Missile away, missile away! - A Cold War US Peacekeeper nuclear missile launch officer (275)

Tim Lyon was an officer assigned to the 400th Strategic Missile Squadron located in Cheyenne Wyoming. The Squadron was maintained 50 Peacekeeper ICBM missiles based in underground silos in farmers’ fields in remote areas of Wyoming.

Tim was one of two launch officers who were responsible for 10 of these missiles. He and his colleague would descend forty to sixty feet below ground to a concrete capsule that housed the Launch Control Centre. There he would spend 24-hour alerts ready to launch 100 nuclear warheads — each with twenty times the explosive force of the Hiroshima bomb at speeds of 15,000 mph. 

We hear in detail about his training, the testing procedures, security, and how he handled such a huge responsibility. Tim also describes launching one of these missiles from a test site in the US.

Episodes mentioned:

Commanding a Royal Navy Polaris Nuclear Missile Submarine https://coldwarconversations.com/episode168/

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