Underground Bases In Kansas

I am interested in any underground bases in Kansas. If you or anyone you know is aware of any please let me know.

If you have a town and directions it would be very helpful. I am intersted in active and abandoned bases.

Originally posted by dribbler
I am interested in any underground bases in Kansas. If you or anyone you know is aware of any please let me know.

If you have a town and directions it would be very helpful. I am intersted in active and abandoned bases.

Don't know any specifics, but Kansas used to have missile silos and those have huge underground complexes to support them .
www.npr.org...

Whiteman Air Force Base has some underground facilities to support the 509th Bombing Wing, which flies the B-2 Spirit (Stealth Bomber). The hangers have an underground part where the planes are kept and the above ground entrance/exit. The 509th Bombing Wing's headquaters is also underground. That's was design that way so the B-2 Fleet could survive a nuclear attack (Remember: this was all Built during the cold war, and a deterrent doesn't work if it can't survive a surprise attack).

Tim
ATS Director of Counter-Ignorance

[edit on 9-9-2004 by ghost]

I used to work in missile fields around Wichita. I don't know that I would use the word huge to discribe the silo's there. All of the titan II have been deactivated and the silo's filled in. I know I wouldn't want to crawl around in one they had very high levels of all kinds of bad chemicals in them.

I worked at the daily newspaper in Atchison, KS in the early 90's and was shown a massive underground cavern system that ostensibly served as a dry storage site for microfiche backups of national records. Adjacent to the caverns were what were clearly missile silos next to the Missouri river, with typical venting. There appeared to be at least 4 silos. This site is likely controlled by Military at Leavenworth nearby. Many local people have been there and testify as to the massive and complex site. Secrecy would suggest there is something to hide as usual, and one has an impossible time discovering exactly what they do there.

That is the Atchison Storage Facility.

This site extends completely beneath Jackson Park, in Atchison, Kansas as the world's longest single-floor goverment bunker complex.

More commonly known as the Atchison Caves, this site was originally a series of limestone mine tunnels. Portions of the facility currently range from 50-feet to 150-feet beneath the surface, encompassing roughly 127 acres of storage space.

During World War 2, the US Government spent over $2 Million supplying the mines with refrigerated food storage facilities for the War Food Administration.

In 1952, the facility was renamed the United States Storage Facility- Atchison Caves. The Army converted two of the largest mines (more than 60 acres of underground space) into storage areas with the installation of cinderblock walls, concrete floors, electrical lighting, sump pumps, air handling equipment and an extensive dehumidification system. To facilitate moving the large machine tools in and out of the storage facility a truck receiving dock was built near the entrance, a railroad spur and dock were constructed and dock facilities for barges were established on the Missouri River.

In addition, a shop to refurbish and maintain the machine tools was established at the facility. At its peak, a private contractor was responsible for maintaining more than 5,000 machine tools in the reserve facility.

In 1977, the facility was transferred to the Defense Logistics Agency and it was renamed as the Atchison Storage Facility. It was later used to store surplus parachutes (more than 8,500), medical supplies and important defense department documents, plans and computer files.

The Atchison Strategic Storage Facility is still owned by the United States Government, now operated by the Army Reserve's 88th Regional Support Command in Fort McCoy, WI. Recent Defense Department documents list the facilities use as storage and training. They list the size of the facility as 125 acres (51 ha) aboveground and 60 acres (24 ha) belowground. Some hazardous materials have been identified at a former landfill at the site and groundwater monitoring is being conducted in cooperation with the State of Kansas.

If you fire up Google Earth, I will point you to some other interesting sites in Kansas.

1. Underground Vaults and Storage - Hutchinson
- 38° 2'36.10"N
- 97°52'4.47"W

This site is shared between the Carey Salt Mine (Now Hutchinson Salt Mine) and a records vault owned and operated by Underground Vaults And Storage, Inc.

The records vault was built in 1959 from one of several underground caverns created by the salt mine. It sits 650 feet below ground. The walls are composed primarily of rock salt which dramatically reduces the amount of moisture in the air. The entire facility is climate controlled and the air is filtered.

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2. Cavern Technologies Data Center
- 38°57'5.75"N
- 94°47'20.23"W

This site is a secure data storage facility owned and operated by Cavern Technologies. The facility is 125-feet underground, over 300,000 square feet, and fully climate controlled.

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3. AT&T Communication Bunker - Fairview
- 39°45'33.01"N
- 95°43'59.43"W

This is just an active radio tower and small, maintained underground bunker which was originally built as part of the long lines system.

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4. AT&T Communication Bunker - Russell
- 38°52'30.01"N
- 99° 2'16.61"W

Another tower and bunker for the longline system.

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5. AT&T Communication Bunker - Marienthal
- 38°33'21.12"N
- 100°54'30.08"W

And another tower and bunker.

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Next up, let's look at some missile silos. Continued in my next post.

1. Nike Missile Site KC-60
- 38°45'40.12"N
- 94°56'6.56"W

Looks like the three underground missile magazines are still there.

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2. Nike Missile Site KC-80
- 39°21'44.21"N
- 94°56'24.79"W

The underground magazines are still visible but it now looks to be a parking lot or storage lot. So the magazines have probably been welded shut.

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3. Nike Missile Site SC-01
- 39° 0'23.84"N
- 97°36'30.51"W

Looks like it's been completely demolished. I don't see anything left.

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4. Nike Missile Site SC-50
- 38°38'53.15"N
- 97°43'2.63"W

This one might have been demolished too. Or maybe buried. Hard to tell. Some of the concrete is still visible though.

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5. Atlas E Missile Site 548-1
- 38°41'41.59"N
- 95°52'46.13"W

The coffin launcher looks to be intact but looks like it might be flooded.

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6. Atlas E Missile Site 548-2
- 38°58'36.85"N
- 96° 2'54.28"W

This site is privately owned by Ed and Dianna Peden. They specialize in the sale of former missile sites and operate a website at:
www.missilebases.com...

Ed Peden purchased this property in 1982 for $48,000. At the time, it was mostly flooded. Over time, he and his wife slowly transformed the site into an underground mansion called "Subterra".

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7. Atlas E Missile Site 548-3
- 39°14'43.65"N
- 95°55'10.80"W

Looks like it's privately owned. There is a house right next to the coffin launcher.

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8. Atlas E Missile Site 548-4
- 39°13'22.71"N
- 96°19'31.03"W

Looks like it's being used for something.

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9. Atlas E Missile Site 548-5
- 39°31'34.06"N
- 95°44'24.06"W

This site was demolished and is now home to the Jackson Heights School District, Holton, Kansas.

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10. Atlas E Missile Site 548-6
- 39°16'46.33"N
- 95°31'49.08"W

This site is currently for sale on missilebases.com
It was formerly flooded and the coffin launcher's overhead door was removed.

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11. Atlas E Missile Site 548-7
- 38°46'6.83"N
- 95°22'3.29"W

Looks intact but flooded.

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12. Atlas E Missile Site 548-8
- 38°25'50.09"N
- 95°40'40.94"W

Looks clean.

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13. Atlas E Missile Site 548-9
- 38°41'10.76"N
- 96°18'7.34"W

This one is missing the coffin launcher door too.

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14. Atlas F Missile Site 550-1
- 39° 5'56.68"N
- 97°32'35.06"W

The Atlas F series uses an actual silo rather than a coffin launcher. This series also has a 2-level command bunker which is attached. This one looks intact but is probably flooded. From the looks of that square pond to the northeast, of the silo, somebody might have pumped it out at some point.

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15. Atlas F Missile Site 550-2
- 38°56'56.35"N
- 97°15'22.94"W

Looks questionable. Might have been covered over or possibly filled in.

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16. Atlas F Missile Site 550-3
- 38°59'2.57"N
- 97° 3'57.35"W

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17. Atlas F Missile Site 550-4
- 38°40'23.25"N
- 97°19'21.99"W

There is a single wide trailer and some junk on the site. So this is probably privately owned.

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18. Atlas F Missile Site 550-5
- 38°28'37.43"N
- 97°38'27.88"W

They seem to have buried the silo and built a house directly on top of it. It probably still has access to the silo in the basement.

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19. Atlas F Missile Site 550-6
- 38°23'30.53"N
- 98° 4'4.41"W

This silo is currently for sale at missilebases.com
The living quarters have never been flooded but are in rough shape. The silo has been completely gutted down to the bare walls and has approximately 100-feet of water in it.

Pictures can be found at:
www.nesilos.com...

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20. Atlas F Missile Site 550-7
- 38°45'8.37"N
- 98° 3'5.92"W

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CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

21. Atlas F Missile Site 550-8
- 38°50'4.91"N
- 98°26'4.16"W

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22. Atlas F Missile Site 550-9
- 39° 4'4.98"N
- 98° 0'56.48"W

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23. Atlas F Missile Site 550-10
- 39° 1'11.82"N
- 97°51'1.36"W

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24. Atlas F Missile Site 550-11
- 39°24'43.74"N
- 97°40'48.77"W

This site looks to be privately owned. A shop building was installed on the site in the 1990's.

Pictures can be found here:
www.nesilos.com...

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25. Atlas F Missile Silo 550-12
- 39° 9'50.91"N
- 97°39'50.98"W

This site looks pretty rough. It seems to have a bunch of junk on it.

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26. Titan II Missile Site 532-1
- 37°11'6.25"N
- 97°24'33.71"W

These Titan II Missile silos were all decommissioned in the 1980's. After decommissioning, they were filled in with dirt. The silos are still there, only you have to dig them out.

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27. Titan II Missile Site 532-2
- 37°15'18.83"N
- 97°32'2.54"W

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28. Titan II Missile Site 532-3
- 37°21'50.38"N
- 97°37'59.28"W

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29. Titan II Missile Site 532-4
- 37°28'7.00"N
- 97°42'42.86"W

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30. Titan II Missile Site 532-5
- 37°27'53.66"N
- 97°54'41.17"W

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31. Titan II Missile Site 532-6
- 37°25'31.91"N
- 98° 4'6.72"W

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32. Titan II Missile Site 532-7
- 37°37'19.56"N
- 97°54'14.00"W

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33. Titan II Missile Site 532-8
- 37°41'48.90"N
- 98° 4'4.34"W

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34. Titan II Missile Site 532-9
- 37°45'9.53"N
- 97°45'56.16"W

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35. Titan II Missile Site 533-1
- 37°58'56.49"N
- 97° 0'5.05"W

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36. Titan II Missile Site 533-2
- 37°55'30.40"N
- 96°50'37.65"W

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37. Titan II Missile Site 533-3
- 37°41'56.74"N
- 96°50'55.38"W

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38. Titan II Missile Site 533-4
- 37°39'43.88"N
- 96°39'25.87"W

This site is privately owned. The current owner has attempted excavating the site.

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39. Titan II Missile Site 533-5
- 37°34'19.72"N
- 96°46'28.18"W

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40. Titan II Missile Site 533-6
- 37°30'3.05"N
- 96°54'11.38"W

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41. Titan II Missile Site 533-7
- 37°24'30.18"N
- 96°59'58.11"W

On August 24, 1978 the facility suffered a catastrophic oxidizer spill due to a faulty cutoff valve. One man was killed on site, another died later at the hospital. 25 men were treated for various related wounds.

The spill caused the emergency evacuation of the entire nearby town of Rock, due North of the facility.

Over $10 million had been spent on repairs by the time the facility was decommissioned in 1981.

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42. Titan II Missile Site 533-8
- 37°15'44.69"N
- 96°51'14.43"W

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43. Titan II Missile Site 533-9
- 37°17'37.48"N
- 97°13'38.89"W

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That is just about everything you will find in Kansas. There may be a few others, but those are the known ones thus far.

Just across the border in Missouri, there are 2 more nike missile sites and Hunt Midwest Subtropolis.

Hunt Midwest Subtropolis is a former limestone mine that has been converted to a secure records storage vault. It is currently owned and operated by Underground Vaults and Storage, Inc. The facility is located 150-feet below ground and is roughly 180,000 square feet. It can be found at:
- 39° 9'29.39"N
- 94°28'31.93"W