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A U.S. Air Force history of the squadron, current as of February 1, 1976, published by Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. It describes the Cold War unit as it was then.
Air Force crew inside "Looking Glass". USAF photo.
How the squadron came to be
The Fourth Airborne Command Control Squadron (4ACCS) grew out of about four years of changes:
| Year | Step |
|---|---|
| 1966 | EC-135 aircraft, flight crews and radio operators were assigned to Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, and Minot AFB, North Dakota, flying from the 28th and 906th Air Refueling Squadrons as part of Strategic Air Command's (SAC) Post Attack Command Control System (PACCS) |
| 1967 | The Airborne Launch Control System (ALCS) was created to give the Minuteman missile force a survivable, airborne way to launch, installed on SAC's Airborne Command Post and PACCS aircraft; its crews belonged to the 44th Strategic Missile Wing at Ellsworth and the 91st at Minot |
| Early 1970 | The West Auxiliary Command Post (WAUXCP) moved from March AFB, California, to Ellsworth, joined by the PACCS and ALCS people and equipment from Minot |
| April 1, 1970 | 4ACCS was formed |
It organised into branches that worked together: Flight Operations, providing the survivable airborne platform; ALCS, providing airborne launch capability for Minuteman; and the Battle Staff, supporting the West Auxiliary Command Post. In 1973 communications specialists moved from the Battle Staff into a new Communications Branch, making four.
Why it was unique
- Size: the Air Force's largest tactical squadron, with more than 240 officers and airmen.
- Selection: nearly all its people were hand-picked by SAC headquarters.
- A school: one of the few tactical squadrons with a formal Air Force school — ALCS Operational Readiness Training — with the squadron commander as its commandant.
- Aircraft: its EC-135s could both give and take fuel in flight, so every crew had to be qualified as tanker and receiver.
- Launch authority: its aircraft and those of the SAC Airborne Command Post were the only aircraft able to launch any or all of the nation's 1,000 Minuteman missiles, including the Emergency Rocket Communication System sorties.
Its mission, among the most complex in the armed services, packed into one squadron functions usually spread across a whole wing:
- keep survivable communications so the National Command Authority could direct its forces;
- monitor High Altitude Radiation Detection System equipment to detect nuclear detonations over the United States;
- maintain the ALCS equipment for launching Minuteman missiles;
- direct the reconstitution and recovery of forces after an attack on the country, through its battle staff;
- help assess damage for national leaders after an attack;
- run frequent exercises and tests to keep the deterrent credible.
On alert
Four EC-135s crewed by 4ACCS were always on alert, ready to launch at once: two at Ellsworth and two "satellited" to Minot with their crews.
Post Attack Command Control System peacetime areas. USAF.
| Aircraft | Based | Covered |
|---|---|---|
| ALCC 1 (Airborne Launch Control Center)* | Ellsworth | Minuteman missiles at Ellsworth and F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming |
| ALCC 2* | satellited to Minot | missiles at Malmstrom AFB, Montana |
| ALCC 3* | satellited to Minot | missiles at Minot and Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota |
| West Auxiliary Command Post* | Ellsworth | spare ALCS aircraft |
| SAC Airborne Command Post | Offutt AFB, Nebraska | also the airborne launch centre for missiles at Whiteman AFB, Missouri |
| East Auxiliary Command Post | Offutt | — |
| PACCS Relays 1 and 2 | Grissom AFB, Indiana | — |
* Assigned to 4ACCS.
A typical alert crew for an ALCS aircraft. USAF.
A typical ALCS alert crew had ten: pilot, copilot, navigator, boom operator, radio maintenance technician, two radio operators, a missile combat crew commander, a deputy missile commander and a crew chief (the technician and crew chief were not 4ACCS members). A West Auxiliary Command Post crew had 21, adding cryptographic operators, logistics, operations and intelligence planners, a force status controller, operations controllers and a communications officer — plus an airborne emergency action officer, a general officer, when it flew as the SAC Airborne Command Post.
A typical alert crew for a West Auxiliary Command Post aircraft. USAF.
Other missions
Beyond alert, a month might bring:
| Mission | What it involved |
|---|---|
| SAC Airborne Command Post | a command post aloft 24 hours a day, normally from Offutt; 4ACCS crews flew it when weather or other problems kept it from launching there, or when a general officer joined a West Auxiliary Command Post sortie |
| Communications training exercises | launching PACCS aircraft to train crews and check that PACCS and ALCS equipment worked |
| PACCS exercises | all PACCS alert aircraft taking part under simulated wartime conditions, testing Emergency War Order procedures |
| Glory Trip / operational test launches | about once a quarter, an ALCS aircraft sent the actual launch command for a Minuteman test-fired down the Western Test Range from Vandenberg AFB, California |
| Hill Engineering Test Facility | about monthly, a mission against the full-scale Minuteman test facility at Hill AFB, Utah, for engineering data |
| Old Hand | checking that missiles fresh from a modification, such as the Command Data Buffer, still worked with ALCS |
| Simulated Electronic Launch Minuteman (SELM), or Giant Pace | a full-scale test of command and control of missiles in their silos, "safed" so they could not launch, with an ALCS aircraft sending commands |
| Trailing Wire Antenna | testing the long trailing antenna that let PACCS aircraft reach launch control centres through the Survivable Low Frequency Communications System |
Between missions, crews trained constantly — flying, aircraft and missile simulators, Emergency War Order, communications, safety and emergency procedures — and kept war-order materials ready at a moment's notice. The squadron had never missed an alert commitment, had conducted many Minuteman launches, and had been recognised across the command, up to the Commander-in-Chief.
The school
ALCS training began in February 1967, when Air Training Command instructors from Chanute AFB, Illinois, came to SAC headquarters at Offutt. In March 1968 it became ALCS Operational Readiness Training at Vandenberg AFB, in the 4315th Combat Crew Training Squadron, required for every airborne missile combat crew officer. With ALCS centralised in 4ACCS, the school moved to Ellsworth in February 1971. It had three full-time instructors plus one from the ALCS Branch, and a technician for its simulator; its course took 20 workdays, about ten classes a year. By the end of 1975 it had trained 230 officers — 98 at Vandenberg and 132 at Ellsworth.
Commanders
| Commander | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| Lt Col John A. Berlette | April 1, 1970 | July 31, 1971 |
| Lt Col Eugene Bal Jr. | August 1, 1971 | November 19, 1972 |
| Lt Col Ronald L. Haase | November 20, 1972 | August 20, 1973 |
| Lt Col Bennie R. Allen | August 21, 1973 | July 8, 1974 |
| Lt Col Clifford M. Jackson | July 9, 1974 | still in command in February 1976 |
The 4ACCS organisation chart. USAF.
Sources
- National Park Service, Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, "4ACCS, A Unique Organization." https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/4accs-a-unique-organization.htm
- The document also lists the chiefs of the Flight Operations, ALCS, Battle Staff and Communications branches; they are not repeated here.
- Rewritten in hubnx's own words.
Licence : CC0 1.0 (domaine public) · Adapté de www.nps.gov
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