Word: silo
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Chief developer of the retirement cities is a 6-ft. 4-in., 63-year-old maelstrom of restless energy named Delbert Eugene Webb (see box). Construction is Del Webb's business-construction of anything and everything from a silo to a skyscraper-and in 1955, casting about for ways and means to expand his burgeoning Del E. Webb Corp., he bethought himself of the retirement market...
...predawn fog oozed over the oak-rimmed ravines of California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, a disembodied voice roared out of the loudspeakers: "Strike order received! Clear the silo!" Moments later, the 400-ton steel and concrete doors of an underground Atlas silo yawned, and the missile poked its nose skyward. The countdown continued. At last, an intense yellow light bloomed through the fog as the Atlas rose from its pad like an inverted candle. The voice bawled: "Missile away!" The monster doors swung shut as the Atlas sped through the darkness toward its target 5,000 miles away...
...solution: a new-type silo (see diagram) that will enable the engine gases to escape to the surface through W-shaped ducts leading away from the missile's base...
...Conduct "effects tests" to discover how well the Minuteman can ride out a nuclear attack in its "hardened," underground silo. Other tests will seek to determine how well the hulls of submarines-including the subs that carry the Polaris missile-will stand up to nuclear attack. Nuclear weapons will be detonated at high altitudes to check the effect on ground communications and radar. In previous tests, ionization caused by nuclear explosions wreaked havoc with electronics gear, raised the possibility that an enemy might try to knock out the electronic network of U.S. defenses by exploding warheads at high altitudes...
...signal ever comes, each Minuteman will blast out of its silo and, carrying a hydrogen warhead with over 50 times the explosive power of the Hiroshima bomb, set out for a target up to 6,300 miles away. That prospect should make any potential aggressor think twice before launching an attack against...