titan Missile Museum. There's some footage that is stock footage that is from the USAF itself presumably.
There were 54 of these in three batches across the country. 18 each in Arizona, Kansas and Arkansas. By the mid 80's they were all dismantled, except for one. The missile used in the film is one of the Arizona Titan II's. Obviously, its been defueled and had its warhead removed and now serves as a museum showpiece.
Hello AETN. I am an American Patriot and a Arkansas born concerned citizen after both big bird and Oscar the grouch we're both assassinated I suspect by snuffelofagus...I am concerned by the Twinkies reemergence by the nuclear power plant in the Bart Simpson episode and the recent Danger regarding nuclear power plant possible sabotage please if at all possible if the nuclear 1 and 2 could temporarily be put in a safe mode it might be advisable signed COOKIE MONSTER...I adore argenta MAYS FOR governor...xoxo
Look up the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Simi Valley, Massive radioactive release. We've accidently dropped more bombs on the United States than we did on Japan. We dropped two 24 megaton nukes on North Carolina during an aircraft emergency , and another just off the coast of Savannah, GA. Two of the three have never been found. No shit. Look it up.
sh!t like this happen when people want to play god but they're not qualified for the title really! in fact, since god doesn't exist, our biggest mistake is when we want to be an nonexistent entity!
