A practice launch with the crew running up the enginein the elevated launch position with warhead sling brackets left on.

G. Joseph Snyder (gjsnyder@sbcglobal.net)

Beyond the Web Page... The only book devoted exclusively to the Matador and Mace Tactical Missiles. The book reveals the story from the initial idea that became the first U.S. pilotless bomber, through the politically troubled development of the ever evolving deployment methods of the Matador and Mace Tactical Missiles. It covers the Units, Groups, Squadrons and Wing that fielded the missiles. From the United States test sites, Europe, Asia and North Africa nothing is omitted. All phases of the application of these two missiles by the U.S. Air Force (and West German Luftwaffe) are included, from the first tentative launches of the XSSM-A-1 Matador in January 1949, to the tense alert duty of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the final launch of a MQM13A in May of 1977. The maintenance, logistics and launch, the men, equipment and tactics are all there.

"Bob, George, I finished your book 2 days after I received it. Couldn't put it down. It was incredible reading and incredibly detailed information."

Kent Washburn (KWASH55@aol.com) Mace B, Kadena, Okinawa

"George and Bob. I want you both to know how much I enjoyed reading and how much I admire and appreciate what you have accomplished in developing and publishing "The Pioneers". It is truly an outstanding piece of work, reflecting the time and effort required to produce it, but is also a formidable contribution to our military history. I mentioned in some earlier correspondence that I was a little disappointed in the relatively small amount of information regarding the Operating Location/Guidance Sites but you largely made up for it with this magnificent book."

Dale Lake (daleflake@yahoo.com) 601st Tactical Control Squadron, 38th TMW, Hamm, Germany

"I just finished your book, The Pioneers, et al. Please accept my "job well done!" Not only is it informative, but it's very readable. I'd also like to complement you on how well you footnoted it. You have shown that a scholarly work can be both instructive and enjoyable."

Michael Roof (lavinaschnur@hotmail.com) SGM USA (Ret.)

"Very good work with great detail."

Col. Charlie Simpson, USAF, Retired
Executive Director
Association of Air Force Missileers

"I have your excellent book on USAF tactical missiles. I actually witnessed the decommissioning of the Maces at Wüscheim back in 1966."

Paul Offen
Talitha, Tye Common Road
Billericay
Essex CM12 9PX
UK

"I just wanted to drop you a line and tell you how much I enjoyed the book that you and Bob wrote. The history was of particluar interest to me and my brother who was a history Professor at the University of Wisconsin. He also thought the book was well written, and he now knows what his little brother, (me), did while in Germany for three years."

George Joseph Snyder (gjsnyder@sbcglobal.net)
71st TMS, Steinborn, Germany

"...by the way, I read your book, it was great, thanks for writing it."

Hack Hunton (hack@sstelco.com) Mace B, Kadena, Okinawa

"George, the book arrived on Tuesday while I was off to France. Of course, I quickly read the chapter about ´Germany's quiet step into the realm of nuclear armament.´ You know, this is still a widely ignored fact over here...
...For me it is fascinating to see what the picture really was in the 1950s and 1960s as opposed to what the official communication of the time wanted people to believe. A fascinating book shedding some light on the early days of tactical nuclear missiles as well as the political background that even today is still largely hidden behind the propaganda of the time. Can´t wait to read the rest of it."

Burkhard Domke
Harsefeld, Germany

"U.S. Air Force Tactical Missiles" is an excellent, comprehensive history of a very little-known aspect of the development and operational deployment of American guided missiles in the early days of the Cold War. The title may lead one to believe that the book is a fairly broad outline of tactical missiles developed during that period. But it really covers just one system--the Glenn L. Martin Company's TM-61 "Matador" turbojet-powered cruise missile and its follow-on, the upgraded TM-76 "Mace."

"The level of detail in "U.S. Air Force Tactical Missiles" is remarkable. The authors start out with an assessment of the world's first practical, mass-produced cruise missile--the German V-1 ("Vergeltungswaffe Eins," or "Vengeance Weapon 1") "flying bomb" that Hitler used against England and other European targets in World War II. I thought I knew a lot about the V-1, but I learned things I never knew when I read this book. Some of the technical details about its design, construction and method of operation have never, to my knowledge, appeared in print before, at least not in readily accessible form. The authors apply the same level of detail to the story of the design, development, flight testing and overseas deployment of the "Matador" and "Mace," which trace their lineage directly back to the V-1. Much of "U.S. Air Force Tactical Missiles" is based on reminiscences of former "missileers" with first-hand experience in the care and feeding of "Matadors" and "Maces" in the field. As such, it has the flavor of an "oral history" in which people and their experiences play at least as important a role as the technology."

"Very little has been written about America's early cruise missiles. As far as I know, "U.S. Air Force Tactical Missiles" is the only available book-length treatment of this relatively obscure subject. An interesting, in-depth and readable volume, "U.S. Air Force Tactical Missiles" deserves a place on the bookshelf of every serious aerospace history buff."

Terry Sunday (sundayt@zianet.com)

Dieses Buch ist ein Muss für alle, die im Rahmen ihres Dienstes bei der U.S. Air Force mit den frühen Marschflugkörpern zu tun hatten, aber auch für deutsche Militärarchäologen, die in der Eifel, im Hunsrück oder im Pfälzer Wald schon über rätselhafte Hinterlassenschaften gestolpert sind. Nach mehr als 40 Jahren wird endlich eine Fülle von Fakten, Informationen und Geschichten zu den zwischen 1954 und 1969 in Deutschland stationierten, mit Automwaffen ausgerüsteten amerikanischen Matador und Mace auf den Tisch gelegt. Ausführlich und lebendig erzählen George Mindling und Bob Bolton von den jungen Missilemen, die im März 1954 erstmals in Bitburg ankamen - noch ganz grün im Gesicht, weil auf dem Atlantik schwerer Sturm geherrscht hatte. Von den T-33-Flugzeugen, die aus Übungsgründen so taten, als wären sie Matador-Flugkörper, über die Startstellungen hinweg in Richtung deutsch-deutsche Grenze donnerten und sich von der Gegenseite nur nicht erwischen lassen durften. Oder von der Kuba-Krise, als die US Air Force Europe auf DEFCON 3 ging und an die Mechaniker in Bitburg Munition für ihre Karabiner ausgegeben wurde.

Augenzeugen sagen dazu: "Wir hätten die Vögel auf jeden Fall innerhalb von 15 Minuten in der Luft haben müssen!" Es ist lebendige Militärgeschichte, die nun nicht der Vergessenheit anheimfällt, sondern jedermann zugänglich wird - auch für die ortsansässige Bevölkerung, die heute endlich erfährt, was sich damals in ihrer Nachbarschaft zugetragen hat. Den beiden Autoren gebührt der Dank.

Klaus Stark   (klaus_stark@t-online.de)
Berlin, Germany

This book is not only a must for all those who served in the U.S. Air Force with the early cruise missiles, but also for German military archeologists who have been puzzling over relics stumbled across in the Eifel, the Hunsrück and the Palatinate Forests. After more than 40 years, we finally have a wealth of facts, information and stories, from 1954 to 1969, of the nuclear equipped American Matador and Mace missiles stationed in Germany placed on the table.

With detailed and vivid descriptions, George Mindling and Bob Bolton talk about the young Missilemen who arrived for the first time in March, 1954, in Bitburg - still green in the face, having prevailed the Atlantic crossing in major storm. Of the T-33 aircraft which practiced as if they Matador missiles launched in the direction of German-German border, or from the Cuban missile crisis, when the U.S. Air Force Europe went on DEFCON 3 and was issued ammunition to the mechanics in Bitburg for their rifles. Eyewitnesses say: "We would have to have the birds in the air in any event within 15 minutes!"

It is vital military history that is prey to oblivion, but is now accessible to everyone - even for the local population, which today finally learns what happened at that time in their neighborhood.

The two authors deserve thanks for saving the history.

Klaus Stark,
klaus_stark@t-online.de
Berlin, Germany

The Adminstration building behind the flag pole, with the officer's quarters and the water filtering system to the left. A U.S. Air Force VW Kombi sits parked alongside a USAF tractor used for site maintenance

The Steinborn site was called "A" Pad, with Rittersdorf as "B" Pad and Idenheim as "C"pad. The Rittersdorf site later became the Mace "B" Site 7, and Idenheim became Mace "B" Site 8.

Steinborn did not migrate to the newer Mace system andwas deactivated on September 25, 1962. It was the last active US Air Force TM-61C Matador site in Europe.

G. Joseph Snyder (gjsnyder@sbcglobal.net)

"The building in the background is the mess halland furnace room. In back of the mess hall is the front launch pad, or Pad1. To the right one can see one of the back up missiles, in storage. Looks like a first snow."

This photograph was taken of all personnel who were stationed at Steinborn in 1960, including launch crew members, launch officers, G&C personnel, air police, cooks, everybody on site.

Captain John S. Almon was the officer that was assigned the setting up of the missile site on what was a C&G site. Captain Almon was also the commander of Flight "A" at Steinborn. He is the officer in dress blues, in the middle of the front row, with thestandard officer's cap. The other officer in dress blues, in the middle of the front row, next to Captain Almon, was my crew's launchofficer, Captain William A. McLawhon.

G. Joseph Snyder (gjsnyder@sbcglobal.net)

May 1st, 2007 - The old Steinborn launch site peacefully coexists with a contemporary wind farm

Photo by George Mindling (myakka@embarqmail.com)

Steinborn, Kreis Bitburg, Germany - "A" Pad - 2005
( 50 º 04 ` 09.54" N,   6 º 37`21.04" E. )

...The road that one takes to get there from Bitburg, is road B257 out of Bitburg, also called Bitburg Strasse. Go North-East until you get to Steinborn, and then take the second turn off to the left, named "Hauptstrasse". Go straight and "Hauptstrasse" will turn to the right, but you should go straight onto the road named "Bergstrasse" Stay on "Bergstrasse", go up the hill and then turn left at the next intersection. "Bergstrasse" continues to the right, and when you turn left you should be on "Auf der Held" as you go up this street, the old Steinborn Missile Site will be on the right and has trees and bushes growing in the old site...

Best Regards, Joseph Snyder

Photo Courtesy of Google Earth