Minuteman Missile Historic Resource Study

Cover

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Cover photos: Launch Control Center construction photo from Peter Kiewit and Sons', Inc.; Aerial view of Delta-01 from Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Historic American Engineering Record, Reproduction Number HAER SD-50-A-1; Minuteman comes to South Dakota from "Site Activation Chronology, Minuteman Project, Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, July 1963-October 1963," K243.012-40, in USAF Collection, AFHRA; and Launch Control Center construction photo from National Park Service.

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List of Illustrations

List of Abbreviations

Preface

Introduction

Establishment and Purpose
Geographic Location
Significance of Minuteman Missile National Historic Site
Organization of the Historic Resource Study

Chapter 1: The Cold War (1945—62)

Introduction
Origins of the Cold War
Eisenhower and Waging Peace
Sputnik
Kennedy Administration and the First Minuteman Deployment

Chapter 2: U.S. Strategic Missile and Armament Systems (1950s—60s)

Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Program Beginnings
Liquid-Fuel Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles: Atlas and Titan

Chapter 3: Minuteman and the Next Generation (1960s—present)

The Missile Gap and Minuteman
Development of Solid-Fuel Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
Minuteman I
Minuteman II
Minuteman III and the Next Generation

Chapter 1: Life and Landscape Before Minuteman (to the 1960s)

South Dakota Plains Geological Formations
Native American Settlement
Early European Exploration and the Fur Trade
Euro-American Land Speculation, Settlement, and Immigration
Western Plains Settlement and Agricultural History

Chapter 2: U.S. Air Force, Strategic Air Command, and Ellsworth Air Force Base (1940s—90s)

Establishment
Strategic Air Command
Ellsworth Air Force Base

Chapter 3: Minuteman Missile Sites in South Dakota (1960s-80s)

Site Location
Land Purchase
Minuteman Missile Area Landowners Association
Site Construction
Site Activation
Economic and Social Impacts on the Region
The Cold War Continues

Chapter 4: Delta-01 and Delta-09 (1960s—80s)

Overview of the Complex
Launch Control Facility Delta-01
Launch Facility Delta-09
Conversion to Minuteman II

Chapter 5: Missileer Culture: Day-to-Day Life (1960s—91)

At the Launch Control Facility
In the Launch Control Center: Missile combat crew
Changes in Missile Culture

Chapter 1: Opposition to Nuclear Armament (late 1950s—90s)

The National and International Debate
Activist Groups — Beliefs and Mission
Efforts in South Dakota (1980-90s)
Continued Activism

Chapter 2: Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and Disarmament of Minuteman II (1990s)

End of the Cold War
START Treaty
Deactivation of Minuteman II Sites42
Deactivation of Ellsworth Air Force Base's Minuteman II Missiles

Chapter 3: Minuteman Missile National Historic Site (1990—present)

Site Selection
Delta-01 and Delta-09 Deactivation
Enabling Legislation
Development and Future of the Historic Site

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index (omitted from online edition)

A. Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Cultural Resource Base Maps

B. Minuteman Missile National Historic Site National Register Nomination (PDF format — ~900K)

Plate 1. The Big Three Conference at Yalta, 12 February 1945

Plate 2. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, United States President Harry S. Truman, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin meeting at the Potsdam Conference, August 1945

Plate 3. First official picture of the Soviet satellite Sputnik I, issued on 9 October 1957

Plate 4. President Kennedy with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, SAC Commander General Thomas S. Power, and Lt. General Howell M. Estes, Jr. at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, March 1962

Plate 5. Air Force Assistant Secretary for Research and Development Trevor Gardner and Major General Bernard Schriever—two champions in the development of the ICBM

Plate 6. Cutaway drawing of an Atlas D ICBM

Plate 7. Drawing of Titan I, the United States' first two-stage ICBM

Plate 8. Titan I missile with crew

Plate 9. Minuteman test launch, Vandenberg Air Force Base, 1963

Plate 10. Scale drawings of Atlas, Titan I, and Minuteman I ICBMs

Plate 11. Full-scale test of Minuteman I missile, Edwards Air Force Base, California, 1960

Plate 12. Line drawings showing the evolution of the Minuteman ICBM

Plate 13. Line drawing showing an exploded view of Minuteman II and the Minuteman II Transporter Erector

Plate 14. Flight sequence of Minuteman II ICBM

Plate 15. The gently rolling plains of western South Dakota

Plate 16. The striking landscape of the South Dakota Badlands

Plate 17. A western South Dakota homestead, 1936

Plate 18. Location of Minuteman II missile sites in the United States, highlighting South Dakota and the Delta Flight

Plate 19. Transporter Erector at Ellsworth Air Force Base

Plate 20. Pride hangar at Ellsworth Air Force Base

Plate 21. Shield of the 44^th Strategic Missile Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base

Plate 22. Shield of the 66^th Strategic Missile Squadron at Ellsworth Air Force Base

Plate 23. Shield of the 67^th Strategic Missile Squadron at Ellsworth Air Force Base

Plate 24. Shield of the 68^th Strategic Missile Squadron at Ellsworth Air Force Base

Plate 25. The Black Hills Bandits of the 44^th Strategic Missile Wing

Plate 26. Minuteman comes to South Dakota

Plate 27. Groundbreaking ceremony at Lima-06 in South Dakota, 11 September 1961.

Plate 28. Aerial view of Delta-01 during construction

Plate 29. Launch Control Center under construction in South Dakota

Plate 30. Launch Control Center nearing completion in South Dakota

Plate 31. Interior of a Launch Control Center during construction in South Dakota

Plate 32. Launch tube under construction in South Dakota

Plate 33. Aerial view of a launch tube under construction in South Dakota

Plate 34. Launch Facility nearing completion in South Dakota

Plate 35. A Boeing crew assembles a first-stage Minuteman engine at the Air Force Missile Test Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida, 14 June 1963

Plate 36. Northern Heights Mobile Home Park in Rapid City

Plate 37. Aerial view of Delta-01

Plate 38. Aerial view of Delta-01 highlighting the aboveground buildings used by missile crews

Plate 39. Site plan, Launch Control Facility

Plate 40. View of Launch Control Facility Support Building, Delta-01

Plate 41. Main entrance and security bay of Launch Control Facility Support Building, Delta-01

Plate 42. Interior plan view of Delta-01

Plate 43. Line drawings of interior of Delta-01 Launch Control Center

Plate 44. Interior side of blast door, Delta-01

Plate 45. Launch Control Center at Delta-01

Plate 46. Delta-01 Missile Commander's Launch Control Console

Plate 47. Line drawing of a Launch Control Console

Plate 48. Aerial view of a completed Launch Facility in 1963

Plate 49. Site plan and cut-away view of Delta-09 Launch Facility

Plate 50. Topside view of Delta-09 Launch Facility with missile launcher and personnel access hatch

Plate 51. Personal access ladder into missile launcher, Delta-09

Plate 52. A Delta Flight missile being emplaced in the Transporter Erector

Plate 53. Interior of Delta-09 silo showing launch tube encircled by electronic equipment

Plate 54. Azimuth marker

Plate 55. Day room in Launch Control Facility Support Building at Delta-01

Plate 56. Day room in Launch Control Facility Support Building at Delta-01

Plate 57. Kitchen in Launch Control Facility Support Building at Delta-01

Plate 58. Facility Manager's bedroom at Delta-01

Plate 59. Delta-01 Launch Control Facility, Security Control Center

Plate 60. Delta Flight Peacekeeper vehicle used by security personnel

Plate 61. Delta-01 sleeping quarters

Plate 62. Missile art in vestibule of Launch Control Center, Delta-0

Plate 63. Blast door, Launch Control Center, Delta-01

Plate 64. Delta-01 Launch Control Center with crew

Plate 65. Deputy Commander Control Console, Launch Control Center, Delta-01

Plate 66. Missile Commander Control Console, Launch Control Center, Delta-01

Plate 67. Launch enable control panel, above Deputy Commander Control Console, Launch Control Center, Delta-01

Plate 68. Launch Control Center, escape hatch

Plate 69. Oscar-01 Launch Control Center, Ellsworth Air Force Base

Plate 70. Launch Control Center art, Ellsworth Air Force Base

Plate 71. Launch Control Center art, Ellsworth Air Force Base

Plate 72. Peace March in Peetz, Colorado, Good Friday 1988

Plate 73. Spring Equinox Vigil, 1988

Plate 74. Word War II munitions bunkers now used to store farm produce and equipment, near Bronson, Nebraska, 1988

Plate 75. Berliners sing and dance a top The Berlin Wall

Plate 76. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev signing the START Treaty at the Kremlin in Moscow, 31 July 1991

Plate 77. Transporter Erector positioned to remove missile, Delta Flight

Plate 78. Missile silo implosion, South Dakota

Plate 79. Missile silo being filled after implosion, South Dakota

Plate 80. Launch Facility after completion of deactivation, South Dakota

Plate 81. The training missile in the transporter erector prior to emplacement in the Delta-09 silo

Plate 82. Convoy transporting training missile for emplacement at Delta-09

Plate 83. Transporter Erector ready to emplace the training missile at Delta-09

Plate 84. Training missile emplacing, Delta-09 silo

Plate 85. Training missile emplacement team

Plate 86. Line drawing of Delta-09 viewing enclosure

Plate 87. Missile viewing enclosure, Delta-09

Plate 88. Ellsworth Air Force Base Honor Guard, Minuteman Missile National Historic Site dedication ceremony

Plate 89. Lieutenant General Robert Hinson, Vice Commander, Air Force Space Command and William R. Supernaugh, Superintendent, Badlands National Park during the dedication ceremony

Plate 90. Colonel James Kowalski, Commander, 28^th Bomb Wing, Ellsworth Air Force Base and William R. Supernaugh, Superintendent, Badlands National Park conduct the official transfer of ownership for Delta-01 and Delta-09

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Recommended:
(Acting) Site Manager, Minuteman Missile National Historic Site	Date: 9/23/03
Superintendent, Badlands National Park	Date: 9/17/03
Concurred:
Chief, Cultural Resources, Midwest Region	Date: 9/30/03
Associate Regional Director Cultural Resources and Stewardship Partnerships	Date: 10/02/03
Approved:
Regional Director Midwest Region	Date: 10/03/03

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