Atlas D Site 564-B Missile Silo, Cheyenne Wyoming

Atlas D Site 564-B was a three-launcher SM-65D Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile launch complex associated with the 564th Strategic Missile Squadron at F. E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming. The site was part of the first generation of operational U.S. ICBM deployment: liquid-fueled Atlas D missiles stored horizontally in above-ground or semi-hardened "coffin" launcher facilities before the Air Force moved toward more survivable buried, dispersed, and solid-fueled missile systems.

The missile system was the SM-65D Atlas, commonly called Atlas D. The operating squadron was the 564th Strategic Missile Squadron. The squadron was originally assigned to the 706th Strategic Missile Wing at F. E. Warren; after July 1, 1961, the 389th Strategic Missile Wing assumed command responsibilities at Warren.

Atlas D Site 564-B was located northwest of Cheyenne in Laramie County, Wyoming, within the closely grouped Warren I / "Site A" Atlas D property shared with Site 564-A.

The site is no longer active as a missile installation. The 564th Strategic Missile Squadron's Atlas D mission ended in 1964, and the former Atlas D property was excessed to the General Services Administration in 1965. The former site area is now private or ranch property associated with the broader former Atlas D Missile Site 1 / Whitaker Ranch Formerly Used Defense Site environmental record. It is not a public historic site, and public access should not be assumed.

Location, Landscape, and Site Description

Atlas D Site 564-B was part of the first F. E. Warren operational Atlas D deployment northwest of Cheyenne. The high-plains setting gave the Air Force a combination it wanted for early ICBM deployment: open land, sparse population, road access from a major support base, and enough separation from Cheyenne to place the missile hazard area outside the urban core. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers material describes the broader former Atlas D Missile Site 1 property as about 20 miles northwest of Cheyenne and as consisting of 2,734 acres acquired by purchase and condemnation between 1959 and 1962.

The physical and operational layout of 564-B must be understood in relation to adjacent Site 564-A. The 564th Strategic Missile Squadron's deployment near Cheyenne was unusual even within the Atlas D program. The squadron's two SM-65D Atlas D base complexes were built in a "side-by-side" configuration, with each site location containing three missile launcher facilities and a single control center. Crews nicknamed the arrangement "The Six Pack" because the two close complexes gave the squadron six missiles in one clustered deployment.

This close grouping was not accidental. Atlas D used ground-based radio guidance. Unlike Atlas E and later systems with inertial guidance that allowed wider dispersal, Atlas D launchers had to remain clustered near the guidance-control system that tracked the missile and sent course corrections after launch. The launchers therefore did not look or function like later Minuteman Launch Facilities scattered across the countryside. Instead, 564-B was one half of a compact, early ICBM launch complex, with three launchers tied to control, guidance, communications, power, road, and security infrastructure.

The Atlas D launcher type at 564-B was commonly called a coffin launcher. In this configuration, the missile was stored horizontally in a reinforced launch-and-service structure. To fire, the overhead shelter had to open, the missile had to be raised to the vertical position, and the missile then had to be fueled with RP-1 and liquid oxygen before launch. The site likely included three launch-and-service buildings or launcher positions, a launch operations or control component, propellant-loading and support infrastructure, electrical power facilities, communications equipment, access roads, security fencing, hardstands, and shared guidance-related facilities.

Strategic and Cold War Context

Atlas D Site 564-B existed because the United States needed an operational land-based ICBM force before more mature missile technology was available. During the 1950s, U.S. strategic deterrence still depended heavily on manned bombers, but the Soviet long-range missile threat created urgent pressure to field missiles that could reach intercontinental targets. The Atlas program became the first operational American ICBM answer to that problem.

F. E. Warren was selected for the first operational Atlas ICBM deployment. Official base material notes that Warren became the nation's first operational ICBM base with the introduction of Atlas in 1958. The 564th Strategic Missile Squadron therefore occupied an important place in the transition from test-range missile development to an alert land-based strategic missile force. The first operational Atlas D sites were not ideal from a survivability standpoint, but they gave Strategic Air Command an early deterrent capability while later systems were being designed, built, and hardened.

The Atlas D was technically revolutionary and operationally transitional. The National Park Service describes the Atlas D as the first deployed ICBM and notes that one crew controlled three missiles, a control center, and a radio guidance system. Atlas D had an approximately fifteen-minute launch response time and used either vertical gantry launchers or above-ground coffin shelters. F. E. Warren's 564th SMS sites used the grouped coffin-launcher approach. In practical terms, that meant 564-B was not a buried silo in the later Atlas F or Minuteman sense. It was an early horizontal-launcher complex that combined urgency, limited hardening, radio guidance, and liquid-fuel operations.

The site's strategic meaning lies in that transitional character. It shows how the United States accepted exposed or only lightly hardened facilities in order to get an ICBM force into operational service quickly. Its grouped launchers, dependence on ground radio guidance, liquid oxygen fueling requirement, and relatively exposed launch sequence all explain why Atlas D served only briefly and was soon replaced by more survivable Atlas E, Atlas F, Titan, and Minuteman systems.

Construction and Activation

Construction and activation of Atlas D Site 564-B occurred during the fast-moving first stage of operational ICBM deployment at F. E. Warren. The early Warren Atlas program was affected by compressed schedules, rapidly changing design requirements, labor difficulties, and equipment problems. The Air Force and the Corps of Engineers were building a type of operational facility that had few direct precedents, and the Atlas program itself was still evolving as the sites were being designed and constructed.

The Warren I complex, which included the 564-A and 564-B facilities, was built for the 564th Strategic Missile Squadron. The broader construction effort was connected to the 706th Strategic Missile Wing and later the 389th Strategic Missile Wing. The George A. Fuller Company is identified in Atlas construction summaries as the prime contractor for Warren I. The construction history of the first Atlas D deployment was difficult: winter work, design changes, labor stoppages, equipment delays, and modification of guidance and launcher systems all complicated the project. Those problems were not unusual for early ICBM construction; they reflected the pressure to build operational missile facilities while the weapon system and support equipment were still maturing.

The exact activation date for Site 564-B is less certain than the squadron's activation date. 1961 is the best conservative open / turnover date currently available for the individual 564-B site, while September 1, 1964 is used as the operational close date because that is when the 564th Strategic Missile Squadron was inactivated and the Atlas D mission ended at Warren.

Missile System and Technical Role

The SM-65D Atlas was the first deployed U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile. It was a liquid-fueled, "stage-and-a-half" missile: the booster engines were dropped during flight while the sustainer engine continued burning. In its ICBM configuration, the Atlas D was about 85 feet long, weighed about 260,000 pounds at maximum launch weight, and used Rocketdyne engines with two large booster engines, a sustainer engine, and vernier engines for attitude correction. It used RP-1 kerosene fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer.

Missile capability / warhead / reentry vehicle: Public sources identify the Atlas D as an intercontinental-range nuclear missile with a range usually given between about 5,500 and more than 6,300 miles depending on source and configuration. The National Park Service identifies Atlas D as carrying a 1.44-megaton warhead. The 564th SMS Atlas D carried a W-49 nuclear warhead in a General Electric Mark III reentry vehicle, with a range of approximately 6,000 miles.

The site's technical role was to keep three Atlas D missiles on operational alert within a launch complex that could prepare, raise, fuel, and launch them when directed. The missiles were not maintained in a sealed, fueled, underground silo. They were stored horizontally in their launcher structures. Launch required rolling or retracting the shelter roof or door, raising the missile, loading liquid oxygen, completing final preparations, and then firing. This launch process was much more labor-intensive and exposed than later Minuteman operations, but it was still a major step beyond test-range or purely experimental launch infrastructure.

Atlas D's radio guidance also shaped the site's role. A ground guidance system tracked the missile and sent corrections during flight. That system required the launchers to remain near the guidance facilities. As a result, the 564th SMS's six missiles were grouped into the 3 x 2 configuration: two launch complexes of three missiles each, controlled by two launch operations buildings and clustered around a central guidance control facility. Site 564-B was one of those three-missile launch complexes.

Operational History

Atlas D Site 564-B operated as part of the 564th Strategic Missile Squadron's short but historically important Atlas D mission at F. E. Warren. The squadron was activated on July 1, 1958, and became the first missile unit constructed solely for operational ICBM purposes. The first operational Atlas D complex at Warren was turned over and declared operational in August 1960, and Site B appears to have followed as part of the same two-complex Warren I deployment.

Operationally, 564-B was not an isolated unattended silo. The 564th SMS sites were manned around the clock during active service. Crews, maintenance personnel, security forces, communications technicians, propellant specialists, and support personnel had to sustain an alert posture around a complex liquid-fueled missile system. The site's launcher buildings, launch operations spaces, guidance facilities, power systems, and propellant-handling equipment all had to function as part of a coordinated launch complex.

The site's operational life was brief. Atlas D was already being overtaken by more survivable systems while the 564th SMS was still in service. Atlas E and Atlas F improved basing survivability, Titan added another liquid-fueled ICBM family, and Minuteman brought solid fuel, greater dispersal, and faster response. As those systems matured, the first-generation Atlas D sites became obsolete quickly.

Deactivation and Disposal

Atlas D Site 564-B was deactivated as the Air Force retired its first-generation Atlas D force. The 564th Strategic Missile Squadron was inactivated on September 1, 1964, as the Atlas D weapon system became outmoded. That date is the best operational close date because it marks the end of the squadron's active Atlas D mission at F. E. Warren.

The former Atlas D property was excessed to the General Services Administration in 1965.

Its disposal followed the pattern of early missile sites: the missile mission ended, equipment was removed, property was declared excess, and the land passed into private or mixed-use status while some federal easements and environmental responsibilities remained.

Current Status and Site Use

Atlas D Site 564-B is inactive and decommissioned. It is not part of the current F. E. Warren Minuteman III missile field, and it is not a public historic site. The former Warren I / 564-A+B property is associated with private ranch or former defense-site land use and with the broader Whitaker Ranch / former Atlas D Missile Site 1 environmental record.

Access should be treated as private / restricted. The site is not presented by any official source as open to the public, and the former property has environmental-history significance. Any field visit or photography would require current landowner permission and should avoid disturbing site remains or environmental monitoring infrastructure.

Chronology

• 1957-11-21 The Department of Defense announced that F. E. Warren Air Force Base would become the nation's first ICBM base.
• 1958-07-01 The 564th Strategic Missile Squadron was activated at F. E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, for the Atlas D mission.
• 1958 Construction began northwest of Cheyenne for the first Atlas D facilities of the 706th Strategic Missile Wing.
• 1959-09-15 The first Atlas D missile deployed away from Vandenberg Air Force Base went to the 564th Strategic Missile Squadron at Warren I.
• 1960 Construction of the site begins in 1960; the exact month and day are not currently verified.
• 1960-08-09 The first Atlas D complex at F. E. Warren was turned over to the 564th Strategic Missile Squadron and declared operational.
• 1961 The site was turned over to the Air Force in 1961; the exact month and day are not currently verified.
• 1961-07-01 The 706th Strategic Missile Wing stood down, and command responsibilities at F. E. Warren shifted to the 389th Strategic Missile Wing.
• 1962-10 During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the 564th Strategic Missile Squadron's Atlas D sites were part of the heightened SAC alert posture.
• 1964-05 As Atlas D missiles were being phased out, the 389th Strategic Missile Wing received SAC's last operational readiness inspection for the Atlas D system.
• 1964-09-01 The 564th Strategic Missile Squadron was inactivated as the Atlas D weapon system was phased out at F. E. Warren.
• 1965 The former Atlas D Missile Site 1 property was excessed to the General Services Administration.
• 2008-12 The remedial investigation report for TCE-contaminated groundwater at the former Atlas D Missile Site 1 was finalized.
• 2010-02 The feasibility study for remedial-action alternatives at the former Atlas D Missile Site 1 was completed.

Read about the Atlas at F.E. Warren AFB

All Atlas Missile Silo Locations