page_title: 810th Strategic Aerospace Division
section_title: Minot Air Force Base
hierarchical_section_title: 810th Strategic Aerospace Division / History / Minot Air Force Base
caption_attribution_description: English: Air Force officers speaking at the 1961 commissioning of the missile base near Holton, KS. This base is now the site of Jackson Heights High School. The structure that held the missile is now the garage for the school's buses.
context_page_description: The 810th Strategic Aerospace Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Strategic Air Command, assigned to Fifteenth Air Force at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, where it was inactivated on 30 June 1971.
  The division was first activated in 1952 to manage Biggs Air Force Base, Texas and to command the two SAC bombardment wings stationed there. From 1954 to 1956 it also commanded a reconnaissance squadron that operated from bases in Japan and the United Kingdom. When SAC began to disperse its heavy bomber force in the late 1950s, one of the wings at Biggs moved to Arkansas, and, the other wing moved two of its operational squadrons to bases in Texas and Georgia. The division assumed command of the dispersed strategic wing at Amarillo Air Force Base, Texas and transferred management of Biggs to the remaining wing there.
  In 1962, SAC assumed control of bases in the northern United States from Air Defense Command and the division moved to Minot, where it took command of three strategic wings. Later that year it added a Minuteman missile wing and was redesignated the 810th Strategic Aerospace Division.
context_section_description: On 1 July 1962, SAC assumed host responsibility at Minot Air Force Base from Air Defense Command (ADC) and the division moved to Minot from Biggs.  On arrival at Minot, it assumed operational control of three dispersed strategic wings equipped with B-52s and Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers at northern tier bases that SAC had taken over from ADC,  the 4136th at Minot, the 4141st at Glasgow Air Force Base, Montana and the 4133d at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota.
  Soon after detection of Soviet missiles in Cuba, each of the division's wings was directed to put two additional planes on alert.  Two days later 1/8 of the division' B-52s were placed on airborne alert.  Additional KC-135 were placed on alert to replace KC-135s devoted to maintaining the B-52 bomber force on airborne alert.  On the 24th, SAC went to DEFCON 2, placing all aircraft on alert.  Tanker Task Forces in Spain, Alaska, and the Northeast were increased in size and some division tankers moved and were placed under their operational control.
  SAC maintained the increased airborne alert until 21 November, when it returned to normal airborne alert posture and assumed DEFCON 3.   On 27 November SAC returned to normal ground alert posture.
  In November, in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a second wing was organized at Minot, the 455th Strategic Missile Wing, equipped with the LGM-30A Minuteman I.  In anticipation of the second wing at Minot, the division was assigned the 862d Combat Support Group and host base responsibility for Minot.  However, the wing was not operationally ready and did not participate in the SAC response to the crisis.  SAC units with responsibility for both aircraft and missiles at this time included the term "aerospace" in their names and the 810th was redesignated as a Strategic Aerospace Division.
  The division's three strategic wings were Major Command controlled (MAJCON) units that could not carry a permanent history or lineage. SAC received authority from Headquarters USAF to discontinue them and activate Air Force controlled (AFCON) units to replace them without altering their missions.  On 1 February 1963, the 450th Bombardment Wing replaced the 4136th at Minot, the 91st Bombardment Wing replaced the 4141st at Glasgow and the 319th Bombardment Wing replaced the 4133d at Grand Forks.
  During the 1960s, various shifts in SAC's division alignment resulted in wings not stationed at Minot being assigned to and reassigned from the wing.  The division briefly  commanded two wings equipped with SM-65 Atlas missiles between 1964 and 1966.  These wings also returned the B-47 to the division's equipment, the 98th Strategic Aerospace Wing in the bomber role, and the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing in reconnaissance and ferret roles.
  Between 1966 and 1973, the 810th's subordinate organizations loaned KC-135 Stratotanker and B-52 Stratofortress aircraft and crews, at various times, to Strategic Air command organizations flying Operation Arc Light combat missions in Southeast Asia.
  In the spring of 1968, some division aircraft and crews deployed to Okinawa in response to the Pueblo Incident, when the USS Pueblo, a United States Navy vessel, was seized on the high seas by the armed forces of the People's Republic of Korea (North Korea).  In the summer of that year, as SAC reduced its B-52 forces as directed by Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, it inactivated its wings at Glasgow and at Travis Air Force Base, California.  SAC decided to preserve the histories of these wings, and did so by moving both to Minot on paper.  Travis' 5th Bombardment Wing replaced the 450th wing, while Glasgow's 91st Bombardment Wing became the 91st Strategic Missile Wing and replaced the 455th wing.  Neither Minot wing changed its mission or capability as a result of these moves.
  The 810th also periodically participated in tactical exercises.  It was inactivated in 1971, when SAC realigned its divisions to provide different headquarters for its missile and bomber forces.  The 5th Bombardment Wing was transferred to the 47th Air Division,  while the 91st
caption: Dedication of 55th Strat Recon Wing Atlas missile site
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