| Date | Mid-September to mid-December 1958 |
|---|---|
| Duration | Three months |
| Venue | Loring Air Force Base |
| Location | Limestone, Maine, USA (flights over Greenland and Eastern Canada) |
| Type | Military operation, Cold War program |
| Theme | Airborne alert, Nuclear deterrence |
| Cause | Cold War tensions |
| Motive | To test the feasibility of a continuous airborne alert with nuclear-armed bombers |
| Perpetrator | United States Air Force (Strategic Air Command) |
| Organised by | United States Air Force (Strategic Air Command) |
| Participants | USAF bomber crews, support personnel |
| Outcome | Demonstrated the feasibility of continuous airborne alert, leading to Operation Chrome Dome |
| Experimental program that paved the way for Operation Chrome Dome. Bombers carried live nuclear warheads. | |
Operation Head Start was an experimental program by the United States Air Force during the Cold War where Strategic Air Command bombers were launched from Loring Air Force Base and loitered off of the coast of western Greenland and eastern Canada. It was operational from mid-September to mid-December 1958. It would eventually lead to Operation Chrome Dome, as it was part of a series of programs which showed that a continuous airborne alert could be achieved.[1][2]
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