page_title: Offutt Air Force Base
section_title: Intercontinental ballistic missile facilities
hierarchical_section_title: Offutt Air Force Base / History / Intercontinental ballistic missile facilities
caption_attribution_description: English: 549th Strategic Missile Squadron - SM-65D Atlas Missile sites
context_page_description: Offutt Air Force Base is a U.S. Air Force base south of Omaha, adjacent to Bellevue in Sarpy County, Nebraska. It is the headquarters of the U.S. Strategic Command, the 557th Weather Wing, and the 55th Wing of the Air Combat Command, the latter serving as the host unit.
  Aviation use at Offutt began in September 1918 during World War I as an Army Air Service balloon field. Originally named Fort Crook, it was renamed in honor of World War I pilot and Omaha native 1st Lt. Jarvis Offutt in 1924.
  Offutt AFB's legacy includes the construction of the Enola Gay and Bockscar, the planes that dropped Little Boy and Fat Man over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. Offutt served over 40 years as the headquarters for the former Strategic Air Command and home for its associated ground and aerial command centers for the U.S. in case of nuclear war during the Cold War. The population was 8,901 at the 2000 census.
context_section_description: The 549th Strategic Missile Squadron operated three SM-65D Atlas ICBM sites (1 October 1960 – 15 December 1964). Each site was composed of three missile silos (9 total).
  549-A, 3.4 mi SE of Mead, NE     41°11′37″N 096°26′23″W
  549-B, 3.6 mi NE of Arlington, NE     41°29′17″N 096°17′59″W
  549-C, 4.3 mi SE of Missouri Valley, IA     41°31′15″N 095°49′09″W
  Beginning in 1958, the Army Corps of Engineers began planning for the sites, and construction began in 1959. The construction project was completed on 28 July 1960. In April and May 1961, the three complexes became the last Atlas D missiles to go on alert.
  The missiles were manned by the 549th Strategic Missile Squadron which was activated on 1 October 1960. The squadron began to phase down with the inactivation of the Atlas-D on 1 October 1964, and was inactivated 14 December 1964. Confusingly, the squadron was originally the 566th but on 1 July 1961 SAC swapped designators with the 549th at F.E. Warren AFB. The 549th SMS was under the 385th Strategic Aerospace Wing.
  Site "A" was abandoned for many years, until the late 1970's when the Nebraska National Guard took over ownership of the site to establish a training area called the Mead Training Site.  The site is managed by the Camp Ashland Training Site Command.  The training area has been used by the National Guard, United States Air Force, local law enforcement, and other entities as a training site for many years. 3/209th RTI out of Camp Ashland began using Mead Training Site in 2008 as the primary training facility for their 88M military occupational specialty reclassification school and continues to use the site year round.  A MOUT site (Military Operations in Urban Terrain) was constructed at the site in 2009.  Two Nebraska National Guard armories were built directly alongside the training area in 2012.  Many other National Guard units use the site for drill weekends and annual trainings. Airmen out of Offutt Air Force Base practice Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) Training at the site several weekends a year.
  Site "B" is in use for agricultural storage. Site "C" has been demolished, with only the access roads remaining.
caption: SM-65D Atlas Missile Sites
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