44th Missile Wing | |
---|---|
Active | 1941–1994 |
Country | United States |
Branch | United States Air Force |
Type | Wing |
Role | Intercontinental ballistic missile |
Part of | Strategic Air Command |
Garrison/HQ | Ellsworth Air Force Base |
Motto(s) | Aggressor Beware |
Decorations | Air Force Outstanding Unit Award |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Howell M. Estes II Leon W. Johnson |
Insignia | |
44th Missile Wing emblem |
The 44th Missile Wing (44 MW) is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Twentieth Air Force, being assigned to Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota. It was inactivated on 4 July 1994.
For over 40 years the 44th was a front-line Strategic Air Command wing, initially as a B-47 Stratojet medium bomber unit in the 1950s. With the phaseout of the B-47, the wing became a LGM-30 Minuteman ICBM unit in the 1960s, being inactivated in 1994 as part of the drawdown of U.S. strategic forces after the end of the Cold War.
During World War II, its predecessor unit, the 44th Bombardment Group was the first B-24 Liberator heavy bombardment group of VIII Bomber Command stationed in England. Colonel Leon W. Johnson, while commander of the 44th Bombardment Group, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Ploesti Raid on 1 August 1943.