Home - Search - Browse - Alphabetic Index: 0- 1- 2- 3- 4- 5- 6- 7- 8- 9
A- B- C- D- E- F- G- H- I- J- K- L- M- N- O- P- Q- R- S- T- U- V- W- X- Y- Z

---

Fort Sill

---

In 1950, the Army's antiaircraft and field artillery branches merged to allow cross training for artillery officers. However, as surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles entered the inventory, the complexity of these new weapons again called for specialized training. Therefore, the Army decided to transfer the surface-to-surface missile training activities from Fort Bliss in Texas to the Army's Artillery Center at Fort Sill.

Even before the Center was officially redesignated as "The Artillery and Guided Missile Center" in 1955, Fort Sill took on the mission of training soldiers on the use of newly developed short-range surface-to-surface rockets such as the Corporal. On June 22, 1954, the first troop-fired Honest John missile was launched. With the redesignation effected, in 1956, 2 Corporal battalions and 10 training courses came to Fort Sill from Fort Bliss, Texas.

To accommodate the move, the Tulsa District of the Corps of Engineers acquired additional lands, which were transferred in January 1957 to the Artillery and Missile Center.

As classroom instruction commenced, the Corps of Engineers Tulsa District oversaw construction of assembly, maintenance, storage, and other support facilities, including a large facility for Redstone missile maintenance. In 1958, two Redstone missile battalions were stationed at Fort Sill.

Fort Sill also hosted training facilities for the follow-on Pershing missiles. As of December 8, 1987, there were 78 Pershing II training missile stages and 39 launchers at the base.