A Pictoral History of a Mace B Hard Site
Site VII - Rittersdorf

In the Eifel Forest of Germany

Autumn of 1961

The Construction of the Mace B hard sites is under way next to the operational TM-61C Matador "B" Pad

The operational "B" Pad is in the upper left hand of the photo above.

The Photos above were contributed by Garld and Janice Edwards (geje@comcast.net), used with permission

Insertion - 1962
The First Missile Load Test

All Insertion Photos are courtesy of Glen Curl (gcurl@bv.net)

The first TM-76B Mace "B" was test loaded in the fall of 1962, just before the Cuban Missile Crisis. The system did not go operational for over 18 more months.

A1C Glen Curl observes as the missile is lowered into the launch bay

All Insertion Photos are courtesy of Glen Curl (gcurl@bv.net)

The first component loaded in the insertion is the RATO bottle