44th Missile Wing

44th Missile Wing
LGM-30F Minuteman II test launch at Vandenberg AFB, California
Active1941–1994
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
TypeWing
RoleIntercontinental ballistic missile
Part ofStrategic Air Command
Garrison/HQEllsworth 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.