91st Missile Wing

91st Missile Wing

Coordinates: 48°24′57″N 101°21′29″W / 48.41583°N 101.35806°W / 48.41583; -101.35806 (Minot AFB)

The 91st Missile Wing (91 MW) is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Force Global Strike Command Twentieth Air Force. It is stationed at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota as a tenant unit.

The 91 MW is one of the Air Force's three intercontinental ballistic missile wings. The missile wing, whose members are known as the Rough Riders, is responsible for defending the United States by maintaining a fleet of 150 Minuteman III missiles and 15 Launch Control Centers located in underground facilities scattered across the northwest part of the state. The wing's missile complex stretches over 8,500 square miles—approximately the same size as Massachusetts.

The wing's on-alert missiles remain under the operational control of the nation's strategic war-fighting command, U.S. Strategic Command, based at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.

The World War II 91st Bombardment Group (Heavy) was an Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress unit formed at MacDill Field, Florida and subsequently assigned to England. It was one of the first USAAF heavy bomb groups deployed to Europe in 1942. The 91st Bomb Group was stationed at RAF Bassingbourn and is most noted as the unit in which the bomber Memphis Belle flew, and for having suffered the greatest number of losses of any heavy bomb group in World War II.

Later, as part of Strategic Air Command, the 91st was one of SAC's longest-lasting and most versatile wings. It was a strategic reconnaissance wing (1948–1957) and a B-52 bomb wing (1963–1968). Its men flew virtually every plane in the SAC inventory. It became a missile wing in June 1968. On 1 July 2008 it was designated as the 91st Missile Wing.

The 91st Missile Wing is commanded by Colonel Robert J. Vercher. Its Command Chief Master Sergeant is Chief Master Sergeant Paul D. Tranetzke.