Malmstrom AFB

Malmstrom Air Force Base
Part of Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC)
Located near: Great Falls, Montana
Photo of Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana - 2009
Coordinates	47°30′17″N 111°11′14″W / 47.50472°N 111.18722°W / 47.50472; -111.18722 (Malmstrom AFB)
Site information
Controlled by	United States Air Force
Site history
Built	1941
In use	1941 – present
Garrison information
Garrison	341st Missile Wing

Airfield information
IATA: GFA ICAO: KGFA FAA LID: GFA
Summary
Elevation AMSL	3,472 ft / 1,058 m
Coordinates	47°30′17″N 111°11′14″W / 47.50472°N 111.18722°W / 47.50472; -111.18722Coordinates: 47°30′17″N 111°11′14″W / 47.50472°N 111.18722°W / 47.50472; -111.18722
Website	www.malmstrom.af.mil
Map
KGFA Location of Malmstrom Air Force Base
Helipads
Number Length Surface ft m H1 100 30 Asphalt

Malmstrom Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place (CDP) in Great Falls, Cascade County, Montana, United States. It was named in honor of World War II POW Colonel Einar Axel Malmstrom. It is the home of the 341st Missile Wing (341 MW) of the Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). As a census-designated place, it had a population of 3,472 at the 2010 census.

Malmstrom AFB is one of three US Air Force Bases that maintains and operates the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile. The 341st Missile Wing reports directly to Twentieth Air Force at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming. It is part of Global Strike Command headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana.

The base's runway was closed on 31 December 1996 for aircraft operations. However, helicopter operations at Malmstrom continue in support of the base's missile mission.

Originally named Great Falls Army Air Base, later Great Falls Air Force Base, the facility was renamed Malmstrom Air Force Base on 1 October 1955 in honor of Colonel Einar Axel Malmstrom (1907–1954). Colonel Malmstrom, shot down on his 58th combat fighter mission in World War II, became the US commander of Luftwaffe Stalag Luft 1 South Compound, at Barth, Germany. After his release and return to active Air Force service, he died in the crash of a T-33 Shooting Star trainer on 21 August 1954 near Great Falls Air Force Base. In the short period of his tenure as vice wing commander, Colonel Malmstrom endeared himself to the local community. Saddened by the loss, the people of Great Falls began a drive to rename the base after him.