Today I read through this fantastic thread for probably the 4th time. I have always enjoyed it but this time it roused my curiosity concerning the status of our land based ICBM forces in October, 1962. The U.S. Air Force could muster 188 ICBM’s at this crucial time, and the breakdown went like this:
27 Atlas D missiles – The first operational version of the Atlas, these were housed in semi hardened, above-ground “coffin” shelters and stored horizontally. An erector mechanism raised the missiles to vertical. They were then fueled and launched. Total time from receiving the alert order to launch: 15 minutes. The first three missiles were placed on above-ground, unprotected launch pads as an expedient to get them operational, the rest were in the coffins, which took longer to construct.
27 Atlas E missiles – The improved E models were also deployed in horizontal coffin structures, but this time the coffins were mostly buried with just the retractable roofs visible. Alert to launch time remained at 15 minutes.
72 Atlas F missiles – Further technical improvements led to the F model, which was also the first to be stored in vertical, underground silos. The RP-1 fuel (which was storable) was already loaded in the missile, and upon alert only the liquid oxygen oxidizer had to be loaded. Once complete, the missile was raised to an above ground position via an elevated launch cradle and then fired. Total alert to launch time: 10 minutes.
62 Titan I missiles – Developed as a hedge against the potential failure of the Atlas, the two stage Titan I was the first designed from the start to be housed in vertical silos. The alert to launch sequence was similar to the Atlas F, underground fueling followed by elevation to above-ground for launch. There were three missiles assigned to each complex, but limitations in the tracking and ground-based guidance systems would only allow one missile to be launched and guided at a time. Alert to launch for the first missile was 15 minutes, with the time reduced to 7 ½ minutes for the subsequent two missiles.
True “launch from the hole” capability was not achieved until the follow-on Titan II and the Minuteman I became operational. Although development and testing was underway on both missiles in October 1962, neither missile was deployed and on-line at the time of the crisis.
With all this said, I came across one minor nitpick with the timeline. At 3:20 on the last day, Amerigo only mentions missiles being launched from silos. However 51 of the ready missiles would have been launched from coffins, and three from standard launch pads. The “reserve” that was mentioned would probably have been the remaining two Titan I’s at each complex that had to wait for the first missile to finish its mission.
The Atlas D and E missiles were very vulnerable to attack and the 15 minute erection/launch time would have placed them right at the end of the inbound Soviet missiles’ flight time. It would have been a very near thing indeed to get them off the ground in time.
I'll post it when I'm done.
