The bomb wing’s origination dates back to Aug. 15, 1919, with the activation of the 2nd Group (Observation) at Luke Field in the territory of Hawaii. Over the years the unit has had a number of name changes, according to Air Force history.

Maj. Gen. James Dawkins Jr., commander of Eighth Air Force and commander of Joint-Global Strike Operations Center at Barksdale AFB, La., was scheduled to be at Minot AFB for the anniversary this week. Dawkins was commander of the 5th Bomb Wing from May 2011-January 2013.

On Saturday several events have been planned at the base in conjunction with the bomb wing’s anniversary including EOD (Explosives Ordnance Detection)/K-9 demonstrations, food kiosks and Huey demonstrations. There will be a dining out later in the day for base personnel as an official event in recognition of the centennial, according to Minot AFB Public Affairs.

One of the oldest units in the Air Force, the 5th Bomb Wing has been at Minot AFB since July 25, 1968, according to Air Force history.

Submitted Photo Robert Sivley, center, a B-52H engineering manager at Boeing Wichita (Kansas) is shown in this photo with military members when the first B-52, “Peace Persuader” was brought to Minot Air Force Base in July 1961. The photo is from The Boeing Company. The 5th Bomb Wing , a unit capable of flying anywhere around the world, is 100 years old today.

The first B-52H, “Peace Persuader,” arrived at Minot AFB a few years earlier on July 16, 1961. Maj. Clyde Evely was commander of the air crew flying that plane.

The plane was brought from the Boeing factory to Minot AFB via Rapid City, S.D. North Dakota Gov. William Guy and Col. Harold A. Radetsky, Minot AFB bomb wing commander, joined the flight in Rapid City and onto Minot AFB.

“We flew very, very low and the pilot explained we wanted to make this flight to Minot a flight training effort at which we do low-level bombing so we flew at a low level,” Guy recalled in an interview with the Minot Daily News. He said an identical bomber was flying high above them so it would not distract from below. “But if we couldn’t land the bomber, it could have fulfilled the obligation of this first bomber at Minot,” Guy said in the interview.

Radetsky, also interviewed by the Minot Daily News several years ago, said “it was a great day” when they brought that first B-52 to Minot AFB. He and the governor were the only other people on the plane with the aircrew. Guy died in 2013. Radetsky died in 2014.

About a year later, in 1962, Evely led a crew setting a record in a Minot AFB B-52 numbered “040 when they flew more than 12,500 miles from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, to Madrid, Spain. The late President John F. Kennedy personally commended the crew after they set around a dozen international air records during their non-stop flight called “Persian Rug.” Evely died in 2010.

The B-52s have undergone extensive modernization over the years.

Men and women of the 5th Bomb Wing and fleet of B-52s deploy worldwide in combat and support operations. As the 5th Bomb Wing and under other prior names the unit’s members have seen action in World War II, Vietnam War and operations including in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Since February 2019, the 5th Bomb Wing has been a unit of Air Force Global Strike Command, the newest major command focusing on the nuclear enterprise with headquarters at Barksdale AFB, La.

The wing’s current leadership includes Col. Bradley Cochran, commander; Col. Brian Vlaun, vice commander; and Chief Master Sgt. Brent Sheehan, command chief.

Recently the 23rd Bomb Squadron, one of two Minot AFB B-52 units, completed a deployment to Andersen AFB in Guam in support of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s continuous bomber presence mission. A new rotation of aircrews, maintenance personnel and aircraft from the 69th Bomb Squadron, also a Minot AFB B-52 unit, replaced the 23rd for the continuous bomber presence mission in Guam.