Mountain Home Air Force Base, Ready Alert Facility, 12 Bomber Road, Mountain Home, Elmore County, ID

Significance: The ready alert facility at Mountain Home Air Force Base (AFB) represents the best extant example of a Strategic Air Command (SAC) bomber alert complex. The complex was home to four squadrons of the 9th Bombardment Wing under SAC's 15th Air Force and was equipped with B-47 Stratojets and KC-97 Stratotankers ready to be airborne 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Mountain Home AFB was one of 65 installations that provided the capability for SAC to have one-third strike force ready for a counterattack within minutes in the event that there was a Soviet-initiated aggression, and during the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, this strike force was considered the backbone of the SAC deterrent posture. To achieve this, the fenced and secured complex included: 1) a self-contained subterranean complex with dormitory, briefing rooms, cafeteria, recreation areas, its own mechanical/electrical system, and tunnels/ramps to provide quick egress; 2) access roads and transport to the aircraft ramps; and 3) a herringbone plan apron, known as the "Christmas-tree", where the aircraft were parked at a 45-degree angle to the runway ready for takeoff within minutes of an alert. The ready alert complex at Mountain Home AFB was an important link in SAC's combat capability in the event of an attack from the Soviet Union.

Survey number: HABS ID-118-E

Building/structure dates: 1958 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1961 Subsequent Work

Building/structure dates: 1970 Subsequent Work

air bases cold war underground buildings reinforced concrete construction mountain home idaho home mountain home air force base ready alert ready alert facility bomber bomber road mountain home elmore elmore county air force idaho historic american buildings survey j a terteling and sons leo a daly company us air force christmas decoration christmas tree air force base building plans architectural diagrams christmas library of congress

1933 - 1970

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/

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