STONY BROOK AND THE OTHER OPERATIONAL STORAGE SITES

	Stony Brook Air Force Station (AMC) was one of the seven (five Air Force, one Army and one
Navy) Operational Storage Sites (OSS) located within the United States. Stony Brook performed the vital
functions of providing maintenance, storage and provision of nuclear weapons for the Strategic Air
Command during the Cold War. The Operational Storage Sites represented a period of tactical transition
from the large, centralized structures of the National Stockpile Sites (NSS) to the physically smaller alert
facilities in closer strategic proximity to Air Force bases. This transitional period spanned approximately
10 years, from 1952 to 1962. The National Stockpile Sites continued in operation throughout most of this
period, but the strategic importance of the OSS became primary. Some of the OSS remained active as
solely weapons storage areas up to 1998, and after. See the table below.

	The advent of the Operational Storage Sites began in 1952 with the initial operations of Caribou
Air Force Station near Loring Air Force Base in Maine. This site was followed closely by similar facilities in
South Dakota, Washington, and California. Stony Brook was the last of the Air Force locations, being
constructed in 1954. The units assigned to these sites were designated Aviation Depot Groups, with their
associated operations, support and security squadrons. The Navy site was located at Skiffes Creek
Annex, Yorktown, VA and the Army facility in the North Ordinance Area on the Seneca Army Depot in
New York State.

Site 		Code Name 	Air Force Base 	   Operational Period 	Unit Assigned
Caribou AFS 	Easy 		Loring AFB, ME 	   1952-1988 		3080th ADG
Rushmore AFS 	Fox 		Ellsworth AFB, SD 	   1952-1993 		3081st ADG
Deep Creek AFS 	George 		Fairchild AFB, WA 	   1952-1998 (?) 		3082nd ADG
Fairfield AFS 	How 		Travis AFB, CA 	   1953-1970 		3083rd ADG
Stony Brook AFS 	Item 		Westover AFB, MA    1954-1971 		3084th ADG

	All of the Air Force Operational Storage Sites were assigned to the 3079th Aviation Depot Wing,
Air Materiel Command, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. The Wing was
deactivated in 1962, as the Strategic Air Command required closer command and control over its
strategic nuclear weapons inventory.

	The functions formerly performed by the OSS were then undertaken by Munitions Maintenance
Squadrons (MMS, later changed to MUNS) located on or near the SAC bases themselves. Of course, the
rapidly growing impact of intercontinental ballistic missiles and the increasing sophistication of, and the
decreasing size of, nuclear weapons led to many basic changes in the operational and organizational
functions of the units assigned the task of ensuring that the United States' ability to wage war in a
nuclear environment remained strong and viable at all times.