Malmstrom Air Force Base
Malmstrom Air Force Base
(mälm`strəm, mălm`–), U.S. military installation, 3,573 acres (1,446 hectares), W central Mont., E of Great Falls; est. 1942. During World War II, it was the takeoff point for Soviet-bound lend-leaselend-lease,arrangement for the transfer of war supplies, including food, machinery, and services, to nations whose defense was considered vital to the defense of the United States in World War II. The Lend-Lease Act, passed (1941) by the U.S.
..... Click the link for more information. matériel; after the war it was a training base for crews in the Berlin Airlift. The now-dissolved Strategic Air CommandStrategic Air Command
(SAC), former command of the U.S. air force (see Air Force, United States Department of the) charged with organizing, training, equipping, administering, and preparing strategic air forces for combat; it was headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base.
..... Click the link for more information. (SAC) assumed command in 1954; SAC's first Minuteman missile wing was established there in 1961. The missile complex adjoining the base is one of the largest in the world.