Despite routine maintenance and inspections at the LFs, the deputy commander for maintenance routinely received notification of equipment faults at LFs and LCFs directly from the missileers in the LCC.Ī maintenance team chief, responsible for supervising the crew, attended every maintenance call. The OMMS also repaired electrical, surveillance, and access systems. The OMMS had a mechanical and electrical branch that were responsible for the transportation, installation, and removal of missiles, the reentry vehicles and systems, propulsion system rocket engines, and the emergency rocket communications systems. This squadron also performed periodic maintenance at the sites. The FMMS maintained hydraulic and pneumatic systems, site support equipment, and test equipment. The Field Missile Maintenance Squadrons (FMMS) and the Organizational Missile Maintenance Squadrons (OMMS) were responsible for the actual maintenance of the Minuteman missiles and support equipment. Air Force maintenance included four divisions and two squadrons. Maintenance SquadronsĮach Minuteman wing included a deputy commander for maintenance who operated the base maintenance complex and was responsible for planning, scheduling, and directing all maintenance of LCF and LFs in their wing. The rank of the maintenance crew varied depending on the experience and responsibilities of the team, and could range from Airman up to Captain. The maintenance force was responsible for ensuring that all systems were operable and on ready status by following precise technical orders written by Air Force engineers. Since the first Minuteman launches from Cape Canaveral in 1961, nearly every missile has generated a perfect ring of smoke.A Missile Maintainer works on a Minuteman at a Launch FacilityĪlthough maintenance crews did not serve regular alert tours at the Launch Control Facilities, they routinely entered the control centers and silo sites to perform inspections, conduct routine upgrades, or make necessary repairs. Those 1960s-vintage missiles carried 1.2-megaton warheads (equivalent to one-third the explosive force of all bombs dropped during World War II, including the two atomic bombs). The historic site operated by the National Park Service was formed from the last remnants of Minuteman IIs dismantled after the strategic arms limitation treaty (START) in 1991. Grouped in clusters of 10, each silo is at least three miles from the next. Within five years of the first Minuteman launch in 1961, more than 1,000 silos had been dug into remote corners of the West, including Wyoming, the Dakotas and Montana. “Vandenberg AFB is right on the Pacific Coast, so it is windy.” Wisps of smoke from Vandenberg launches float downrange like haunted hula hoops. “Smoke rings can be different shapes and sizes due to wind factors,” says Tise. Sometimes the Minuteman pierces its center like a bull’s-eye, but more often the ring drifts away from the line of flight to linger like a halo. The ring can rise hundreds of feet, and the missile usually doesn’t climb past its own ring until several seconds into the flight. “It’s just like someone puffing smoke from a cigar,” explains David Tise, a park ranger at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site in South Dakota.
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