July 13th Rapid City, SD

Nestled at the foot of the Black Hills, on the western edge of Rapid City, SD, the Chapel in the Hills is a quiet retreat.

Visitors are greeted at the "Stabbur," which is an authentic grass-roofed store house, built in Norway and assembled on site. 

Also on the grounds is an authentic log cabin museum. Built by a Norwegian prospector who came to the Black Hills during the gold rush, it houses articles brought over from Norway or made by Scandinavians in this country during the 1800's.

The chapel itself is an exact reproduction of the famous Borgund Stavkirke of Laerdal, Norway. The chapel was built in 1969 as the home for the Lutheran Vespers radio ministry. 

The South Dakota Air and Space museum houses more than 25 historic bombers, fighters, utility aircraft, and missiles. We also took a bus tour of Ellsworth Air Force Base where we saw a Minuteman1 Missile site with an explanation how the missiles were assembled in the missile silo.

The missiles have been changed a couple times from the Minuteman 1,later replaced by Minuteman II. Missiles could be launched from their locations and travel over the North Pole and arrive at their intended site within 30 minutes. There were 150 silos in South Dakota controlled from Ellsworth AFB until July 4th 1994 when all missiles were disarmed per agreements. However, there are 500 nuclear missiles in the upper Great Plains 

We started out by reading and taking pictures of the planes.

It was surprising to see how huge the B52 was when standing beside it. We learned the B52 will be in service until 2040 a full 90 years of service. The wing span is so large they can flex up to 14 feet up or down. We noticed small wheels at the end of each wing and were told that the wings would drag without the wheels.

The B1 or "bone" as they are called is the next generation bomber that could be used in place of the B52. The B1 is the only aircraft flown out of Ellsworth.

They had a B29 which dropped the H bombs on Japan during WWII.

A little history on the changes at Ellsworth Air Force Base:

Ellsworth AFB was established in 1941 as Rapid City Army Air Base (AAB). It is named in honor of Brigadier General Richard E. Ellsworth (1911–1953), who was killed when his RB-36 Peacemaker aircraft crashed near Nut Cove, Newfoundland during a training flight. During World War II General Ellsworth flew 400 missions in the China/Burma/India Theater. At the time of his death he commanded the 28th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing.

During the cold war the base had over 9000 personal with only 4000 today who are housed on the base full time. The base is like community with everything to sustain everyday life with any services needed such as bowling lanes,groceries, theater, hospital, banks and schools.

World War II

On the 2 of January 1942, the U.S. War Department established Rapid City Army Air Base as a training location for B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber units. Construction proceeded rapidly on the base, with the Control tower opening on 30 Sep 1942; runways, quarters, offices, and facilities completed 1 Oct 1942, and five hangars being completed in late 1942. The airfield had three concrete runways.

Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.  The 88th Bombardment Group was reassigned to the new base in October 1942 to be the base's Operational Training Unit.

In March 1944, heavy bomber operational training ended and the 225th Army Air Force Base Unit began training of replacement personnel for deployed heavy bombardment units in the overseas combat theaters. The field's instructors taught thousands of pilots, navigators, radio operators and gunners from nine heavy bombardment groups and numerous smaller units. All training focused on the Allied drive to overthrow the powers in Europe.

On 15 July 1945, the 225th AAFBU was inactivated and Rapid City AAB was placed on standby status as the Army Air Forces began to demobilize.

Postwar era

Rapid City AAB was reactivated on 11 October 1945 and was assigned to Continental Air Forces. It was designated a permanent facility by the Army Air Forces. The base briefly trained weather reconnaissance and combat squadrons using P-61 Black Widow, P-38 Lighting, P-51 Mustang and the B-25 Mitchell aircraft.

The airfield was again temporarily shut down from September 1946 - March 1947 and underwent a major construction program to upgrade the temporary wartime facilities to that of a permanent base. The runway was extended to accommodate the B-29 Superfortress, which was completed in the spring of 1948, along with a major overhaul of base facilities.

28th Bombardment Wing

When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset. The primary unit assigned to Rapid City Air Force Base was the new 28th Bombardment Wing flying the B-29 Superfortress.

The installation changed names a few more times during its early years. In January 1948, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen Carl A. Spaatz renamed it Weaver Air Force Base in honor of Brig Gen Walter R. Weaver, one of the pioneers in the development of the Air Force. In June of that year, however, in response to overwhelming public appeals, Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington, returned the base it to its previous name of Rapid City AFB.

Shortly after additional runway improvements, in July 1949, the 28 BMW began conversion from B-29s to the huge B-36 Peacemakers. In April 1950, the Air Staff reassigned the base from 15th Air Force to 8th Air Force. 

The base experienced one of its worst peacetime tragedies in March 1953 when an RB-36 and its entire crew of 23 crashed in Newfoundland while returning from a routine exercise in Europe. On 13 June 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower made a personal visit to dedicate the base in memory of Brig Gen Richard E. Ellsworth, commander of the 28th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, who lost his life in that mishap. The base was subsequently renamed Ellsworth AFB, and unlike the previous local controversy in 1948, there was no community objection to the name change.