1980 damascus titan 2 accident

For more information, contact 501-918-3025 or Spreading your gift out through monthly contributions is a great solution for your budget and ours. About 8 1/2 hours after initial puncture, fuel vapors within the silo ignited and exploded.

“Explosive Era: Tour Visits Site Where Titan II Blast in 1980 Sent Warhead Flying.” Stumpf, David K. “We Can Neither Confirm Nor Deny.” In Major support provided through a partnership with the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism.Major funding provided by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.Special thanks to the Department of Arkansas Heritage.Additional support provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council.Additional support provided by the Arkansas General Assembly.Additional support provided by the Arkansas Community Foundation.Additional support provided by the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation Inc.Honor or memorial gifts are an everlasting way to pay tribute to someone who has touched your life.

They were unable, however, to open the inner blast doors. Help the Channel Grow Like, Comment & Subscribe! The socket bounced and struck the missile, causing a leak from a pressurized fuel tank. Links to other Titan II accidents can be found on the Titan II home page Livingston lay amid the rubble of the launch duct for some time before security personnel located and evacuated him. The facility was part of the 374th Strategic Missile Squadron at the time of the explosion. Gripping new documentary recounts the devastating 1980 accident in a Titan II missile complex - and how such incidents were scarily normal Give a donation in someone’s name to mark a special occasion, honor a friend or colleague or remember a beloved family member. At about 3:00 a.m., the two men returned to the surface to await further instructions. When a tribute gift is given the honoree will receive a letter acknowledging your generosity and a bookplate will be placed in a book. The commander of the 308Airmen Rex Hukle and Greg Devlin were the first to enter the complex, under orders to cut down a security fence and then break through a steel outer portal that had an electromagnetic lock. Broken Arrow incidentinvolving a Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). Read our The first time you log in to our catalog you will need to create an account. In 1980, an American nuclear warhead was blown out of its silo by an exploding Titan II missile at Damascus, Arkansas The Titan II Launch Complex 374-7 in Southside (Van Buren County), just north of Damascus (Van Buren and Faulkner counties), became the site of the most highly publicized disaster in the history of the Titan II missile program when its missile exploded within the launch duct on September 19, 1980. They accomplished this using a crowbar and other tools.

Just as they sat down on the concrete edge of the access portal, the missile exploded, blowing the 740-ton launch duct closure door 200 feet into the air and some 600 feet northeast of the launch complex. It is estimated that Titan II ICBMs carry a 9 megaton warhead. Simply go to The CALS Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization.

The W-53 nuclear warhead landed about 100 feet from the launch complex’s entry gate; its safety features operated correctly and prevented any loss of radioactive material.

Livingston died of his injuries that day. We almost Nuked Ourselves :( he Damascus Titan missile explosion (also known as the Damascus accident) was a 1980 U.S.

An Air Force airman was killed, and the complex was destroyed.

The incident occurred on September 18–19, 1980, at Missile Complex 374-7 in rural Arkansas when a U.S. Air Force LGM-25C Titan II ICBM loaded with a 9 megaton W-53 Nuclear … There was no radioactive contamination. The Damascus Titan missile explosion refers to an incident where the fuel in a nuclear armed missile exploded at a missile launch facility in Damascus, Arkansas, on September 18–19, 1980. Ultimately, the Air Force decided to seal the complex with soil, gravel, and small concrete debris.A congressional inquiry into the accident found the Titan II missile program to be essentially reliable. All Rights Reserved. On September 19, 1980 during routine maintenance in a Titan II silo, an Air Force repairman dropped a heavy wrench socket, which rolled off a work platform and fell toward the bottom of the silo. According to the Center for Defense Information(CDI): The explosion of volatile fuel blew off the 740 ton silo door of reinforced concrete and steel and catapulted the warhead 600 feet. Senior Airman David Livingston and Sergeant Jeff K. Kennedy then entered the launch complex early on the morning of September 19 to get readings of airborne fuel concentrations, which they found to be at their maximum. Twenty-one other USAF personnel were injured.

The total cost to replace Launch Complex 374-7 was estimated at $225,322,670, while demolition and cleanup were expected to cost $20,000,000. Kennedy, his leg broken, was blown 150 feet from the silo. Titan II Silo Accident in Damascus Arkansas. The socket bounced and struck the missile, causing a leak from a pressurized fuel tank. Six Air Force servicemen—Livingston (posthumously), Kennedy, Hukle, Devlin, Don Green, and Jimmy Roberts—were awarded Airman’s Medals for Heroism in May 1981 for their actions (though Kennedy had earlier received an official reprimand), and the Titan II maintenance structure at Fellone, Frank. On September 19th, 1980, the Titan II Missile exploded in Damascus and blew its nuclear warhead out of the silo.