91st Missile Wing

Minot AFB, North Dakota, the third Minuteman wing (Wing III), placed the first missile on alert on 26 October 1962.  Activated originally in November 1962 as the 455th  Strategic Missile Wing (SMW).

Lineage - 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing activated 10 Nov 1948. Inactivated Nov 1957. Redesignated as 91st Bomb Wing  Feb 1963, in June 1968 the 91st Bomb Wing at Glasgow AFB, Montanan closed and the designation moved to  the 91 SMW, replacing the original 455 SMW designation at Minot. Redesignated 91st Missile Wing (MW) 1 Sep 1991, 91st  Missile Group (MG) in 1994, when the Chief of Staff of the Air Force directed that there would only be one wing per base, as the 91st Space Wing (SW) on 1 Oct 1997 and 91 MW on 1 Jul 2008.  One of the three ICBM wings that continues to have Minuteman III missiles on alert day to day.

Operations Squadrons

740st Strategic Missile Squadron (SMS) activated on 1 Dec 1961, became the 740th  Missile Squadron (MS) on 1 Sep 1991.

741st SMS activated on 1 Mar 1962, became 741st MS on 1 Sep 1991.

742nd SMS activated 1 May 1962, bcame 742nd MS on 1 Sep 1991.

The squadron each originally had 50 Minuteman IB LGM30B missiles.  In 1970 and 1971, the three squadrons were converted to the Minuteman III LGM-30G missiles. The first flight of Minuteman IB missiles of was turned over to the contractor on 12 January 1970 and the conversion was completed on 13 December 1971.

In the mid-1990s, the launch control centers were modified with REACT (Rapid Execution and Combat Targeting), changing the LCC configuration, consoles, displays and operating procedures for Minuteman.