Not at posted coordinates! Be sure to check the logbook for the bonus codes!
The mighty 28th Bombardment Wing (Heavy), Ellsworth AFB, SD began in 1941 as Rapid City Army Air Base (RCAAB). The base seems to have had an identity crisis over time, following 1948 when then-Air Force Chief of Staff Gen Carl A. Spaatz renamed RCAAB to Weaver AFB in January, in honor of a key father of the Air Force, but with no ties to South Dakota. The local populace protested sufficiently strongly to have the original name reinstated as Rapid City Air Force Base five months later. It held this name until the then-wing commander’s death in an RB-36 training mission crash in 1953 which claimed all 26 crew aboard, the base was subsequently named by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Brigadier General Richard E. Ellsworth’s honor, the name it proudly holds today.
Initially RCAAB’s mission was training B-17 WWII aircrews. Following the close of WWII, RCAAB closed in September 1946, only to reopen six months later under command of the 28th Bomb Group and flying the then-largest bomber in the USAF, the B-29 Superfortress. In 1948, the wing was redesignated 28th Bombardment Wing, Medium, until the enormous B-36 Peacemaker arrived and was again redesignated 28th Bombardment Wing, Heavy. The 28th flew the B-36 as a bomber as also as a reconnaissance aircraft until 1957 and organized under the 28th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, Heavy. The B-52D joined Ellsworth in 1957 following a reversion of its designation back to a heavy bombardment wing.
Over the early years, the 28th also flew P-61 Black Widow, P-38 Lightning, P-51 Mustang, and B-25 Mitchell aircraft. In 1958, two Ellsworth D-model BUFFs set world airspeed records over two different routes. One B-52D flew at 560.705 mph for 10,000 kilometers in a closed circuit without payload; the other at 597.675 mph for 5000 kilometers, also in a closed circuit without payload. KC-135 tankers were also assigned to Ellsworth from 1959-1992. The 28th has seen BUFFs from multiple models, C, D, G and H over the three decades of assignment. In 1977, the G-models were exchanged for H-models.
Another key part of Ellsworth’s history is its Operational Storage Site (OSS), or “Q-Area” (so-named for the high level of security clearance required to enter). Ellsworth was the second base in the USAF to receive the Top Secret OSS (Site codenamed “Foxtrot”). Organized under the 3081st Aviation Depot Group, it had nearly self-contained support; a base within a base complete with a gym, library, dining facility and dorms. It had incredible security, electrified fences and underground secure “igloo” storage magazines. Known then as Rushmore Air Force Station, it is today contained in the active Ellsworth Munitions Storage Area.
As with a few other wings (Minot, Whiteman and Grand Forks AFB), Ellsworth hosted both bombers and ICBMs. Especially unique to South Dakota, Ellsworth deployed both Titan I and Minuteman II missiles; no other wing in the USAF deployed both types of missiles—only F.E Warren AFB, WY hosted two models, the Minuteman and Peacekeeper missiles, although the latter was deployed in Minuteman silos. Little known and short lived in South Dakota, the Titan I (SM-68A/HGM-25A), was only deployed from 1959-1962 when three squadrons of Minuteman I missiles under 44th Strategic Missile Wing (44 SMW) were fully deployed by 1963. 1971 brought the more modern Minuteman II missile to replace the earlier version. The 44 SMW became the only missile wing to ever test launch an ICBM from an operational site on 1 March 1965 under Operation LONG LIFE. A test missile with seven seconds of fuel was successfully launched. The 44 SMW remained on alert until the Fourth of July 1994 when it was inactivated following the end of the Cold War, and the missiles removed.
While Ellsworth has a varied and storied history, the BUFFs left in 1986 and were replaced with B-1B Lancer aircraft. The base lost its nuclear mission in 1993, and concentrated on conventional bombing and reconnaissance in the B-1B to the current day, and expects to receive the new B-21 Raider aircraft upon its delivery sometime in the mid-2020s.
____________
To find this cache, calculate the coordinates from the information in this listing.
N 48° AB.CDE W 101° FG.HIJ
A= Year Air Force Chief of Staff renamed RCAAB to Weaver AFB, XXXN, A=(N/4)
B= Year General Ellsworth died in an RB-36 crash, XXXN, B=(N*0)
C= Record speed of an Ellsworth B-52D over 5,000 kilometers in a closed circuit without payload, XNX.XXX mph, C=(N/3)
D= Year B-52D model arrived at Ellsworth, XXXN, D=(N+1)
E= Year Titan 1 was deactivated at Ellsworth, XXXN, E=(N/2)
F= Year Ellsworth was redesignated 28th Bombardment Wing, Medium, XXXN, F=(N-7)
G= Year the G-models were exchanged for H-models, XXXN, G=(N+2)
H= Year the Minuteman II replaced Minuteman I, XXXN H=(Nx0)
I= Year 44 SMW became the only missile wing to ever test launch an ICBM from an operational site, XXXN, I=(N-1)
J= Year Ellsworth lost the nuclear mission, XXXN, J=(N+5)
http://www.strategic-air-command.com/wings/0044bw.htm
http://www.strategic-air-command.com/wings/0028bw.htm
http://www.strategic-air-command.com/bases/Ellsworth_AFB.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellsworth_Air_Force_Base
https://www.sdpb.org/blogs/images-of-the-past/wild-blue-yonder-celebrating-75-years-of-ellsworth-air-force-base/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rushmore_Air_Force_Station