Cold War Titan Missile Museum Arizona RV Travel Destinations

Titan Missile Museum

Twenty miles south of Tucson, Arizona a sobering relic of the past allows visitors to travel through time to stand on the front line of the Cold War, a time when mankind stood on the very brink of destruction.

The Titan Missile Museum is the only publicly accessible Titan II missile site in the country. The site is one of 54 Titan II silos in three separate silo fields that served as a nuclear deterrent from 1963 to 1984. A field of eighteen silos ringed Tucson, Arizona and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base; another eighteen were near Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas; and yet another eighteen circled McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas.

The Titan II was the largest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) ever built by the United States. The Titan missile program was meant as a retaliatory deterrent only, it would not be fired except in response to a Soviet first strike. The missiles, each with a nuclear warhead of over nine megatons, were kept fueled and ready to launch 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and could be deployed within one minute of receiving the command to do so. The exact power of the Titan II’s warhead is still classified information.

When the 1979 Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) called for the deactivation of the Titan II missile silos, volunteers at the Pima Air Museum in Tucson worked to have one silo retained for public tours. Long months of negotiation with the United States government and SALT officials resulted in the Green Valley complex of the 390^th Strategic Missile Wing being turned into a museum and opened to the public. Today the silo remains very much as it was when this was an active missile site.

The whole concept of the nuclear missile program was based upon overkill and deterrence. The world’s two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, had the ability to completely exterminate each other, and all of mankind many times over in the process. Because both sides knew the other had the capability to respond with such lethal force, neither would be the first to launch an attack.

The Titan II was the largest ballistic missile developed by the United States. It’s warhead was the equivalent of nine million tons of TNT. To put this into perspective, it would require a train of 90,000 boxcars stretching over 1,500 miles long to carry that much explosives! The Titan II could deliver its deadly load anywhere within 5,500 miles in less than thirty minutes.

The Titan II silo near Tucson was manned by the 390^th Strategic Missile Wing. The unit had a long and distinguished record of service, beginning in 1943 when it was formed as the 390^th Bombardment Group, assigned to the famed 8^th Air Force stationed in England during World War II. The men of the 390^thflew missions to attack military and industrial targets throughout Germany and occupied Europe. At war’s end the unit returned to the United States and was deactivated in August, 1945.

On January 1, 1962 the 390^th was reactivated as the 390^th Strategic Missile Wing and stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson. It was the first of three Titan II wings to go on alert. The 390^th served until 1982, when the first Titan II missile was deactivated in accord with SALT. By May, 1984 the last of the 390^th’s missiles was deactivated and removed from its silo. The 390^th Strategic Missile Wing was disbanded in July, 1984.

The facility is made up of three underground structures connected by tunnels: the control center; the missile silo; and in between them, the blast lock structure. Tours of the Titan Missile Museum begin with a video about the history of the Titan and its nuclear delivery capability. Visitors are then led outside for a tour of the above ground equipment and displays that include a Mark VI re-entry vehicle (RV). The Mark VI was the nosecone of the Titan II missile and was designed to protect the warhead from the heat and stress of re-entry to the Earth’s atmosphere at over twenty times the speed of sound. The RV was constructed of aluminum and weighed over 8,000 pounds.

Security above ground was provided by armed guards and laser detectors designed to sound an alarm if an intruder violated the secure areas.

Next, visitors are led down a series of stairs and through a pair of 6,000 pound blast doors deep underground to the "hardened" command center. The entire command center is mounted on massive springs to withstand anything but a direct hit from an enemy bomb or missile. The computer systems in the command center may look primitive by today’s standards, but when this was an active silo it was state of the art.

Security was paramount here, and there was a series of checks and balances to insure no security breach or accident could occur. Missile crew members were never alone on duty. They were required to work and travel in pairs when underground.

In the event of a launch order, the message would first be decoded and verified as authentic, and then two crew members were required to open covered keys and turn them simultaneously to launch the missile. The launching keys were placed far enough apart that no one person could turn both at the same time to start the launch sequence. Once launched, there was no way to call back the missile. The exact targets of the Titan II missiles remain classified. Our tour guide explained in detail the features and functions of the control room, including the complex routines and security measures of the missile crew that manned the silos in four person squads on 24 hour shifts.

The next stop on the tour is the actual Titan II silo. When it was fueled and ready to fly, the 110 foot tall missile weighed 170 tons. Though it is empty and rendered harmless now, it still looks ominous sitting on its launch pad.

The tour includes most of the surface and underground features, except for the living area and equipment area on the top and bottom levels of the three story, spring-loaded control center structure.

Back above ground, visitors are free to examine the equipment on display outside, and then return inside the Visitor Center, which includes displays and information on the Titan II program and a small gift shop. While on the tour, visitors are required to wear hard hats, and proper footwear (walking shoes) are required. Tours last approximately one hour.

In 1987 the last Titan II missile silo was decommissioned, and the Titans were replaced by more advanced Minuteman and MX Peacekeeper ICBMs, deployed in 1000 silos across the Great Plains. The Air Force destroyed the launch ducts and removed any reusable equipment, and then many of the Titan missile silos were sold at public auction. Some are used now as storage, and in some cases even as homes by their new owners.

Though no longer used as weapons, the Titan II rockets remain in service, refitted and used for satellite deployment. Titans were also used in the early days of the space program, carrying Gemini astronauts into outer space, sending the Viking probes to Mars, and launching Voyager into the outer solar system.

If the Titan Missile Museum looks familiar when you visit, it may be because it was used as the backdrop for two movies. Disaster at Silo Seven was a made for television docudrama about an incident at a Titan II silo in Little Rock, Arkansas which resulted in the explosion of the missile in its silo. In 1996, scenes from the movie Star Trek: First Contact were filmed in and around the silo. The museum’s missile and silo stood in for the deactivated missile that scientists turned into the first Warp Drive space ship.

The Titan Missile museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Tours begin every half-hour, and the last tour starts at 4 p.m. The underground portion of the missile site is accessed by a flight of 55 steps in the Access Portal. An elevator is available to access the underground portion of the missile site for those who have limited mobility or who need special assistance. The Titan Missile Museum is an ADA compliant facility. A limited number of wheelchairs are available at the Visitor Services Desk, and all restrooms are wheelchair accessible. Tours are limited to 25 visitors per tour.

Special tours are also offered. The Director’s Tour is held on the first Tuesday of the month. Yvonne Morris, Director of the Titan Missile Museum and a former Titan II Missile Combat Crew Commander, is the tour guide for this special tour. She shares her unique perspective on the museum and visitors learn about life as a Titan II Missile Combat Crew Commander. Tours last approximately 90 minutes and are limited to 20 people.

On the second, third, fourth and fifth Tuesdays of the month a Crew Tour is offered. Visitors tour the missile site with former Titan II Missile Combat Crew members and hear their stories and learn from their first hand experiences.

On the first Saturday of every month, visitors can take part in the Beyond the Blastdoor Tour and explore areas of the missile site normally closed to the public. Visitors on this tour will see where the crews ate and slept, then descend more than 100 feet underground and enter the launch duct to experience a never to be forgotten view standing directly beneath an actual Titan II missile! Advance reservations are required for these special tours. Tours last approximately 90 minutes and are limited to 20 people. Reservations are required and may be made by calling (520) 625-7736.

For the general admission daily tours, no reservations are required for one or two people. Reservations are required for general admission group tours of ten or more visitors paying in one transaction). Please call the visitor reservations line at (520) 625-7736.

The museum’s gift shop is open during regular museum hours, and features rocket and flight-related gifts, apparel, books, models, and educational toys. Museum admission is not required to shop in the gift shop, and sales proceeds support the mission of the Titan Missile Museum. Admission to the Titan Missile Museum is $8.50 for ages 13 and up. Admission price for seniors, groups of 20 or more, and military personnel is $7.50. Children ages 7 to 12 are $5, and children age six and under are admitted free. Combination passes for the Titan Missile Museum and the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson are also available. For more information on the Titan Missile Museum, call (520) 625-7736

The Titan Missile Museum is located at 1580 W. Duval Mine Road in Sahuarita, Arizona. From Interstate 19, take Exit 69 and go west about one tenth of a mile to the museum entrance on the right. There is an RV parking area at the museum.