Malmstrom Air Force Base

Since 1942, Malmstrom Air Force Base has been on the frontline of America’s national defense. Known locally as East Base during World War II, B-17 Flying Fortress pilots trained here and the base served as a staging area for military planes flown to Russia under the World War II Lend-Lease program. With the beginning of the Cold War, the mission of the base changed as tensions heightened between the US and its former ally. Pilots trained for the Berlin Airlift at the air base in the late 1940s. For a time, it was the home of fighter interceptor and air refueling squadrons. In 1955, the base was renamed in honor of Colonel Einar Malmstrom, who died in a tragic aircraft accident west of the airport on Gore Hill. Malmstrom AFB entered the space age in October 1962 when the nation’s first Minuteman missiles went on-alert in support of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Malmstrom AFB is currently the home of the 341st Space Wing of Air Force Space Command is responsible for the maintenance, operation, and security of approximately 150 Minuteman III missiles located in silos scattered across north-central Montana.