Original vintage 1960s Martin Corporation advertisement got the company's Titan family of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) - "Life Insurance - The preservation of the peace and security of this nation depends upon two things: Our diplomatic wisdom in a troubled world, and the power to protect ourselves if peaceful negotiation should fail."
Dimensions: Roughly 7.75 inches wide by 10.5 inches high.
The Titan ICBM
The Titan was a family of United States expendable missiles used between 1959 and 2005. The Titan I and Titan II missiles were part of the US Air Force's (USAF) ICBM fleet until 1987, and the space launch vehicle Titan versions contributed the majority of the 368 Titan launches, including all the Project Gemini crewed flights of the mid-1960s. Titan vehicles were also used to lift U.S. military payloads – as well as civilian agency reconnaissance satellites – and to send interplanetary scientific probes throughout the Solar System.
The HGM-25A Titan I, built by the Martin Company (in this advert), was the first version of the Titan family of missiles. It began as a backup ICBM project in case the SM-65 Atlas was delayed, and featured a two-stage rocket operational from early 1962 to mid-1965 whose LR-87 booster engine was powered by kerosene and liquid oxygen.
The Titan II missile had a range of approximately 9,300 miles (15,000 km), rendering it a powerful weapon capable of reaching almost any target in the world. The Titan II was the last liquid-fueled ICBM built by the United States and was in service from 1963 to 1987.
Unlike the decommissioned Thor, Atlas, and Titan II missiles, the Titan I inventory was scrapped and never reused for space launches or re-entry vehicle tests, as all support infrastructure for the missile had been converted to the Titan II/III family by 1965.
Most of the Titan rockets were the Titan II ICBM and their civilian derivatives for NASA. The most famous use of the civilian Titan II was in the NASA Gemini program of crewed space capsules in the mid-1960s. Twelve Titan II GLVs were used to launch two U.S. uncrewed Gemini test launches and ten crewed capsules with two-person crews – all launches were successful.
There were several accidents in Titan II silos resulting in loss of life and/or serious injuries – in August 1965, 53 construction workers were killed in fire in a missile silo northwest of Searcy, Arkansas; the fire started when hydraulic fluid used in the Titan II was ignited by a welding torch. The liquid fuel missiles were prone to developing leaks of their toxic propellants.
Subsequently, at a silo outside Rock, Kansas, an oxidizer transfer line ruptured on August 24, 1978, with an ensuing orange vapor cloud forced 200 rural residents to evacuate the area. A staff sergeant of the maintenance crew was killed while attempting a rescue and a total of twenty were hospitalized.
Separately, in September 1980, at a Titan II silo 374-7 near Damascus, Arkansas, a technician dropped an 8 lb socket 70 ft, which bounced off a thrust mount, and broke the skin of the missile's first stage. When the leak was detected shortly after, the silo was flooded with water and civilian authorities were advised to evacuate the area. While the issue was being fixed, leaking rocket fuel ignited and blew the 8,000 lb nuclear warhead out of the silo. It landed harmlessly several hundred feet away. One fatality and 21 were injured in the end, all from the emergency response team from Little Rock AFB. The explosion blew the 740-ton launch tube cover 200 ft (60 m) into the air and left a crater 250 feet in diameter.
The 54 Titan IIs in Arizona, Arkansas, and Kansas were replaced by 50 MX "Peacekeeper" solid-fuel missiles in the mid-1980s, and the last Titan II silo was deactivated in May 1987. Altogether, 54 Titan IIs had been fielded along with a thousand Minuteman missiles from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s. Today, a number of Titan I and Titan II missiles can be found as museum displays across the U. S.
The Martin Company
The Glenn L. Martin Company, also known as The Martin Company from 1917 to 1961 (this advert is from the latter part of this era), was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company founded by aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin. The Martin Company produced many important aircraft for the defense of the US and allies, especially during World War II and the Cold War.
During the 1950s and '60s, the Martin Company moved from the aircraft industry into the guided missile, space exploration, and space utilization industries. In 1961, the Martin Company merged with American-Marietta Corporation, a large industrial conglomerate, forming the Martin Marietta coporation. In turn, Martin Marietta merged with aerospace giant Lockheed Corporation to form the Lockheed Martin corporation in 1995.