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| 351st Missile Wing | |
|---|---|
 Minuteman Missile in its silo | |
| Active | 1942–1945; 1947–1949; 1962–1995 |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Air Force |
| Type | Missile Wing |
| Role | Strategic Attack |
| Motto | Sentinels of Peace |
| Decorations | Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award |
| Insignia | |
| 351st Missile Wing emblem[a][1] |  |
| Unofficial 351st Bombardment Group emblem[2] |  |
| Group tail marking[2][b] | Triangle J |
The351st Missile Wing is an inactiveUnited States Air Force unit, which was last based atWhiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. Assigned toStrategic Air Command for most of its existence, the wing maintainedLGM-30F Minuteman II ICBMs in a state of readiness to fire, pursuant to any launch orders that might be received from theNational Command Authority. It was inactivated in 1995.
During World War II, its predecessor unit, the351st Bombardment Group was aVIII Bomber CommandBoeing B-17 Flying Fortress unit. Flying fromRAF Polebrook inNorthamptonshire in early 1943, the group's 504th Bomb Squadron made 54 consecutive missions in June 1943 to January 1944 without losses. Two members of the 351st Bombardment Group, Second LieutenantWalter E. Truemper and Staff SergeantArchibald Mathies, wereposthumously awarded theMedal of Honor for a mission toLeipzig, Germany, on 20 February 1944. Fellow crew memberCarl Moore earned theDistinguished Service Cross for his actions during the mission. Additionally, the crew earned aSilver Star and sevenPurple Hearts, which made them the most decorated B-17 crew of the Eighth Air Force in World War Two.
The 351st was also the unit to which CaptainClark Gable was assigned.[c] Gable flew five combat missions, including one to Germany, as an observer-gunner in B-17 Flying Fortresses between 4 May and 23 September 1943, earning theAir Medal and theDistinguished Flying Cross for his efforts.
The351st Bombardment Group was activated 1 October 1942 at Salt Lake City AB, Utah. The group established at Geiger Field in Washington in November 1942 where the group was assembled for initial training, and the second phase of training was conducted at Biggs Field, Texas, between December 1942 and March 1943. The unit then moved to Pueblo AAB, Colorado for preparation for overseas movement. The ground unit left Pueblo for New York on 12 April 1943. The aircraft began movement on 1 April 1943. In April–May 1943, the unit moved to RAF Polebrook England to serve in combat withEighth Air Force. It was assigned to the 94th Combat Wing, also at Polebrook. The group tail code was a "Triangle J".
The 351st's first completed combat mission took place on 14 May 1943, when 18 B-17's targeted a GermanLuftwaffe airfield atKortrijk, Belgium. As the war progressed, the 351st operated primarily against strategic objectives in Germany, striking such targets as ball-bearing plants atSchweinfurt, communications atMayen, marshalling yards atKoblenz, a locomotive and tank factory atHanover, industries at Berlin, bridges atCologne, an armaments factory atMannheim, and oil refineries atHamburg.
The group also struck harbor facilities, submarine installations, airfields, V-weapon sites, and power plants in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Norway.
The 351st Received a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for performance on 9 October 1943, when an aircraft factory in Germany was accurately bombed in spite of heavy flak and pressing enemy interceptors. It received another DUC for its part in the successful attack of 11 January 1944, on aircraft factories in central Germany. The group participated in the intensive air campaign against the German aircraft industry during "Big Week", 20–25 February 1944.
In addition to its strategic missions, the group often operated in support of ground forces and attacked interdictory targets. Bombed in support of theBattle of Normandy in June 1944 and theSaint-Lô breakthrough in July. The group hit enemy positions to cover the airborne attack on the Netherlands in September 1944 and subsequently struck front-line positions, communications, and airfields to help stop the German counteroffensive in theBattle of the Bulge, December 1944 – January 1945. The 351st later flew missions in support ofOperation Varsity, the airborne assault across theRhine in March 1945.
The 351st conducted routine Eighth Air Forcemissions from RAF Polebrook until the end of the war. The unit completed 311 combat missions from Polebrook. The 351st lost 175 B-17's and their crews. Thegunners in the group fired off 2,776,028 rounds ofammunition and were credited with destroying 303 enemy aircraft.
The group was redeployed to the US in May and June 1945. The first aircraft left on 21 May 1945. The ground unit sailed for the US on 25 June 1945, aboard the Queen Elizabeth. The ship docked in the US in July 1945, but the group was not inactivated until 28 August 1945.
During the early years of theCold War, the 351st Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) was reactivated for a short period between 1947 and 1949 as part of thereserves.
Later during theCold War, theUnited States Air Force andStrategic Air Command established the351st Strategic Missile Wing, which stood alert withMinuteman I and later,Minuteman IIICBMs starting in 1963 atWhiteman AFB,Missouri. The wing was bestowed the lineage, honors and history of the USAAF 351st Bomb Group of World War II upon activation.
The 351st supervised missile training operations and coordinated construction of SM-30B (later, LGM-30B) Minuteman I missile facilities from 1 February 1963, to 29 June 1964. The first missile arrived 14 January 1964 and was placed its silo two days later. The 508th Strategic Missile Squadron became combat ready on 5 June and the 509th on 10 June 1964. The last flight of the fifteen missiles was accepted 29 June 1964, making the 510th operational. The wing then had 150 fully operational missiles. Two-officer missile combat crews were deployed to each of the LCCs for 24-hour shifts. Meanwhile, the340th Bombardment Wing phased down for inactivation and 351st Strategic Missile Wing gradually assumed host-wing responsibilities at Whiteman AFB, between 1 July and 1 September 1963. Later, the Wing converted to LGM-30F Minuteman II missiles between 7 May 1966, and 3 October 1967.
The wing won the Colonel Lee R. Williams Memorial Missile Trophy for Calendar Years 1965, 1967 and 1973, as well as the SAC missile combat competition and Blanchard Trophy in 1967, 1971, 1977, 1981, 1989, and 1993. It was named SAC's "Best Minuteman Wing" in 1972.
On 1 September 1991, the wing was redesignated as the351st Missile Wing and implemented the objective wing organization. It was relieved from SAC in advance of SAC's disestablishment and reassigned to Eighth Air Force in the newAir Combat Command on 1 June 1992. It was again reassigned on 1 July 1993 to theAir Force Space Command and assigned to the newTwentieth Air Force. The same day, it relinquished "host wing" responsibilities for Whiteman AFB, transferring that role toAir Combat Command's509th Bomb Wing, operating theB-2 Spirit strategic bomber.
The 351st Missile Wing and its three squadrons of Minuteman II ICBMs were inactivated on 31 July 1995 as a result of planned phaseout of the Minuteman II.
38°43′49″N093°32′53″W / 38.73028°N 93.54806°W /38.73028; -93.54806 (Whiteman AFB)
LGM-30F Minuteman III Missile Alert Facilities (MAF) (each controlling 10 missiles) are located as follows:[f]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Combat America Film at Google Video |
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
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