There is a town called Cordele, Georgia. It’s a tiny town well south of Atlanta, barely a blip on the map; if you blink while you’re heading along Interstate 75, you’re apt to miss it. It has a small gas station, a couple of rail lines, a Krystal burger…

…and a nuclear missile.

The missile is behind the gas station, right in front of the Krystal. It’s an old Titan, set up just off the freeway.

People walk their dogs next to it. There’s a very proud sign in front of it, solemnly informing visitors that this site is Confederate Air Force One.

The sign offers, I think, quite an insight into why the South lost the Civil War. They never did quite get the hang of this whole “industrialization” thing.

The careful reader will notice several punctuation errors on the sign. There’s also a technical error; a callout points to the “Stage III lox tank,” but the Titan I is a two-stage missile.

The South never really did much cotton to this science and technology stuff, so it’s probably not too surprising that they get bits wrong.

We stopped on the way home from Frolicon to take pictures of the missile. It’s slowly turning into rust, but it’s still quite lovely in a strange way. Viewed up close, some parts of it almost look like art.

You’ll find quite a few bandwidth-crushing pictures under the cut. Click here to see more!