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Ellsworth Air Force Base History - Page 2
Ellsworth soon became known as "The Showplace of SAC" as it continued to fight the Cold War by maintaining two legs of America's strategic triad: strategic bombardment and ICBMs. It carried out these vital missions for more than 15 years with relatively little change. Then, the 1980s brought many new challenges. In 1986 the base and the 28 BMW made extensive preparations to phase out the aging B-52 fleet and become the new home for the advanced B-1B Lancer. Contractors completed new unaccompanied enlisted dormitories in March, a new security police group headquarters in October, and gave Ellsworth's 13,497 foot runway a much-needed facelift. In addition, they completed new aircraft maintenance facilities for the complex new bird. The last 28 BMW B-52H left in early 1986. In January 1987, the wing received the first of 35 B-1B bombers.
The 12th Air Division moved to Ellsworth on 15 July 1988. This organization was responsible for training B-1B, transient B-52, and the 28th's KC-135 Stratotanker aircrews. Headquarters SAC activated a third wing, the 99th Strategic Weapons Wing, at Ellsworth on 10 August 1989. This wing assumed primary responsibility for B-1B and B-52 advanced aircrew training.
Internationally, the destruction of the Berlin Wall in October 1989 symbolized the imminent demise of the Soviet Union over the next several months. During this transition the Air Force also had to reshuffle its organizations and resources to meet the diminishing, although shifting, threat. Changes came quickly. On 3 January 1990, SAC redesignated the 812th Combat Support Group as the 812th Strategic Support Wing (SSW), which, for a short time, became Ellsworth's fourth wing. The 812th SSW consolidated all combat support activities into one organization. On 31 July 1990 SAC replaced the 12th Air Division with the Strategic Warfare Center (SWC), which provided operational command and administrative control over Ellsworth's subordinate units. Then, as part of SAC's intermediate headquarters and base-level reorganization plan, on 1 September 1991, SAC renamed the 28 BMW the 28th Wing, the 44 SMW the 44th Wing and the 99 SWW the 99th Tactics and Training Wing. Ten days later SAC inactivated both the SWC and the 812th SSW. Once again the 28th became Ellsworth's host organization and it soon absorbed all previous 812th SSW functions. It was also during this period that, in acknowledgment of the elimination of the Warsaw Pact, the Secretary of Defense ordered alert operations to stand-down. The decades-long Cold War was over.
On 1 June 1992, as part of the first major reorganization since the creation of USAF, the Air Force inactivated SAC and assigned Ellsworth's organizations (including a renamed 28th Bomb Wing (BW) to the newly activated Air Combat Command (ACC). After less than a year under the new command, the 28th’s mission changed from that of strategic bombardment to one of worldwide conventional munitions delivery. The mission of the 99th Tactics and Training Wing (later to become the 99th Wing) also continued, albeit slightly modified to fit the requirements of the new force concept. The 44th Missile Wing, however, had ably accomplished its deterrence mission. On 3 December 1991, the wing permanently pulled the first missile from its silo. On 6 April 1992, the first launch control center shut down. Deactivation of the entire missile complex ended in April 1994. In keeping with its patriotic Minuteman tradition, the 44th Missile Wing formally inactivated on 4 July 1994.
In March 1994 Ellsworth welcomed the 34th Bomb Squadron, a geographically separated unit awaiting airfield upgrades before it could return to its parent organization, the 366 BW, at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. The 34th's B-1Bs are part one of the Air Force’s composite wings, which also includes F-15 Eagles, F-16 Fighting Falcons, and KC-135s.
Also during 1994, the Air Force selected Ellsworth as the exclusive location from which to conduct a Congressionally-mandated operational readiness assessment of the B-1B, known locally as "Dakota Challenge." After six months of hard work, under both peacetime and simulated wartime conditions, the 28 BW and Ellsworth passed the test "with flying colors"; and proved the B-1 to be a reliable and capable weapons system; the mainstay of America's heavy bomber fleet for years to come.
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