Titan I
N 31° 57.644 W 083° 45.169
17R E 239826 N 3539393
While not a museum, a Titan 1 missile is on display in Cordele, GA, adjacent to I-75. At exit 101, it is in a parking lot between a Chevron and a Krystal.
Waymark Code: WM1HV3
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 05/14/2007
Views: 52
The Titan I was the United States' first true multistage ICBM. It was the first in a series of Titan rockets, but was unique among them in that it used LOX and RP-1 as its fuels, while the later versions all used storable fuels instead.
The program began in January 1955 and took shape in parallel with the Atlas (SM-65/HGM-25) intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The Air Force's goal in launching the Titan program was twofold: one, to serve as a backup should Atlas fail; and two, to develop a large, two-stage missile with a longer range and bigger payload that also could serve as a booster for space flights.
The Titan I was also called the SM-68, the -68 designation formerly applying to the XB-68, a stillborne jet bomber design by Martin which was cancelled before two prototypes and one test model were completed.
Produced by the Glenn L. Martin Company (which became "The Martin Company" in 1957), Titan I was a two-stage, liquid-fueled missile. The first stage delivered 300,000 pounds force (1,330 kN) of thrust, the second stage 80,000 pounds force (356 kN). The fact that Titan I, like Atlas, burned RP-1 and LOX was a severe drawback from the military point of view (as the LOX is a major logistic problem, being rather hard to store and handle), and it severely curtailed the operational flexibility/reaction times of the missile system.
The missile utilized both radio and all-inertial guidance. Deployed in a "hard" underground silo, it had to be raised to surface by a special launcher for firing. The Titan I had an effective range of 5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km). When the first stage had finished consuming its propellant, it dropped away, thereby decreasing the mass of the vehicle. That made for a more efficient missile, which resulted in increased range and enabled a larger payload.
When the storable fueled Titan II and the solid fueled Minuteman I were deployed in 1963, the Titan I and Atlas missiles became obsolete. They were retired from service as ICBMs in early 1965. The Titan II remained in service until the 1980s however, as it carried a much larger payload (a multi-megaton hydrogen warhead) that could be used as an effective "city buster".
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