Silent Sentinels: The 308th Strategic Missile Wing

During World War II, Nazi-Occupied Germany created a weapon that the world had never seen. The V-2 would be the grandfather of missile technology. In 1950, Russia created the first Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The United States played catch-up, and in December of 1962, two months after the Cuban Missile Crisis, the first of fifty-four of the largest nuclear tipped ICBM ever deployed by the United States was installed in a silo. Eighteen of these aluminum world-eaters were installed in the state of Arkansas.
The 308th Strategic Missile Wing was responsible for the maintenance and safeguarding of a part of America’s most volatile nuclear triad to date. The Wing had its roots in the second World War as a bombardment wing, then was split up into many weather reconnaissance groups post war. With the new arrival of missile technology and Little Rock Air Force Base, there was a “hole in the donut” that needed to be filled. Arkansas congressmen worked furiously to obtain the contract.

Silent Sentinels: The 308th Strategic Missile Wing dives into the history of the 308th from its beginnings during the China Burma India theater, to being deactivated in 1987, and reactivated once more the twentieth century as an armament development wing for the modern Air Force. This book holds unseen photos and information from the August 9, 1965, silo fire that killed fifty-three civilian contractors, the infamous Damascus silo explosion caused by a PTS crewmember dropping a large socket into the silo which ruptured a tank, to the many awards and honors held by one of the most decorated missile wings to date.

Step into the past, and witness what America thankfully never had to use against its adversaries. Inside are new to the public photos, modern photos of the long-abandoned silos, newspaper clippings, and much more.