page_title: 566th Strategic Missile Squadron
section_title: Offutt Air Force Base
hierarchical_section_title: 566th Strategic Missile Squadron / History / Intercontinental ballistic missile squadron / Offutt Air Force Base
caption_attribution_description: English: 549th Strategic Missile Squadron - SM-65D Atlas Missile sites
context_page_description: The 566th Strategic Missile Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 389th Strategic Missile Wing at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, where it was inactivated on 25 March 1965. The squadron was equipped with SM-65 Atlases.
  The squadron was first activated during World War II as the 566th Bombardment Squadron. After training in the United States, it deployed to England, and participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. Shortly after its arrival in Europe, the squadron sent a detachment to Libya. From this location, the detachment participated in Operation Tidal Wave, the low level attack on oil refineries near Ploesti, for which it was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation. Following V-E Day, the squadron returned to the United States and was inactivated in September 1945. The squadron was active from 1947 to 1949 in the reserve, but does not appear to have been fully equipped or manned.
  It was activated as a strategic missile unit at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska in 1959, but moved to Warren in 1961 as it was becoming operational.
context_section_description: The squadron was redesignated the 566th Strategic Missile Squadron and activated in August 1959 at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, where it was assigned to the 4321st Strategic Wing.  The squadron was the last SM-65D Atlas squadron to be activated under Strategic Air Command (SAC).  On 30 March 1961, the squadron was declared operational, the last Atlas D unit to do so, completing the deployment of the D model of this intercontinental ballistic missile.
  The squadron operated three missile sites of three SM-65D missiles at each site (9 total) at Offutt:
  566-A, 3.4 mi SE of Mead, NE     41°11′37″N 096°26′23″W
  566-B, 3.6 mi NE of Arlington, NE     41°29′17″N 096°17′59″W
  566-C, 4.3 mi SE of Missouri Valley, IA     41°31′15″N 095°49′09″W
caption: Offutt SM-65D Atlas Missile Sites
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