341st Missile Wing Heritage Pamphlet 2018

341st Missile Wing History
Strategic Missile Wing
The 341st Strategic Missile Wing was activated at Malmstrom AFB on 15 July 1961.
Construction of the wing's first launch facility began on 16 March 1961 and the first model 'A'
Minuteman ICBM operational silo (Alpha 02) was completed at Malmstrom AFB on 13
November 1961. The 10th Strategic Missile Squadron (SMS) was activated 2 August 1961 and
Alpha-01, the first launch control facility, was completed in July 1962. The first LGM-30A
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. The 12th SMS and
490th SMS activated in March and May 1962. Later that same year the missiles assigned to the
nation’s first Minuteman ICBM wing would play a major role in the Cuban Missile Crisis. On 27
October, the 10th SMS's launch facility Alpha-06 along with three other sites went on "strategic
alert" after it was discovered the Soviet Union had placed nuclear missiles in Cuba. Over the
next four days the wing placed five more missiles on alert, with the last missile from Alpha flight
achieving alert status 10 November. The Soviets eventually removed their missiles from Cuba.