Driving Delta Flight

Dispersal was a key design feature of the Minuteman system. The South Dakota missile field totaled fifteen control centers and one hundred fifty missiles divided into three squadrons. Fifty missiles made up a squadron, and each squadron was further divided into five flights of ten missiles. Every flight had its own Launch Control Center that monitored ten silos. To reduce its vulnerability to enemy attack, each flight was dispersed across several miles, with the control center located a minimum of three miles from any missile and the missiles similarly distanced from each other. With the control center as the center of the clock the silos were numbered 2-11 and arrayed across the landscape irregularly but in a clockwise formation.

While the park preserves a single silo and control center, during the Cold War the Delta Flight would have included nine additional active silos. While those silos were retired in the 1990s, their sites remain visible today. This activity is a vehicle-based driving tour beginning at the visitor center, and visiting all eleven locations that made up Delta Flight. Follow in the path of Air Force personnel and travel the South Dakota backroads to visit the ten silos and control center of Delta Flight, which once kept 12 megatons of destructive power constantly on alert.

Details

Duration

3 Hours

Allow at least three hours for this driving tour that explores the rural South Dakota landscape. Expect to travel at least 100 miles, primarily on county roads. 

Activity

Scenic Driving

This activity is a vehicle-based driving tour beginning at the visitor center, and visiting all eleven locations that made up Delta Flight. Follow in the path of Air Force personnel and travel the South Dakota backroads to visit the ten silos and control center of Delta Flight, which once kept 12 megatons of destructive power constantly on alert.

Pets Allowed

Yes

Activity Fee

Yes

Entry fee to the nearby Badlands National Park may be required.

Reservations

No

No reservations needed for this self-driving tour.

Season

Year Round

Some roads may be impassable following inclement weather.

Time of Day

Day

Accessibility Information

This activity is a vehicle-based exploration of a portion of the South Dakota landscape. Many of the roads on this itinerary are county roads without a paved surface that may be difficult to travel after incliment weather. Most of the sites on this tour are privately owned and have no accessibility accommodations. Please respect private property and observe these sites from the road.

Starting from the visitor center, this itinerary visits all ten of the silo (launch facility) sites and the control center that comprised Delta Flight from 1963-1993. Respect private property and observe all sites from the road. The former silo sites are all distinguishable by the large perimeter fences that are still standing; the silo equipment was destroyed and buried in the 1990s. Much of this route is on rural, unpaved roads whose conditions vary based on weather and time of year. Ask at the visitor center for current road conditions. As you drive, imagine being an Air Force Security policeman in the early 1980s, dispatched from Delta-01 to check on an outer zone alarm at a Delta flight silo.

1. Depart the visitor center by turning left on to highway 240 and drive a half mile south. Immediately after the overpass, turn right onto the Old Northeast Road and follow for four miles as the road curves toward Badlands National Park. The former Delta-06 “Badlands Barry” missile site will be on the right, with badlands formations visible in the distance.
2. Continue 3.3 miles on the Old Northeast road into Badlands National Park. At the pavement, turn left onto the Badlands loop road and exit Badlands National Park. After 6.2 miles on highway 240, turn onto the frontage road before the exit 131 overpass and continue east for 5.1 miles. Turn left on Fairview road and go under I-90; immediately after the underpass turn left and continue east and a short distance north on the road 2.4 miles. The former Delta-05 “Lyle’s Right” missile site will be on the right.
3. Return to Fairview Road and turn left; proceed north 5.3 miles; the former Delta-04 “Harmonic Conversion” missile site will be on the left side of the road. A short distance to the north along the fence line, a concrete azimuth marker remains.
4. Proceed half a mile north and turn left onto Fairview road; proceed 3 miles west and continue right on Fairview road and proceed north 3.1 miles. Turn left onto Highway 14 and proceed west 3.4 miles; pull off onto the road shoulder and the former Delta-03 “Transfiguration Plowshares” missile site will be on the left along an old road trace.
5. Continue on Highway 14 for a half mile and turn right. Follow the Grindstone Road 5 miles north; the former Delta-2 “Grindstone” missile site will be on the right site of the road.
6. Turn around and return to Highway 14. Turn right on to highway 14 and proceed 6 miles west. Turn right onto Big Foot Road and travel 4 miles north; the former Delta-11 “Mona’s” missile site will be on the left side of the road.
7. Turn around and travel 5.3 miles south, passing Highway 14; the former Delta-10 “Jane’s” missile site will be on the left side of the Big Foot road about a mile south of Highway 14.
8. Continue south on the Big Foot Road to I-90. To visit the Delta-09 “Cassandra’s” missile, follow I-90 westbound to exit 116.
9. To continue the Delta flight tour, return to Big Foote Pass Road, exit 121 and turn right. Follow the road 2.2 miles south from I-90 and the Delta-08 “Tom’s” missile site will be on the right side of the road.
10. Continue south another 3.7 miles and turn right on Horton road. Continue three miles and the former Delta-07 “Lost Vulture” missile site will be on the left side of the road. You’ve now traveled to all ten silo sites of Delta flight.
11. To travel to Delta-01 “Mike and Beth’s” launch control center, return to the Big Foote Pass Road and I-90. Take exit 127 and travel north ¾ of a mile; the control center will be on the left.­
12. To return to the Visitor Center, return to I-90. Take exit 131 and turn left after the exit.

Alternative Silo and Control Center Names

Between 1985-87, volunteers across the country participated in a project to map and publish the locations to all 1,000 Minuteman silos across the country. The intent of the project was to raise awareness of this vast arsenal to the American public. One of the traditions of this project was that the volunteers provided informal names to each silo and control center. These informal designations are a combination of the names of those who mapped the sites, or political and pop cultural references from the era.

Delta-01: “Mike and Beth’s” launch control center
Delta-02: “Grindstone” missile
Delta-03: “Transfiguration Plowshares” missile
Delta-04: "Harmonic Conversion" missile
Delta-05: “Lyle’s Right” missile
Delta-06: "Badlands Barry" missile
Delta-07: “Lost Vulture” missile
Delta-08: “Tom’s” missile
Delta-09: "Cassandra's" missile
Delta-10: "Jane's" missile
Delta-11: “Mona’s” missile

“Mike and Beth’s” launch control center is named for Mike Sprong and Beth Prehaim, who coordinated the South Dakota mapping project. The "Grindstone" missile is named for the Grindstone Line Road that leads to the silo. Delta-09 is named for Cassandra Dixon, an activist who served as director of Nukewatch at the time the organization coordinated the missile field mapping project.