The Time Of The Titan is a 1960s film from the Glenn L. Martin Company (which later merged with Lockheed to become the Lockheed Martin Corporation) that recounts the development of the Titan rockets that were part of the Air Force’s ICBM fleet. The film opens with footage of a valley and hills, presumably the future site of the production of the rockets just south of Denver, CO. A Titan rocket blasts off from a launch site (00:33). The film shows a Titan missile silo (01:25), where a man from the Martin Company speaks to the camera about developing the Titan missile. Bomber planes fly overhead (02:20), and an illustration shows another family of ICBM missiles: the Atlas missiles (02:35). Men of the Martin Company work on designs for the new missile. The film then cuts to the valley south of Denver where the Titan is being developed (05:10). A model is used to show viewers how the underground Titan missile silo operates (06:25). The film then shows the Martin Company’s Titan production line in 1957 (06:58). A piece of the missile is lifted from a chemical bath. People observe a captive firing of the missile (07:48) before conducting an actual flight test. The Titan goes through its first flight test at Cape Canaveral in 1959 (08:06). A titan detonates in mid-air during one of the flight tests. Aerial footage shows the construction site for the Titan silos at Lowry Air Force Base (09:36). Intercontinental long-range bombers carry ICBMs through the air (10:05). The film features shots of the new Titan II being designed; people work on the new missile’s guiding system. A modified Titan I is tested for launch from an underground missile silo (13:45). The film concludes with footage of a Titan missile as it flies through the sky.
The Titan I began in 1954 as a backup ICBM project in case the Atlas was delayed. It was a two-stage rocket whose LR-87 engine was powered by Rocket Propellant 1 (RP-1) and Liquid Oxygen (LOX). It was operational from early 1962 to mid-1965—only three years—but provided an essential bridge in the development of American strategic forces. The ground guidance for the Titan was the Unisys ATHENA computer, designed by Seymour Cray, which was based in a hardened underground bunker. Using radar data, it made course corrections during the burn phase. The Titan II was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and space launcher developed by the Glenn L. Martin Company from the earlier Titan I missile. Titan II was also originally developed as an ICBM but was later used as a medium-lift space launch vehicle. These payloads eventually included the USAF Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), the NOAA weather satellites, and NASA’s Gemini manned space capsules.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
