Deactivated Atlas E ICBM Launcher (567-3)

 historical layer / disappeared object, ICBM launch facility

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Site 3 of 9 SM-65E Atlas missile bases manned by the 567th Strategic Missile Squadron stationed out of Fairchild Air Force Base.

The Atlas E was stored horizontally in a coffin launcher and was raised to vertical and fueled for launching. Each Atlas E was fitted with an AVCO Mk4 re-entry vehicle containing a W-38 thermonuclear bomb with a yield of 3.75 megatons fuzed for either air or contact burst.

The 567th SMS was commissioned in 1959 and the sites were built soon thereafter with missiles installed and operational from 1961-1965. Upon decommissioning, the missiles were removed and the sites stripped and closed.

A little known fact regarding the 567th SMS was that during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, these 9 Atlas E missiles were the only missiles in all of the United States that were able to be re-targeted to Cuba. While other missiles could be re-targeted, only the 567th was outside the minimum strike distance.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/567th_Strategic_Missile_Squadron

A map of all the missile sites.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:567th_Strategic_Missile_Squa...