My friend Jim took my old boss Vance and I out to the Air Museum at Malmstrom AFB, MT. Â Here is some of what we saw.
The top side of an ICBM reentry guidance module.
The bottom side.
A launch control console. Â This is where the two guys sit underground. Â Waiting.
An ICBM reentry vehicle (where the warhead is).
A map of the four Missile Squadrons (now three) at Malmstrom AFB. Â It takes five hours to get from one end to the other.
On a good day. Â When the weather is good. Â When it isn’t it can be impossible to go from one end to the other.
But they have been manned for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, since 1962!
“The 10th Strategic Missile Squadron (SMS) was activated on 1 November 1961 and Alpha-01, the first launch control facility, was completed in July 1962. The first Minuteman I ICBM arrived on base by rail 23 July 1962. Just four days after the missile’s arrival, Launch Facility Alpha-09 gained the title of the first Minuteman missile site.”
It is a really nice museum. Â I hope to get back and take more outside photos of the airplanes and other stuff they have.
~Curtis in /\/\onTana! {!-{>
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