Qualla: Francis E. Warren AFB: From Cavalry Post to Nuclear Arsenal https://qualla.com/francis-e-warren-air-force-base en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:04 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/x/m/6/francis-e-warren-air-force-base-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Francis E. Warren AFB: From Cavalry Post to Nuclear Arsenal https://qualla.com/francis-e-warren-air-force-base Francis E. Warren AFB: From Cavalry Post to Nuclear Arsenal: Introduction https://qualla.com/francis-e-warren-air-force-base/ Photo credit United States Air Force, Public domain. The same year Cheyenne was founded, the U.S. Cavalry established Fort D.A. Russell three miles west to protect Union Pacific Railroad workers from hostile tribes. That was 1867. The frontier post evolved through frontier wars, Spanish-American campaigns, two World Wars, and the Cold War to become something its cavalry founders could never have imagined: the largest strategic missile facility in the United States Air Force. Francis E. Warren Air Force Base now controls 150 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles scattered across 9,600 square miles of Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado. The original wood-frame buildings, set in a diamond pattern to shelter against Wyoming's howling winter winds, gave way to 220 red brick structures built between 1885 and 1930 - most still in use today, their historic exteriors preserved while their interiors house 21st-century technology.

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Image: United States Air Force | Public domain

]]> Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/x/m/6/francis-e-warren-air-force-base-wp/9xm6-francis-e-warren-afb-from-cavalry-post-to-nuclear--intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Francis E. Warren AFB: From Cavalry Post to Nuclear Arsenal: Frontier Garrison https://qualla.com/francis-e-warren-air-force-base/ Photo credit Clayton B. Fraser, Public domain. Detachments of the 30th Infantry formed the first garrison in 1867, living in tents before moving into wood-frame quarters that winter. The diamond-shaped layout opened to the east, measuring 800 by 400 feet, with the entrance where Chapel 1 now stands. Troops fought the rigors o...

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Image: Clayton B. Fraser | Public domain

]]> Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/x/m/6/francis-e-warren-air-force-base-wp/9xm6-francis-e-warren-afb-from-cavalry-post-to-nuclear--frontier-garrison.mp3 0:06 2 full Francis E. Warren AFB: From Cavalry Post to Nuclear Arsenal: Names in the Brick https://qualla.com/francis-e-warren-air-force-base/ Photo credit Public domain. The base's history reads like a roster of American military legend. Captain John 'Black Jack' Pershing lived in quarters No. 2 with his family - he had married Senator Francis E. Warren's daughter. Pershing would later command American forces in World War I, promoted four ranks i...

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Image: Public domain

]]> Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/x/m/6/francis-e-warren-air-force-base-wp/9xm6-francis-e-warren-afb-from-cavalry-post-to-nuclear--names-in-the-brick.mp3 0:06 3 full Francis E. Warren AFB: From Cavalry Post to Nuclear Arsenal: War Trophies and Winter Barracks https://qualla.com/francis-e-warren-air-force-base/ Photo credit Unietd States Air Force, Public domain. In 1901, troops returning from the Philippine-American War brought back unusual souvenirs: a Queen Mary Tudor cannon forged in 1557 - the only one of its kind in America - and two of the three Balangiga bells, which Filipino insurrectionists had used to signal an ambush on Americ...

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Image: Unietd States Air Force | Public domain

]]> Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/x/m/6/francis-e-warren-air-force-base-wp/9xm6-francis-e-warren-afb-from-cavalry-post-to-nuclear--war-trophies-and-winter-barracks.mp3 0:06 4 full Francis E. Warren AFB: From Cavalry Post to Nuclear Arsenal: The Missile Mission https://qualla.com/francis-e-warren-air-force-base/ Photo credit Department of Defense. American Forces Information Service. Defense Visual Information Center. 1994, Public domain. On August 9, 1960, Warren became the first fully operational ICBM base in the Air Force when the Atlas D complex was declared ready. The base would host Atlas D, Atlas E, Minuteman I, Minuteman III, and Peacekeeper missiles over the following decades. Construction of 200 Minutema...

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Image: Department of Defense. American Forces Information Service. Defense Visual Information Center. 1994 | Public domain

]]> Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/x/m/6/francis-e-warren-air-force-base-wp/9xm6-francis-e-warren-afb-from-cavalry-post-to-nuclear--the-missile-mission.mp3 0:06 5 full Francis E. Warren AFB: From Cavalry Post to Nuclear Arsenal: Above the Silos https://qualla.com/francis-e-warren-air-force-base/ Photo credit Bwmoll3, CC BY-SA 3.0. Francis E. Warren AFB lies at coordinates 41.14 N, 104.80 W, approximately three miles west of Cheyenne, Wyoming. The base is visible from altitude as a developed area with distinctive red brick buildings and tree-lined streets on the treeless high plains. The missile silos thems...

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Image: Bwmoll3 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/x/m/6/francis-e-warren-air-force-base-wp/9xm6-francis-e-warren-afb-from-cavalry-post-to-nuclear--above-the-silos.mp3 0:06 6 full