Atlas E Site 567-6 Missile Silo, Davenport Washington

Atlas E Site 567-6 was a single-missile SM-65E Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile launch complex operated by the 567th Strategic Missile Squadron in the Fairchild Air Force Base missile field. It was one of nine Atlas E "coffin launcher" sites dispersed around Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane, Washington. Its parent base was Fairchild Air Force Base. Its parent wing was the 92d Bombardment Wing during the first deployment period and the 92d Strategic Aerospace Wing after the wing was redesignated on 1962-02-15. The operating squadron was the 567th Strategic Missile Squadron. The site did not have a separate parent Launch Control Center in the later Minuteman sense. Atlas E launch-control functions were located at each launch complex.

The site was Air Force Operational Site Number 6 of the 567th Strategic Missile Squadron and is best identified as Atlas E Site 567-6, Davenport, Washington. It stood in rural Lincoln County in eastern Washington, in the Davenport/Bluestem/Harrington area southwest of the Columbia River and west of the main Fairchild support base. EPA independently identifies the cleanup/property record as the Former Fairchild Atlas E Missile S-6 Site, EPA ID WAN001002989, at 21000 Old Missile Road North, four miles south of Davenport, T24N R37E Section 21, parcel 2437021600020, Davenport, Lincoln County, Washington.

The site is inactive and decommissioned. The 567th Strategic Missile Squadron was organized at Fairchild on 1960-04-01 and was inactivated on 1965-06-25. The Fairchild Atlas E missile field became operational during 1961, with Strategic Air Command declaring the squadron operational on 1961-09-28 and the first Fairchild Atlas E missile placed on alert on 1961-10-01. The former launch complex is now private property. It is one of the best-known private Fairchild Atlas E sites because of its post-military use as a residence and storage facility, its connection to the National UFO Reporting Center, and a documented 2002 homicide that occurred during a later civilian ownership period. EPA lists the site as not on the National Priorities List and as NFRAP, meaning it did not qualify for the NPL based on existing information.

Location, Landscape, and Site Description

Site 567-6 occupied a rural scabland and wheat-country setting in Lincoln County, Washington. The site is associated with Davenport in most missile-location lists, but it sits in the countryside between Davenport and Harrington, near Bluestem and north of Bluestem Road according to a 2022 Record-Times site article. The NRHP documentation prepared for Atlas E Missile Site 9 places Site 567-6 at Davenport on Linstrum Road North, just south of Red Bridge Road East. EPA gives the address as 21000 Old Missile Road North, four miles south of Davenport.

The surrounding landscape is open, dryland agricultural country with rolling fields, sagebrush, coulees, and long rural roads. This location was not a facility on Fairchild Air Force Base itself. It was an off-base hardened launch complex placed far enough from both Fairchild and the other Atlas E sites to support the squadron's dispersal concept. The site's isolation was a military design feature. It reduced the chance that one enemy weapon could destroy multiple launchers and forced an attacker to consider a network of separated missile targets rather than a single compact base.

Public sources describe the general Fairchild Atlas E layout in considerable detail. National Register documentation for the best-preserved Fairchild Atlas E site, Site 9 at Reardan, states that each of the nine Fairchild Atlas E complexes was built as a roughly twenty-acre rural site with a central five-acre fenced missile area. The original inner area contained the major missile structures: the Upper Missile Bay, Launch Operations Building, Butler Building, access road, service areas, and security fencing. The Atlas E missile was stored horizontally in the upper missile bay. A heavy retractable concrete-and-steel roof or door opened before the missile could be raised, fueled, and launched. The launch operations building contained the crew, launch equipment, power plant, and support spaces and was connected to the missile structure by an underground access tunnel.

Site 567-6 followed that common Atlas E design. A 2022 Record-Times site visit described an approach through locked gates and old overgrown roads, followed by entry through a large steel door and tunnel into the underground complex. The same account described Cold War-era Strategic Air Command artwork still visible on a wall, former crew/barracks spaces, water staining from post-military flooding, and three large rooms in the missile-bay area, with the central room identified as the former 82-foot Atlas E missile storage bay. The article also noted that large yellow missile supports remained visible in the bay area. Those observations indicate that substantial physical evidence of the missile complex survived into the twenty-first century, even though the missile, launch equipment, nuclear components, and Air Force mission systems had long since been removed.

The site was an Atlas E coffin launcher rather than a later Minuteman-style vertical Launch Facility. The missile was not stored vertically in a hardened silo. It rested horizontally in a semi-hardened reinforced-concrete structure. In a launch sequence, the crew would open the launcher roof, raise the missile to vertical position, load liquid oxygen and RP-1 kerosene, complete countdown procedures, and launch from the open launcher. This gave the Atlas E more protection than earlier "soft" pads, but the system remained slower and less survivable than later solid-fueled missiles that stayed sealed in vertical launch facilities.

Strategic and Cold War Context

Atlas E Site 567-6 existed because the United States moved rapidly in the late 1950s and early 1960s to field an operational intercontinental ballistic missile force. The Atlas program was the first operational American ICBM program. It was developed in a period of intense Cold War concern about Soviet long-range missile capability, the perceived "missile gap," and the need to strengthen Strategic Air Command's nuclear deterrent. Fairchild Air Force Base already had a Strategic Air Command bomber and tanker role, and the addition of Atlas E made it part of the early American land-based ICBM force.

The Davenport site's mission was strategic nuclear deterrence, not local air defense. Its crew and missile were part of a national retaliatory force. If properly ordered through authenticated emergency channels, the site crew would prepare and launch the Atlas E missile against a preassigned target. The site's rural placement and separation from Fairchild were inseparable from that mission. Dispersal meant that an enemy would have to locate and attack nine separate Fairchild Atlas E complexes, spread across eastern Washington and north Idaho, rather than destroy one on-base missile installation.

Eastern Washington and nearby north Idaho offered several advantages for the Atlas E deployment. The region had open land, relatively low population density, established road access, and proximity to Fairchild Air Force Base, which supplied squadron headquarters, support personnel, logistics, and command connections. The missile field placed a national nuclear-alert system into a rural landscape of farms, small towns, and county roads. Communities such as Davenport, Harrington, Wilbur, Lamona, Sprague, Egypt, Reardan, Newman Lake, Deer Park, and Rockford/Worley became geographic reference points in an early ICBM field.

The Atlas E was also a transitional system. It was more capable than the earliest Atlas D deployment because it used all-inertial guidance and was deployed singly in independent semi-hardened launch complexes. The Association of Air Force Missileers describes the Atlas E as a coffin-deployed missile with one control center per missile and a roof at ground level that provided about 25 psi protection. But the missile remained liquid-fueled. It could not sit in the same ready condition as later solid-fueled Minuteman missiles. Crews had to expose, erect, fuel, and launch the missile in a sequence that public missileer sources describe as taking about fifteen minutes. By 1964 and 1965, Minuteman's solid fuel, faster response, and easier alert posture made Atlas E and other first-generation liquid-fueled ICBMs obsolete.

Construction and Activation

Fairchild's Atlas E missile field was built during the emergency first-generation ICBM construction program. Fairchild Air Force Base's official history article states that work on the nine Fairchild Atlas E missile complex sites began on 1959-05-12. The 567th Strategic Missile Squadron was organized at Fairchild on 1960-04-01, marking the first time Strategic Air Command activated an E-series Atlas missile unit. The first Atlas E missile arrived at Fairchild on 1960-12-03. Work on the last of the nine Fairchild launch sites was completed on 1961-02-10. Strategic Air Command accepted the first Fairchild Atlas E complex on 1961-07-29, and operational readiness training began in August 1961.

The National Register documentation for Site 9 provides important construction context for the entire Fairchild Atlas E group. It states that the notice to proceed for all nine Fairchild sites was issued in May 1959 and that construction finished in December 1960, describing the work as a crash schedule intended to make the missiles operational quickly. The documentation identifies the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Seattle District Construction Division as the project's general contractor and initial survey/engineering organization, Bechtel Corporation as architect/engineer, and Henry George & Sons with MacDonald-Patti-Scott-Leavell as builders. Site 567-6 was one of the nine Fairchild sites built under that broader program.

Construction required much more than excavating a missile bay. The Atlas E site included reinforced concrete underground structures, a tunnel, a launch operations building, equipment rooms, living and working space for alert crews, power and ventilation systems, propellant handling features, access roads, security fencing, utilities, and an aboveground storage or Butler-type building. When complete, Site 567-6 was a small, self-contained military installation in the countryside, able to house a combat crew and missile in a semi-hardened configuration while drawing support from Fairchild Air Force Base and the 567th Strategic Missile Squadron.

Missile System and Technical Role

Site 567-6 housed the SM-65E Atlas, later also associated with the CGM-16E designation. Atlas was the first operational U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile. Public Air Force museum sources describe Atlas as Strategic Air Command's first ICBM and state that an Atlas ICBM could deliver a nuclear warhead more than 6,300 miles from its launch site. The Fairchild Atlas E missile was 82 feet long in the official Fairchild account.

The Atlas E was powered by liquid propellants. It used RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen, with other supporting gases and fluids required for operation. Liquid oxygen could not be stored aboard indefinitely, which shaped daily readiness. The missile was kept at the site, but launch required an alert crew to open the launcher, raise the missile, fuel it, run checks, and launch if ordered. The Association of Air Force Missileers describes the Atlas E launch countdown as including emergency-war-order checklist actions, opening the coffin roof, erecting the missile, loading LOX and RP-1, and then initiating the launch sequence after propellants were loaded.

The Atlas E's guidance system was one of its major advances over earlier Atlas configurations. Public missileer and historic-preservation sources describe the Atlas E as using all-inertial guidance rather than a radio-inertial system that depended on a central ground guidance site. This allowed missiles to be deployed singly with one control center per missile. For Site 567-6, this meant the crew and launch-control equipment were at the launch complex itself rather than at a separate Minuteman-style Launch Control Center. The site therefore combined storage, support, crew, and launch functions at one rural property.

The combat crew was smaller than the total maintenance and security community required to keep the missile field operating. The Association of Air Force Missileers describes Atlas E combat crews as including two officers and three enlisted members: a missile maintenance technician, ballistic missile analysis technician, and power production technician. Crews stood 24-hour alert tours, with replacement crews traveling from the main base to the sites. In addition to the crew, the squadron and host base depended on maintenance, propellant, nuclear weapons, communications, security, power, and facility specialists. In practical terms, Site 567-6 was not only a launcher; it was an operational workplace that demanded constant inspection, testing, security, utilities, and maintenance.

Operational History

Site 567-6's active missile career was brief but intense. The 567th Strategic Missile Squadron was organized on 1960-04-01, received its first Atlas E missile at Fairchild on 1960-12-03, and became operational in late September 1961. Fairchild's official history states that Headquarters Strategic Air Command declared the squadron operational on 1961-09-28 and that the first Atlas E missile went on alert on 1961-10-01. By November 1961, most of the Fairchild missile force was on alert. Site 567-6 was part of that nine-site force, although available public sources do not identify which individual site held the first alert missile.

During active service, Site 567-6 would have been continuously integrated into 567th Strategic Missile Squadron operations. A crew lived and worked at the site during alert periods, monitored missile and support systems, maintained readiness, conducted checks, and coordinated with squadron and Strategic Air Command channels. The missile itself was not routinely visible as an upright rocket. Its alert posture centered on the underground launch bay, crew spaces, communications, power, and the ability to perform the launch sequence quickly if ordered.

Maintenance and inspection were central to Atlas E operations. Atlas E was a complex liquid-fueled system with propellant, pneumatic, electrical, guidance, reentry-vehicle, mechanical, and facility components. Public missileer sources emphasize that Atlas E squadrons contained many specialists in missile maintenance, missile facilities, power production, missile electronics, and related support. The Fairchild official history notes that General Dynamics-Astronautics recognized the 567th SMS for its safety performance during installation and checkout, and that the squadron later received safety, maintenance, and operational awards. Those awards belonged to the squadron as a whole, not uniquely to Site 567-6, but they help describe the operational culture in which Site 567-6 functioned.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was the most serious alert event during the site's operational lifetime. Public histories of the 567th SMS state that during the crisis all Fairchild Atlas E sites were placed at high readiness. A 2014 Spokesman-Review article quoting former Fairchild missile technician Dick Mellor states that the local Atlas force was placed on full alert and that the nine Fairchild Atlas missiles were retargeted to Cuba. The source describes this as a missile-field event involving the Fairchild Atlas sites and does not identify an individual Site 567-6 action beyond being part of the field.

Site 567-6 was also part of a squadron noted for operational inspection performance. Fairchild's official history states that in April 1963 the 567th SMS passed its first Operational Readiness Inspection and was the first Strategic Air Command missile squadron to pass an ORI. The squadron was also described as the only missile squadron that never failed one.

The operational life of Site 567-6 ended as quickly as the Atlas E system had arrived. By 1964, the Department of Defense had decided to phase out Atlas E and other older liquid-fueled ICBMs. Solid-fueled Minuteman had changed the standard for alert readiness and survivability. Air Force Order of Battle material states that the first 567th SMS ICBM came off alert on 1965-02-17, that the last Series E Atlas ICBMs were removed from alert at Fairchild on 1965-03-31, and that the last Series E Atlas ICBM to leave a Strategic Air Command operational base was shipped from the 567th SMS to storage on 1965-04-05. The squadron was inactivated on 1965-06-25.

Site Events

Site 567-6's most clearly documented site-specific post-military event is the 2002 homicide of Washington State Department of Licensing fuel-tax auditor Roger Erdman during Ralph Benson's ownership and occupancy of the former missile complex. Records state that Erdman went to the former missile site on 2002-06-12 to audit Benson's fuel-tax records, that police later found blood and crime evidence at the missile complex, and that Erdman's dismembered remains were found in a rural area south of Cheney. Benson was convicted of murder and sentenced to roughly 32 years in prison. Spokesman-Review and Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporting provide additional contemporary details about the investigation, trial, auction, and sentencing.

The site is also specifically documented as the home and records-storage location of the National UFO Reporting Center. National Register documentation for Atlas E Missile Site 9 states that Site 6 was then home to the National UFO Reporting Center. The Spokesman-Review reported in 2014 that Peter B. Davenport, director of the National UFO Reporting Center, owned Atlas No. 6, bought it from Ralph Benson's sons in 2006, and used it to hold records related to UFO research. A 2022 Record-Times article similarly reported that Davenport owned Missile Site No. 6 near Bluestem and used it to store UFO reports, files, and Cold War/missile relics.

Deactivation and Disposal

Site 567-6 left active ICBM service during the 1965 Atlas E phaseout. Air Force Order of Battle material provides the squadron sequence: the first 567th SMS ICBM came off alert on 1965-02-17; the last Series E Atlas ICBMs were removed from alert at Fairchild on 1965-03-31; the last Series E Atlas ICBM to leave a Strategic Air Command operational base was shipped from the 567th SMS to storage on 1965-04-05; and the squadron was inactivated on 1965-06-25. Fairchild's official history states that by March 31, 1965, the last Fairchild Atlas E missile had come off alert and had been shipped to storage. These dates mark related but different events: individual site decommissioning, missile removal from alert, missile shipment, and squadron inactivation.

Because Atlas E was retired before the later strategic arms-control demolition regimes that shaped many Minuteman and Peacekeeper closures, there is no evidence that Site 567-6 was physically destroyed for treaty verification. Instead, the missile, launch systems, nuclear equipment, and military mission systems were removed, while major hardened concrete structures remained. This pattern is consistent with the broader Fairchild Atlas E field. The nine Atlas E sites went out of service in March 1965 and deactivated in June 1965; eight of the nine were sold into private ownership and remained private, while Site 9 was retained by the federal government and later used by the Bureau of Mines/NIOSH.

The disposal history of Site 567-6 after deactivation is best documented through later ownership and reuse records rather than a single military disposal report. National Register documentation states that Site 6 was in private ownership and was home to the National UFO Reporting Center at the time of the Site 9 comparison. The Spokesman-Review reported that Ralph Benson had bought the surplus former missile property in 1988 and used it as a residence. Following Benson's conviction and death, his sons inherited the site and listed it for sale. The Spokesman-Review reported in 2014 that Peter B. Davenport purchased Atlas No. 6 from Benson's sons in 2006 and used it for National UFO Reporting Center records. The 2022 Record-Times article reported that Davenport still owned the property and used it to store thousands of UFO-related records and Cold War/missile relics.

Environmental documentation for Site 567-6 is limited. EPA identifies the property as the Former Fairchild Atlas E Missile S-6 Site, EPA ID WAN001002989, at 21000 Old Missile Road North in Davenport, Lincoln County. EPA lists it as not on the National Priorities List, NFRAP, not a federal facility, and incident category N. That public EPA profile does not include the detailed cleanup chronology available for some other Atlas sites.

Current Status and Site Use

The former Atlas E Site 567-6 is decommissioned, privately owned, and not open as a routine public historic site. The Record-Times described entry as requiring locked gates and travel along old overgrown roads. Public access should be treated as owner-permission only.

The current best-documented reuse is records and storage associated with the National UFO Reporting Center. The National Register documentation for Site 9 identifies Site 6 as the National UFO Reporting Center's home. The Spokesman-Review reported that Peter B. Davenport bought the site in 2006 and used it to hold UFO-research records. The Record-Times reported in 2022 that the site near Bluestem contained rows of cabinets and crates holding UFO-related documents, along with Cold War and missile relics. The same article documented surviving physical features, including the steel entrance, tunnel, former living/barracks areas, missile-bay rooms, Strategic Air Command artwork, water-staining from flooding, and remaining missile supports.

The site therefore survives as one of the more publicly documented private Fairchild Atlas E complexes, although not because it is a formal museum. It is historically visible through journalism, missile-history sources, EPA records, and the NRHP comparison made for Site 9. Its history has three distinct layers: the 1960-1965 Atlas E nuclear-alert mission, the post-1965 surplus/private reuse period, and the later civilian history involving the National UFO Reporting Center and the 2002 crime.

Chronology

• 1959-05-12 Work began on the nine Fairchild Atlas E missile complex sites, according to Fairchild Air Force Base's official history article.
• 1960 Construction began.
• 1960-04-01 The 567th Strategic Missile Squadron was organized at Fairchild Air Force Base; Strategic Air Command activated its first E-series Atlas missile squadron.
• 1960-12-03 The first Atlas E missile arrived at Fairchild Air Force Base.
• 1961-02-10 Work on the last of the nine Fairchild Atlas E launch sites was completed.
• 1961 Site 567-6 was turned over to the Air Force.
• 1961-07-29 Strategic Air Command accepted the first Fairchild Atlas E complex.
• 1961-08 Operational readiness training began in the Fairchild Atlas E missile field.
• 1961-09-28 Headquarters Strategic Air Command declared the 567th Strategic Missile Squadron operational.
• 1961-10-01 The first Fairchild Atlas E missile went on alert.
• 1961-11 Most of the Fairchild Atlas E missile force was on alert.
• 1962-02-15 The 92d Bombardment Wing was redesignated the 92d Strategic Aerospace Wing.
• 1962-10 The Fairchild Atlas E missile field was placed in a high-alert posture during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
• 1963-04 The 567th Strategic Missile Squadron passed its first Operational Readiness Inspection and was recognized as the first Strategic Air Command missile squadron to pass an ORI.
• 1964-02 Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara announced the closing of older Atlas E and Titan I missile sites as part of the national phaseout of first-generation liquid-fueled ICBMs.
• 1965-02-17 The Air Force Order of Battle fact sheet lists the first 567th SMS ICBM as off alert on this date.
• 1965-03-25 The 567th Strategic Missile Squadron historical Site 6 page lists Site 567-6 as decommissioned on this date.
• 1965-03-31 Public Air Force sources state that the last Series E Atlas ICBMs at Fairchild had been removed from alert by this date.
• 1965-04-05 The Air Force Order of Battle fact sheet states that the last Series E Atlas ICBM left Fairchild for storage on this date.
• 1965-06-25 The 567th Strategic Missile Squadron was inactivated.
• 1965 and after The former missile, nuclear components, and military launch equipment were removed, while the hardened structures remained and the former missile property entered post-military reuse.
• 1988 The Spokesman-Review reported that Ralph Benson bought the surplus former missile property in this year.
• 2002-06-12 Washington State Department of Licensing fuel-tax auditor Roger Erdman went to the former missile site for an audit during Ralph Benson's ownership; he was later found murdered.
• 2003-11-13 Ralph Benson was convicted by a Lincoln County jury of murdering Roger Erdman.
• 2003-12-11 Ralph Benson was sentenced in Lincoln County Superior Court to nearly 32 years in prison.
• 2004-09-22 Ralph Benson died at the Monroe State Reformatory.
• 2004-10-19 Benson's possessions were sold at auction at the former missile site during the estate/sale process.
• 2006 The Spokesman-Review and Record-Times report that Peter B. Davenport bought the site from Benson's estate or sons and used it for National UFO Reporting Center records.
• 2009 National Register documentation for Atlas E Missile Site 9 stated that Site 6 was home to the National UFO Reporting Center.
• 2014 The Spokesman-Review reported that Atlas No. 6 was owned by Peter B. Davenport and used to hold records related to his UFO research.
• 2022 The Record-Times reported that Davenport owned Missile Site No. 6 near Bluestem and that the site contained UFO-reporting records and Cold War/missile relics.
• 2026 EPA's public CERCLA profile listed the Former Fairchild Atlas E Missile S-6 Site as not on the NPL and NFRAP.

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