Back at the end of October, my grandmother died, so we had to take a road trip out to South Dakota for the funeral. On the way back, we were able to stop at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site and the South Dakota Air & Space Museum. The missile site was preserved after the SALT treaty talks dictated that most be destroyed, and is located just east of Wall, SD. The museum is located on the edge of the Air Force base outside Rapid City. Anyway, here's some pics:
Overall view of the missile site:
DSCF5209 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
Glass and steel enclosure covering the top of the silo. You can also take tours down into it, but they weren't operating that day. The conical object to the right is the hardened UHF antenna:
DSCF5219 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
Personnel hatch:
DSCF5220 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
Looking through the glass into the silo:
DSCF5224 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
Back side, showing the silo cover and retracting mechanisms:
DSCF5225 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
Ubiquitous signs:
DSCF5215 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
Front of the SDASM, with a big bad BONE out front:
DSCF5307 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
DSCF5308 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
DSCF5310 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
DSCF5311 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
DSCF5321 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
Control room for Minuteman missile silo:
DSCF5337 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
This was a pretty cool dio done by the local modeling club of the Ploesti raid:
DSCF5341 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
DSCF5362 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
DSCF5379 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
DSCF5381 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
B-1 cockpit trainer:
DSCF5370 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
DSCF5387 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
DSCF5388 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
DSCF5390 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
Not sure what an EF-18 Growler was doing at an AF base, but there he was:
DSCF5407 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
DSCF5409 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
DSCF5410 by theirishavenger, on Flickr