Site VIII - Idenheim
71st Tactical Missile Squadron

Photo Coutesy of Eric Zeppenfeld (info@bfw-vanhoffs.de)

The abandoned Idenheim site, Summer 1993, after the US Army removed the Patriot missiles that eventually followed the Mace "B" 

The hardened launch bays, with their 100 ton doors, were not used by the US Army. The Patriot missile launchers were positioned on the hard pads in front of the launch doors.

The small metal structure in front of the launch doors is the weather cover over the personnel stairwell. It also housed the winch used to raise and lower heavy equipment from the 2 LCSC's 60 feet below. The roof also had a cutout to allow the MC-1 cranes to be used for the really heavy lifts

Metal indicator sign from Idenheim courtesy of Bernhard Gross (bernhardgross@t-online.de)

Bernhard Gross has compiled an impressive amount of data and information about the Mace-B hard sites that will be incorporated into this web site in the near future.

Clearing the land at Newel adjacent to the active TM-61C Matador "C" Pad for Idenheim Site VIII, January 1961.

Construction underway at Site VIII, October 1961.

Construction underway at Idenheim Site VIII, November 1961

The first US Air Force launch and maintenance crews arrived less than three months later.

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

The European Stars and Stripes article, showing the launch door in the down position. July 12, 1964

The launch sites went operational June 27, 1964

The old Matador site at Idenheim was directly behind the Mace hard site, shielded by the clump of trees. Just several hundred yards beyond the trees is B-51, the heavily travelled Trier-Bitburg highway. 

Photo: Stars and Stripes European Edition

"I don't know what year it was, but we had just gotten a new commander, don't remember names, so a simulated alert and launch was to be done for him.

Well, you remember we had the code of the day to enter site??? The new commander was lead down by the first Sgt and after the outer doors were closed behind them, he called to be let in, without the code!

No code! We had a dilemma... We were pretty sure who was in the security chamber, but we all voted and said either way we were in trouble, so we decided to call gate security and told them we were going to break out the weapons. Well the alert call came, and for 1 1/2hrs we went through the drills while the commander was locked in the security hold with 1st Sgt. When all was clear we called gate and we got weapons. We sure had one embarrassed 1st Sgt. After we verified all the I.D.s we let them all into the sites. The commander was impressed with what we did, so in the long run all turned out well. The commander did not come down with-out security calling down for an escort after that time."

Robert Bimbi, Launch, 71st TMS (rbim@peoplepc.com)

Close up of the Hardened launch site door,  Idenheim, August 1993. Guard dogs patrolled between the fences at night.

A Different World - 1969

Two Mark 28's are moved back to MSA and the weapons area for deactivation at CGM-13B shutdown at Bitburg, April 30th 1969. The shape and size of the warheads can be seen as bulges against the transportation canvas

Warhead convoy back to MSA. Armed guards were posted in visual site of each other the entire distance of the trip for every warhead convoy.

Martin/Marietta Photo courtesy of Kathy Geary (k.geary@worldnet.att.net)

The planned layout for a hardened Mace B site. Each of the two Launch Command Centers, buried 60 feet under the paved loading and transport ramp, controls four launch bays. The Mace site was called a "semi-hardened" launch site, even though the facility was designed to withstand a nuclear attack.

Photo courtesy
of George F. Kovach
(GFKGDK@aol.com)

   Bernhard Gross's Illustration of a typical Site Layout

Idenheim - Site VIII - 2007

"The area today is private property of a car dealer. I do not know his name but at the main gate you will find a plate with a telephone number. The area is completely fenced in (but I found a small hole in the fence at the backside near the forest and I visited the area on a quiet Sunday): The opened missile cells are gutted (cannibalized) and empty. Only the jet nozzles of the carbon dioxide fire extinguisher pipes at the exhaust channel entry and some lamps you can see. All outer and inner doors are dismantled and scrapped.

In the stairways down to the underground rooms all lamps, conductions and wires are dismantled.

Downstairs I could see that the underground corridor (and accordingly all the rooms) are under water for more than one meter of water depth.

Because of that ground water situation I do not know anything about the technical installations and the underground interior of the Idenheim underground rooms, may be it is still there or may be it became scraped. I do not know.

I visited the Idenheim station last time in March 2007, some weeks ago."

Bernhard Gross (bernhardgross@t-online.de)

Site VIII, Idenheim, March 2007

S/Sgt Roberson and S/Sgt Alexander unload and prepare Thiokol RATO bottles for installation on the TM-76B (CGM-13B) Mace

Photo courtesy of Kathy Geary
(k.geary@worldnet.att.net)

Hooking up the bomb hoists to lower the RATO bottle on a CGM-13B Mace.
Crew members are Sgt Murray, S/Sgt Alexander, and S/Sgt Smith.
Photo taken on the door at Bay 80 at Idenheim.