Goodfellow members tour LAMB

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Ethan Sherwood
  • 17th Training Wing Public Affairs

Goodfellow members visited the Lawn Atlas Missile Base in Lawn, Texas, Oct. 26. 

LAMB is a missile silo established in 1962 under the Air Force Strategic Air Command. The silo was a storage and launching facility for the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile F series. 

Today the silo is owned by Dyess Air Force Base honorary commander and member of the Atlas Missile Base Cold War Center, Larry Sanders.

Sanders has a passion for American history and the military; he possesses a considerable wealth of knowledge about the Cold War and shared it with Goodfellow’s visiting members. 

Dyess S-6’s construction started in November of 1960 alongside 11 other sites roughly built like points on a clock. All sites from beginning to end were completed in 14 short months. Considering the importance of the project, this was no small feat. According to Sanders, this was partially due to the 72 total sites being the same; they even faced the same way. 

Each silo complex was manned by a five-person crew, which consisted of a missile combat crew commander, deputy missile combat crew commander, ballistic missile analyst technician, missile facilities technician, and electrical power production technician. 

This crew cared for a nuclear warhead approximately 200 times more powerful than the atomic bombs used to end World War II. Each of these giant missiles was housed in an underground silo 174 feet deep and 52 feet wide. If the missile silo were to be put above ground, it would be the fourth tallest building in Abilene, Texas, and by far the most fortified. The silo walls are nine feet thick and built with concrete and rebar; the doors weigh 65 tons. 

Sanders started work on the site in 1999 after buying it from Lawn, Texas, who used it as a shelter. He and his family have been restoring the site for the past 21 years. 

“I could not do it without a lot of family support and great volunteers from all of our universities in this region, and folks from Dyess AFB that are always engaged and helping me out,” said Sanders.

Even his 10-year-old son assisted in the project, clearing out four tons of sand from the emergency escape hatch with a potato chip can and a bucket.

Two of the site’s biggest enemies are water and rust, most of the silo is flooded, and the base itself was full of years of graffiti. 

Today the base is in much better shape; Sanders gives guided tours and even lets people stay the night inside the site. His ultimate goal is to get the site recognized as the first 20th-century addition to the Texas Forts Trail.

Although the Atlas was first designed as a weapon, the same vehicle was used for other purposes. Five out of seven NASA Mercury flights used Atlas rockets to launch payloads into the Earth’s orbit. And perhaps the most notable discovery around the Atlas was WD-40, designed initially to wipe down Atlas ICBMs.

Though the site sits dormant, it remains one of the most impressive structures in modern history.