578-5 OPLIN TX

 

I had an oppertunity to visit a few of the Dyess Atlas F sites in the last part of May 2007. My first visit was to the Oplin site owned by Bruce Townsley. It was
a very exciting visit as Bruce has done alot of work to his site and it can be seen in the workmanship of the different things he has done. I was very impressed
with everything that he showed me. His site is by far the best site I have seen so far.

I drove 2 1/2 hours to get to Bruce's site and the drive was well worth it. On getting to the site Bruce was outside waiting for my sister and I to arrive. The first
thing I noticed was that one of the silo doors was open and the ram was attached to the door and I knew that Bruce had the ram working as I had seen it posted
on his website. We got out of the car and met Bruce, we then walked over to the quanson hut that is still intact and in really good shape, Bruce has stripped all
the old insulation out of it and it looks really good on the inside. Bruce showed us parts from a ram that he had found and it was unbelievable how big it is
close up. We then went down into the stairwell and into the LCC and I was impressed with all the work that Bruce has done to the command center. His ideas,
inovation and vision really shows threwout the whole place. We went threw the silo tunnel and walked into the silo area where the cribbing is still intact and
looking up we could see the sun coming in threw the open door and lit up the whole place. We walked around on level 2 and then went up to level 1 using the
spiral staircase that is still intact also. I didn't get a chance to visit any of the other levels of the silo but there is always next time.

We returned to the surface and Bruce then closed the silo door for us to watch and it was an amazing thing to watch, to witness the only operating Atlas F
silo door in the U.S. thanks Bruce for the amazing tour of your home. And for alowing me to take some pictures to share with others.

These photos are in no particular order. They were taken with my 35mm and 2 MP Digital camera. The flash video of the door opening isn't the best but it is
the only video so far to show the door at least closing.

Bruces web site can be found here http://www.geocities.com/atlasmissiletours/

 

 

Bruce Townsley (left-Owner) Tony Castillo (middle) Larry Sanders (right - Owner of Lawn Site)

 

 

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