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fHE ALTUS TIMES-DEMOCRAT, ALTUS, OKLAHOMA
WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 1964
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Camera Looks at Blast-Torn, Fire-Eaten Atlas Silo
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DISCONTINUED >TYLES IN FAMOUS
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RED CROSS FASHION SHOES
3 71
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VALUES
FOR BEST
TO
SELECTION!
14.98!
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Newsmen Permitted On
Scene of Silo Explosion
CANVAS CASUALS
Air Force officials Tuesday
afternoon let newsmen on the
no one in the silo itself at the;
scene for the first time and
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underground launch control cen- in California. They must render
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sile three miles north of Fred-
ter.
tanks holding missile propellant
reported the ning at the top of the silo to-
two heavy blast dors saved the day. This is to suck out dan-
FLATS A CASUALS
99
VALUES
silo.
sal Cigar Corp, reported a 66
VALUES
TO
TO
14.99
$125,995. or 8 6 cents per share,
ble for miles.
8.98!
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Safety men at the scene are
from the Norton Air Force base
then sent a team of experts be-
yond 150 feet into the blast
wrecked underground mis-
the site can be used again or
should be abandoned.
A silo penetration team made
descents in a wire basket at-
tached to a cable on a crane
Tuesday afternoon. Among 33
investigators at the scene, mem-
bers of the Aerospace Safety
Investigation board went down
into a debris littered hole.
Newsmen were advised it was
the team s job to render the
site safe so technicians can de-
k
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"Southwest Oklahoma's Finest
Department Store'’
ALTUS PLAZA SHOPPING CENTER
Store Hours 10 to 1
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____                   . head of the Aerospace Safety sales totaling $1,061,866 in the
underground silo. Debris was Accident Investigation board. first quarter of 1963.
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Altus Air Force Base made is possible Tuesday afternoon for news media to focus cameras directly on the scene at the Atlas "F" launching silo near Frederick,
destroyed by explosion and fire last week.
TERRIFIC FORCE of blast shown upper left with steel pipe bowed out of the huge hole. In left foreground is a hinge that held one of the gigantic doors the ex-
plosion hurled to the forewinds.
BROADER VIEW of the silo opening is shown in center photo with Major John R. Cockley of the Inspector General's office, Washington, D.C., talking by phone to
inspection workers in bottom of the the 180-foot hole.
CRANE CAGE is only means of transportation in and out of the silo now. Being raised from the hole are Copt. Wallace R. Boyer, front, and Lt Col John Ander-
son, members of the 33-man inspection team assigned to the job.
SCATTERED DEBRIS still litters the area, lower left, photo showing some of the types of items hurled out when the explosion ripped the silo interior.
(Staff photos by Allen Holliday)
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erick.                                The launch control center is safe before other investigators
An Atlas “F” Intercontinental connected to the silo by a tun-
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extent of the damage. The ex-
plosion came during a propel-
lent loading exercise following
modification work by men from
General Dynamics Astronautics
Two 100-ton concrete doors
were blown off the top of the I
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FASHION
DRESS STYLES
Ballistic missile exploded there
last Thursday afternoon. Inves-
tigators will determine within Air Force base,
the next several days whether t"“ heo kU"‘
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scend and investigate for pos- The explosion reportedly was per cent rise in earnings on a
sible causes of the explosion and heard as far as six miles away. 44 per cent increase in sales
And, black smoke that billowed during the first quarter of 1964
skyward from the site was visi- The cigar company earned
time of the blast. Twenty-one
men were 50 feet away in an i
nel. Lt. Alan MacWhinney, in- can 8° down.
formation officer at the Altus A huge “purge” fan was run-
-
scattered over a wide area. "Fire apparently consumed all
No one was inured. There was of the fuel oils.”
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concrete silo was blasted and
! scarred. Debris was blown as CIGAR EARNINGS UP
far as a half a mile from the NEW YORK (UPI) — Univer-
“As far as we can determine, on sales totaling $1,530,918,
there is no fire danger now,” compared with $75,786, or five
said Col. Edward D. Leahy, cents per share, earned on
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men from inury.
| The nuclear warhead had been
removed and was not at the
site, when the explosion occur-
red This is routine during ex-
ercises such as the one being
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gerous gases.
Safety experts reported that
after a blast such as the one
last Thursday, it normally takes
two or three days to let the site
cool down. Then there must
undertaken last Thursday, be three or four more days to
make it safe enough for investi-
The launch control center re- gators to enter.
ceived little damage, but the                 ’__________
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