Retired ASAF Major From Tolland To Share Cold War Missile Experiences

TOLLAND, CT — A history talk is set for Nov. 12 in Tolland on the Titan II Missile Program.

Carl Stidsen from Tolland (Major, USAF, Ret.), will give the free talk on Nov. 12. His focus will be on the Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program and called, “Life in a Cold War ICBM Site: On the Nuclear Bullseye.”

The talk is slated for for 11 a.m. at the Old Tolland County Jail and Museum at 52 Tolland Green. It is being presented by the Tolland Historical Society and the Tolland Veterans Recognition Commission.

The talk will be followed by a light lunch at the Tolland Military Museum. Admission, parking and lunch are all free.

During the Vietnam War-era, Stidsen served as a missile combat crew commander at a Titan II site in Arizona. He logging more than 8,000 hours underground during more than 380 nuclear alert tours, which each lasted 24 hours.

The weapon his crew controlled had a hydrogen bomb equal to nine megatons of dynamite, and yet – at age 24 – he was the oldest member of the four-man crew. The Titan II was the last and largest liquid-fuel ICBM the U.S. fielded.

Stidsen, the research librarian at the New England Air Museum, has been a pilot for 56 years and has been a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association for 52 years.