510th Missile Squadron - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

's 510th Missile Squadron (510 MS) was a missile unit located at Whiteman AFB, Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

. After the end of the Cold War, and lessening of tensions with Russia, the 510 MS was deactivated along with its contingent of Minuteman II missiles. The 510 MS was unique among the 20 Minuteman

LGM-30 Minuteman

The LGM-30 Minuteman is a U.S. nuclear missile, a land-based intercontinental ballistic missile . As of 2010, the version LGM-30G Minuteman-III is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States...

missile squadrons, as it was the only one that controlled Program 494L Emergency Rocket Communication System payloads atop its sorties.

History

Activated in late 1942 as a B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomb squadron, trained under Second Air Force

Second Air Force

The Second Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Education and Training Command . It is headquartered at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi....

. Deployed to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) during April 1943, assigned to VIII Bomber Command

VIII Bomber Command

The VIII Bomber Command is an inactive United States Army Air Forces unit that is better known as the later appellation Eighth Air Force, as was popularized in post-World War II filmsand is frequently called the First Eighth Air Force by its veterans and successors in the services.The command was...

as a strategic bombardment squadron. Participated in the air offensive over Nazi Germany and Occupied Europe until German capitulation in May 1945. Personnel demobilized in England and returned to the United States; squadron reassigned to Second Air Force

Second Air Force

The Second Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Education and Training Command . It is headquartered at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi....

and was programmed to be re-equipped with B-29 Superfortress

B-29 Superfortress

The B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States Air Forces in late-World War II and through the Korean War. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II...

es for deployment to Pacific Theater. Japanese capitulation led to units inactivation in September 1945, being neither manned or equipped.

Activated in the postwar reserve as a B-29 squadron. Inactivated in 1949 due to budget reductions.

On 15 November 1962 the 510th Strategic Missile Squadron was activated as a SAC LGM-30B Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile wing. Activated on 1 May 1963, being made operational on 14 January 1964, with a complement of 50 missiles. Declared combat ready on 29 June 1964. From May 1966 to October 1967, converted to LGM-30F Minuteman II missiles.

With the restructuring of the Air Force and the disestablishment of Strategic Air Command (SAC) in the early 1990s was reassigned to Air Combat Command (ACC) in 1992 and then under Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) in 1993.

Remained on Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

nuclear alert until in response to President Bush's directive to stand down the Minuteman II. Dissipated launch codes and pin safety control switches at 15 launch control facilities. Deactivation of the entire missile complex ended in the spring of 1995; squadron inactivated on 28 July.

Lineage

Constituted 510th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 25 September 1942

Activated on 1 October 1942

Inactivated on 28 August 1945

Redesignated 510th Bombardment Squadron (Very Heavy) on 23 September 1947

Activated in the reserve on 15 October 1947

Inactivated on 27 June 1949

Redesignated as: 510th Strategic Missile Squadron (ICBM-Minuteman) on 15 Nov 1962

Organized on 1 May 1963

Redesignated as: 510th Missile Squadron on 1 September 1991

Inactivated on 28 July 1995

Assignments

351st Bombardment Group, 1 October 1942-28 August 1945; 15 October 1947-27 June 1949

ETO Fuselage Code: TU

351st Strategic Missile Wing, 1 May 1963
351st Operations Group, 1 September 1991-28 July 1995

Stations

Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

, 1 October 1942
Gowen Field, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

, 1 October 1942
Geiger Field, Washington, November 1942
Biggs Field, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, 2 January 1943
Pueblo Army Air Base, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, 2 March-12 April 1943

RAF Polebrook
RAF Polebrook
RAF Polebrook is a former World War II airfield located 3.5 miles east-south-east of Oundle, at Polebrook, Northamptonshire, UK. The airfield was built on Rothschild estate land starting in August 1940....

(AAF-110), England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, 12 May 1943-9 June 1945
Sioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

, July-28 August 1945
Fairfax Field, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, 15 October 1947-27 June 1949
Whiteman AFB, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

, 1 May 1963-28 July 1995

Aircraft and missiles

B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942–1945
B-29 Superfortress
B-29 Superfortress
The B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States Air Forces in late-World War II and through the Korean War. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II...

, 1947–1949
LGM-30B Minuteman I, 1963-1967
LGM-30F Minuteman II, 1966–1995
Emergency Rocket Communications System
Emergency Rocket Communications System
The Emergency Rocket Communications System was a back-up communications method for the United States National Command Authority, using a UHF repeater placed atop a Blue Scout rocket or Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile. ERCS was deactivated as a communication means when President...

(1967–1995)

510th Missile Squadron Launch Facilities

Missile Alert Facilities (K-O flights, each controlling 10 missiles) are located as follows:

K-01 6.3 mi WxSW of Adrian MO, 38°21′16"N 094°27′16"W

L-01 8.8 mi NE of Adrian MO, 38°29′55"N 094°15′10"W

M-01 32.6 mi ExNE of Holden MO, 38°43′30"N 093°56′40"W

N-01 3.9 mi ExSE of Odessa MO, 38°58′14"N 093°53′32"W

*O-01 On Whiteman AFB, MO 38°43′14"N 093°33′56"W

*Preserved, but not open to the public.

Decorations