| 374th Strategic Missile Squadron | |
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374th Strategic Missile Squadron emblem |
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| Active | 1942–1946; 1947–1951; 1951–1961; 1962–1986 |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | United States Air Force |
| Type | Missile |
| Role | Strategic Attack |
| Part of | SAC/15 AF/308 SMW |
| Garrison/HQ | Little Rock AFB, Arkansas |
| Decorations | AFOUA |
The 374th Strategic Missile Squadron (374 SMS) is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last was assigned to the 308th Strategic Missile Wing, stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas. It was inactivated on 15 August 1986.
The squadron was the caretaker of Launch Complex 374-7, site of the highly publicized explosion of a Titan II ICBM on 19 September 1980.
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The mission of the 374 SMS was strategic nuclear deterrence with the use of the Titan II ICBM weapons system.
Activated in early 1942 in Idaho as a long-range B-24 Liberator bombardment squadron under Second Air Force. For the next three months little training occurred while the unit worked through its growing pains, resolving administrative and personnel acquisition difficulties. Then a totally new problem arose....all but four personnel were transferred to the 330th Bombardment Group! While active on paper, it wasn't until September that personnel were taken from the 39th Bombardment Group to form a headquarters cadre for the 308th Group, again making it a viable unit. On 29 September the squadron was designated an Operational Training Unit (OTU) with Wendover Field, Utah as its home station. The unit was fully manned by November, after receiving personnel from the 18th Replacement Wing.
During this time of trials and tribulations in forming a recognizable force, the flying echelon had transferred to Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona, on 20 June for incidental training. The flight crews had been chosen and assigned, having completed their respective training schools; i.e., pilot, navigator, bombardier, engineer, radio and gunnery.
Members of the squadron had to complete three phases of training prior to moving overseas and entering combat. The flying personnel spent most of October in transition training with the B-24, training combat crews as well. Meanwhile, the ground echelon was acquiring, organizing and processing personnel and supplies at Wendover Field.
With the training complete and the personnel and supplies processed, the 308th Bomb Group and the 375th BS officially transferred to Fourteenth Air Force in China early in 1943. The air echelon began flying its 'brand new' B-24D Liberators from Morrison Field, Florida on 15 February 1943. Traveling by way of the South Atlantic Transport Route though Central and South America, the Azores, Central Africa, Arabia and finally India; while the ground echelon traveled by ship across the Pacific Ocean.
The squadron arrived in India and made many trips over the 'Hump' between India and China to obtain gasoline, bombs, spare parts, and other items they needed to prepare for and sustain their combat operations. The 375th supported Chinese ground forces; attacked airfields, coal yards, docks, oil refineries and fuel dumps in French Indochina; mined rivers and ports; bombed maintenance shops and docks at Rangoon, Burma; attacked Japanese shipping in the East China Sea, Formosa Straits, South China Sea and Gulf of Tonkin.
The squadron moved to India in June 1945, ferrying gasoline and supplies from there back into China. The unit sailed for the United States, where it was inactivated on 6 January 1946.
Reactivated in Alaska in 1947 as a Strategic Air Command weather reconnaissance squadron. Gathering weather information for combat readiness was an integrated part of strategic aerial reconnaissance. Weather recon, though, was a particularly loose term. There was a constant need for weather information, but weather flights were also a convenient cover for the more covert missions with RB-29 Superfortress photo-reconnaissance aircraft over the eastern frontier of the Soviet Union. Inactivated in February 1951.
Reactivated a few months later in October with new B-47E Stratojet swept-wing medium bombers, capable of flying at high subsonic speeds and primarily designed for penetrating the airspace of the Soviet Union. In the early late 1950s, the B-47 was considered to be reaching obsolescence, and was being phased out of SAC's strategic arsenal. B-47s began being sent to AMARC at Davis-Monthan in July 1959 and the squadron went non-operational. Was inactivated on 25 June 1961.
Reactivated and redesignated as a Strategic Air Command LGM-25C Titan II ICBM Strategic Missile Squadron in 1962. Operated nine Titan II underground silos constructed beginning in 1960; the first (374–9) going operationally ready on 28 Oct 1963. The 9 missile silos controlled by the 570th Strategic Missile Squadron remained on alert for over 20 years during the Cold War. A Broken Arrow incident occurred at site 374-7 on 19 September 1980 which killed one airman and injured twenty-one personnel in the immediate vicinity of the blast (see below).
In October 1981, President Ronald Reagan announced that as part of the strategic modernization program, Titan II systems were to be retired by 1 October 1987. Inactivation of the sites began on 17 March 1985 when 374-8 was inactivated; the last on 15 Aug 1986 with 374-1, 374–4 and 374-2. The squadron was inactivated the same day.
After removal from service, the silos had reusable equipment removed by Air Force personnel, and contractors retrieved salvageable metals before destroying the silos with explosives and filling them in. Access to the vacated control centers was blocked off. Missile sites were later sold off to private ownership after demilitarization. Today the remains of the sites are still visible in aerial imagery, in various states of use or abandonment.
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.* Location of 19 September 1980 Broken Arrow incident (see below)
An unfortunate sequence of events began on 18 September 1980 at Titan II Launch Complex 374-7
A 374th SMS airman was adding pressure to the second stage oxidizing tank. During an incorrect application of a 9-pound wrench socket to the pressure cap, the maintenance man accidentally dropped the socket, which fell onto the first stage and punctured the first stage fuel tank.
The fuel, unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine, is hypergolic, meaning contact with the oxidizing agent creates instant ignition. Eventually, the crew evacuated the launch control center as military and civilian response teams arrived to tackle the hazardous situation. Early in the morning of 19 September, a two-man investigation team entered the silo. Because their vapor detectors indicated an explosive atmosphere, the two were ordered to evacuate.
At about 0300 hours, a tremendous explosion rocked the area. The initial explosion catapulted the 740-ton closure door away from the silo and ejected the second stage and its warhead out of the silo. Once clear of the silo, the second stage exploded. Twenty-one personnel in the immediate vicinity of the blast were injured. One member of the two-man silo reconnaissance team who had just emerged from the portal sustained injuries that proved fatal.
At daybreak, the Air Force retrieved the warhead and brought it within the confines of Little Rock AFB. During the recovery the Missile Wing Commander received strong support from other military units as well as Federal, state, and local officials. Arkansas’s young governor, Bill Clinton, played an important role in overseeing the proper deployment of state emergency resources.
Interestingly, the wing received some of its greatest accolades in the wake of the this disaster. Perhaps realizing the public confidence had suffered a blow, wing personnel made a stronger effort to reach out to local communities. This effort won Air Force recognition in 1983, when the wing became the first missile wing ever to win the General Bruce K. Holloway humanitarian service trophy for the year 1982. The unit also earned the Omaha trophy for 1982, recognizing it as the best in SAC.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
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