Minot Air Force Base


Minot Air Force Base is a United States Air Force installation in Ward County, North Dakota, north of the city of Minot via U.S. Route 83. In the 2020 census, the base was counted as a CDP with a total population of 5,017, down from 5,521 in 2010. Minot AFB is the home of two major wings: the 5th Bomb Wing and 91st Missile Wing, both of the Air Force Global Strike Command.
Originally opened in 1957 as an Air Defense Command base, Minot AFB became a major Strategic Air Command base in the early 1960s, with both nuclear armed intercontinental ballistic missiles and manned bombers and aerial refueling aircraft.
When SAC was inactivated in 1992, the nuclear mission of the base was divided between two commands, with missiles going to the Air Force Space Command and manned bombers to the Air Combat Command. With the establishment of AFGSC in 2009, missiles and manned bombers were transferred from AFSPC and ACC to AFGSC in late 2009 and early 2010.

History

Construction of Minot AFB began in May 1956 and it officially opened on January 10, 1957, named for the nearby city of Minot. The base is approximately south of the 49th parallel, the international border with Canada, and the tripoint of North Dakota with the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Air Defense Command

The initial USAF host unit was the Air Defense Command 32d Air Base Group, activating on 8 February 1957.
The ADC 32d Fighter Group was the first operational unit at Minot, with its 433d Fighter-Interceptor squadron. However, no aircraft were assigned to the unit, and January 1958 the 433d FIS was inactivated. It was replaced in February 1960 by the 5th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron , transferred to Minot from Suffolk County AFB on Long Island, New York. The 5th FIS flew the F-106 Delta Dart and later the F-15A Eagle.
A Semi Automatic Ground Environment facility was built and activated in June 1961. The DC-19 SAGE Data Center was housed in a huge, windowless blast-resistant concrete building with a pair of 275-ton AN/FSQ-7 computers which displayed the live air picture to the many scopes of the weapons and air surveillance operations in the various units on the 2nd floor. The computers processed air surveillance information and sent the data to Air Defense Command units. It was the only two-story SAGE blockhouse in ADC. The Minot SAGE facility was deactivated after less than two years of operation, in May 1963, The facility was then renamed the PRIDE Building after ADC's and SAC's alternate motto of the 1960s and 1970s, and became a large office building housing many different organizations.
Renamed Aerospace Defense Command in 1968, ADC F-106 operations continued at Minot until ADC was inactivated in 1979 and replaced by Air Defense Tactical Air Command, a part of Tactical Air Command.

Strategic Air Command

initially had units assigned to Minot AFB in 1958 for air refueling support. The 4136th Strategic Wing was formed 1 September 1958, consisting of the 906th Air Refueling Squadron, followed by the 4136th Combat Defense Squadron that was activated on 1 June 1959. The first SAC KC-135A Stratotanker assigned, nicknamed "Miss Minot," arrived on 23 September 1959 and remained on base until the 906th Air Refueling Squadron was relocated to Grand Forks AFB in northeast North Dakota in January 1994. This aircraft was notable for its tail flash – "The Sun Never Sets on the 906th".
The scope of operations grew as the Air Force transferred the 525th Bombardment Squadron from the 19th Bombardment Wing at Homestead AFB, Florida, on March 8, 1961, followed by the first B-52H Stratofortress on 10 July 1961, nicknamed "Peace Persuader". This was preceded by the activation of the 60th Munitions Maintenance Squadron on 1 December 1960, followed by 4136th Armament & Electronics Maintenance Squadron, 4136th Field Maintenance Squadron, and 4136th Organizational Maintenance Squadron 1 March 1961, with the 4136th Airborne Missile Maintenance Squadron being added in November 1962. Demonstrating the capabilities of the B-52, on 10–11 January 1962 a B-52H from the 4136th Strategic Wing at Minot set a new world distance record, flying unrelieved from Kadena AB, Okinawa to Torrejon AB, Spain.
On 1 February 1963, SAC, as part of a conversion to unit designations with historical significance, activated the 450th Bombardment Wing at Minot and the 720th Bombardment Squadron, along with the formation of the 450th Airborne Missile Maintenance Squadron, 450th Armament & Electronics Maintenance Squadron, 450th Field Maintenance Squadron, and the 450th Organizational Maintenance Squadron simultaneously.
In 1961, the Air Force selected the land around Minot for a new Minuteman I ICBM complex. The 455th Strategic Missile Wing was activated in December 1962 along with the 455th Missile Maintenance Squadron. The 740th and 741st Strategic Missile Squadrons operationally controlled the ICBMs and in January 1963, the 742d Strategic Missile Squadron was activated with a third squadron of Minuteman ICBMS. During the 1970s, the 150 missile sites around the region, from the base, were converted to Minuteman IIIs; a model of the older Minuteman I stands at the Minot AFB main gate.
Command of Minot AFB passed from Air Defense Command to SAC in July 1962 as the base's primary mission changed from air defense to strategic deterrence. The new command unit, the 810th Air Division was organized along with the 862d Combat Support Group as the host unit for the base. Units assigned to the 862d Combat Support Group were the 862d Civil Engineering Squadron, the 862d Combat Defense Squadron, the 862d Food Service Squadron, 862d Operations Squadron, 862d Supply Squadron and 862d Transportation Squadron, The 862d Medical Group was also formed and reported to the Commander, 810th Air Division.
In July 1968, the 450th Bombardment Wing and 455th Strategic Missile Wing were inactivated, being from Travis AFB, California, when jurisdiction of Travis was assumed by the Military Airlift Command and the 91st Strategic Missile Wing from Glasgow AFB, Montana, when it closed. These changes were in line with the Air Force policy of keeping active those units with the most illustrious histories. The 23d Bombardment Squadron assumed operational control of all B-52 aircraft for the 5th Bombardment Wing. Unit Designations Assigned at Minot on June 25, 1968 were the 5th Bombardment Wing and 23rd Bombardment Squadron, 5th Airborne Missile Maintenance Squadron, 5th Armament & Electronics Maintenance Squadron, 5th Field Maintenance Squadron, 5th Organizational Maintenance Squadron & the 5th Munitions Maintenance Squadron. 91st Strategic Missile Wing , 91st Missile Maintenance Squadron.
On July 2, 1969 the 862d Medical Group was renamed the USAF Hospital. Minot, and the 862d Services Squadron was inactivated; its functions were assumed by the 862d Combat Support Group.
The 810th Strategic Aerospace Division was inactivated 30 June 1971, and was replaced by the 5th Bombardment Wing.
The 862d Combat Support Group was inactivated on July 31, 1972, with host unit duties being taken over by the 91st Combat Support Group. Under SAC policy, missile wings were fixed in locations, where aircraft units were considered a mobile and the host units were assigned to the missile wings. Units assigned to the 91st Combat Support Group were the 91st Civil Engineering Squadron, the 91st Security Police Squadron, 91st Communications Squadron, 91st Supply Squadron and 91st Transportation Squadron, The USAF Hospital, MINOT.
The 4th Airborne Command & Control Squadron at Ellsworth AFB, SD maintained two EC-135 Airborne Launch Control Center aircraft on forward deployed alert at MAFB for Airborne Launch Control System coverage of Minuteman ICBM Wings at Malmstrom AFB, MT; Minot AFB, ND; and Grand Forks AFB, ND. The ALCS provided a survivable launch capability for Minuteman ICBMs if their ground-based Launch Control Centers were incapacitated or destroyed.
Late in 1973 a second Alert Parking Ramp was added across runway 29, to the south. The 416th Bombardment Wing, from Griffiss AFB in central New York, maintained two B-52G aircraft with AGM-28B Hound Dog Missiles and two KC-135A aircraft along with two KC-135 Aircraft from the 380th Bombardment Wing at Plattsburgh AFB in northeast New York. On 2 January 1975, the 57th Air Division was activated at MAFB, and on 30 September 1975, the 91st Missile Maintenance Squadron was replaced by the 91st Field Missile Maintenance Squadron, and the 91st Organizational Missile Maintenance Squadron.
Following the Iran hostage crisis of 1979–81, SAC tasked the former 57th Air Division to organize the Strategic Projection Force. The 57th AD became the host unit, providing logistical, security, administrative and other support services to the 5th BMW, 91st SMW and tenant organizations.
In the early 1990s, the base prepared for change as the Air Force directed reorganization, and the 5th Bomb Wing assumed host base responsibilities.

Cold War aircraft incidents

  • A KC-135A tanker from March AFB crashed shortly after takeoff from Minot AFB on 17 January 1968, killing 12 of the 13 on board. Major General Charles M. Eisenhart, vice commander of the Fifteenth Air Force, was at the controls and over-rotated at takeoff in low visibility, inducing a stall. The survivor, a steward, was badly burned and later succumbed. On a staff visit from March AFB, the aircraft was departing for Glasgow AFB, Montana.
  • In the early hours of October 4, 1968, a Minot B-52H was on approach, completing an overnight training mission with six aboard. It lost power to four engines and crashed in a field east, with four fatalities and two survivors. Among the dead was a lieutenant colonel just days from retirement, and the squadron clerk, on his first B-52 orientation ride.
  • A B-52H crashed shortly after a midday takeoff on 21 January 1969 and burst into flames on a farm about west of the runway, killing all six crew members. An incorrect preflight fuel load distribution caused a stall on takeoff after a climb to and it made several pitch gyrations prior to the crash.
  • During a training flight on March 10, 1969, a Minot F-106A crashed into the western portion of Lake Sakakawea, about southwest of the base. The pilot ejected safely to land and the plane sank below the frozen surface. It was not located until over 35 years later, in September 2004, after an extended search by a local surveyors' group.
  • While being refueled on the ramp early on 14 November 1975, a B-52H caught fire and exploded. Two refueling personnel were killed and the aircraft was destroyed.