In the beginning of Wargames, they have a drill for a missile launch which includes opening the exterior doors required for 10 missiles.
Would people living in the local area have been able to hear this and understand what the noise was?
I’m guessing the missile bases were isolated but how much so?
In short, very isolated. At least 8km for the nearest town, which are normally tiny.
Here’s a subset of launch sites as an example : https://www.newyorkprepper.com/post/u-s-nuclear-missile-silo-fields-maps-and-coordinates
The is purposely done, both for security of the sites themselves, and security of people who would happen to live near sites.
Good thing the preppers posted those locations.
All major players know exactly where each other’s silos are. The real question is, do all of them have missiles in them?
A missile costs the same as a missile, but a hole in the ground is vastly cheaper. If you can entice an adversary to use a missile to bomb your hole in the ground, you can cheaply soak up counter force strikes.
Nuclear war logic fucking sucks.
I seriously doubt they would be able to hear it as they were/are in the middle of nowhere.
See for yourself:
Do they have any around Bozeman, Montana that comes with the missile? I don’t need the warhead, I got other plans…
You ain’t getting to escape velocity with a Minuteman unless it’s just you and a lawn chair maybe.
You wouldn’t happen to be Zephram Cochrane would you?
Not around the ranch lands where they are located. But, you do know when the SAC bases scramble. 20 or more B52s lifting off is hard to miss.
My impression is that US missile silos are located mostly in sparsely populated areas of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains, where there are not a lot of locals to overhear the garage door opening.
The caps to missile silos are several feet thick and made from concrete and steel. From what I remember, when the door opens it’s pushed to the side by rockets. So it’s a little more dramatic than a garage door.
Pfft maybe more dramatic than your garage door.
Probably at least 3/4 horsepower then.
They can open the doors slowly via some hydraulic method. I do not suspect during tests they use the rocket opening option which can open the door in two seconds.
Fun fact unrelated to your question. Salem ariport still isn’t as big as it was depicted as being in this film 40 years ago.
Was there a large audible sound in the scene? I’ve seen the movie more than a few times as a kid but don’t recall loud mechanical sounds of the missile doors. If it was a drill, no doubt they would had routinely opened the doors on the regular in the past, and at the bare minimum, they should have done due maintenance to ensure silky smooth and squeek free opening of said doors.
a large audible sound
As opposed to an inaudible sound, or a visual sound?
