Titan Missile Base - Cold War Relic

Tucson is a good distance from coastal Southern California - nearly 375 nautical miles by the time you navigate around the military airspace. The destination for the day was the Titan Missile Museum, the only one of its kind still in existence.

In 1963, at the height of the Cold War, this base and 53 others just like it across the U. S. became operational. From that day, and continuously until 1983, each one of these bases stood finger-on-the-button ready to launch an intercontinental thermonuclear missile to a target half way around the world. According to our docent, neither the then-active launch crew, nor the museum today know the exact targeting for this missile.

The complex is more than 100 feet underground, and composed of three separate sections. The missile silo includes a "training" mockup of the actual Titan Missile. There is also an access module with living quarters and finally, the launch control room. The latter resembles a small submarine capsule and is mounted on huge shock absorbing springs behind an 3 ton blast door as a protection against incoming nuclear attack. While effective against near-misses, a direct hit would have been fatal to the site. "Luckily" ICBMs of the era were not all that accurate.

The tour includes a trip to the control room and a fully simulated launch. Its always a little chilling to see someone go through the launch code verification process that precedes lighting one of these missiles. The actual locked cabinet safe where these codes were kept is the red one in the top left photo. The guide was very knowledgeable and provided lots of interesting information. Although we did not have the chance to see it, there are extended tours available which also include a tour of the underground living quarters and a walk-thru of the launch silo underneath the missile. These are available on the first and third Saturday mornings of each month at an extra cost (and limited to the first 20 people who sign up).


The Tucson Executive Terminal is convenient and fuel is much less expensive than the other FBO's. Just taxi up to the base of the control tower. Be sure not to line-up on the runways of the adjacent Davis Monthan Airforce Base (which by the way was a Strategic Air Command base in the '60's as well).

The Missile Museum is about 25 minutes south of the airport. A good local spot for lunch was the Cattle Town Steakhouse & Saloon, which is not far from the airport at 3141 East Drexel Road. The folks at the FBO were really helpful with directions and Enterprise had a car waiting for us.