In the beginning of Wargames, they have a drill for a missile launch which includes opening the exterior doors required for 10 missiles.
Would people living in the local area have been able to hear this and understand what the noise was?
I’m guessing the missile bases were isolated but how much so?
My impression is that US missile silos are located mostly in sparsely populated areas of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains, where there are not a lot of locals to overhear the garage door opening.
The caps to missile silos are several feet thick and made from concrete and steel. From what I remember, when the door opens it’s pushed to the side by rockets. So it’s a little more dramatic than a garage door.
Pfft maybe more dramatic than your garage door.
They can open the doors slowly via some hydraulic method. I do not suspect during tests they use the rocket opening option which can open the door in two seconds.
Probably at least 3/4 horsepower then.