Editing Eielson Air Force Base (section)

==History==

===World War II===
[[File:25milefield1945.jpg|thumb|Mile 26 Satellite Field (now Eielson AFB), 1945|alt=Mile 26 Satellite Field, now Eielson AFB in 1945|left]]

On 7 June 1943, the [[Western Defense Command]] ordered construction of a new airfield near present-day [[Fort Wainwright]], then a [[United States Army Air Forces]] (USAAF) airfield named after Major [[Arthur K. Ladd]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/ak0068/|access-date=24 January 2020|title=Ladd Field, Fort Wainwright, Fairbanks, Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK|website=[[Library of Congress]] |archive-date=24 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200124211454/https://www.loc.gov/item/ak0068/|url-status=live}}</ref> Because of its hazard-free approaches and relatively flat terrain, surveyor reports indicated a site a little more than 25 miles southeast of [[Ladd Army Airfield]] to be the best in the vicinity for military aviation. The field became known as "Mile 26" because of its proximity to a [[United States Army Signal Corps]] telegraph station and a [[Richardson Highway]] milepost marker using the same designation.

A month later, contractors and civilian crews from Ladd Field started laying out the new airfield. Actual construction began on 25 August 1943. Crews built two parallel runways, {{convert|165|ft|m}} across and {{convert|6625|ft|m}} long. Other facilities included an operations building, housing for 108 officer and 330 enlisted personnel, and a ten-bed dispensary. The garrison and airfield totaled about {{convert|600|acre|km2}}. Completed on 17 October 1944, the 14-month project cost about eight-million dollars.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.themilitarystandard.com/afb/ak/eielson.php|access-date=24 January 2020|title=Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska|archive-date=14 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814063801/http://www.themilitarystandard.com/afb/ak/eielson.php|url-status=live}}</ref>

Operational uses of Mile 26 were few. Ladd Field served as the debarkation point for the [[ALSIB|Alaska-Siberia Ferry Route]] of the [[Lend-Lease]] program and was the hub of activity. Lend-lease aircraft would occasionally land at Mile 26, but there are no records indicating any lend-lease aircraft used the airfield to depart for the [[Soviet Union]]. Mile 26 closed when the war ended.

===Cold War===
The base reopened in September 1946, once again as a satellite of Ladd Field. The first USAAF operational unit assigned to Eielson was the [[57th Wing|57th Fighter Group]], equipped successively with [[P-38 Lightning]]s, [[P-51 Mustang|P/F-51 Mustangs]], [[P-80 Shooting Star|F-80 Shooting Stars]], and [[F-94 Starfire]] aircraft. The 57th FG was inactivated on 13 April 1953.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanairmuseum.com/unit/4092|access-date=24 January 2020|title=57th Fighter Group|archive-date=24 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200124211127/http://www.americanairmuseum.com/unit/4092|url-status=live}}</ref> On 1 December 1947 [[Strategic Air Command]] [[B-29 Superfortress]] bombers arrived at '''Mile 26 Field''' with the deployment of the [[97th Air Mobility Wing|97th Bombardment Wing, Very Heavy]], from [[Salina Regional Airport|Smoky Hill Air Force Base]], [[Kansas]]. The wing reported to [[Fifteenth Air Force]], [[Strategic Air Command]] (SAC), although the Yukon Sector of the [[Alaskan Air Command]] controlled its operations. At the end of the Alaskan deployment the wing returned to Kansas on 12 March 1948.

A year later Eielson moved from under the shadow of Ladd Field when the Alaskan Air Command assumed organizational control. Also in the fall of 1947, Colonel Jerome B. McCauley assumed duties as commander. The primary missions of Mile 26 were to support Arctic training for USAF tactical and strategic units, as well as defend the base itself.

Headquarters USAF General Order 2, dated 13 January 1948, redesignated Mile 26 as Eielson Air Force Base. It was named for [[Carl Ben Eielson]], an Alaska aviation pioneer who was killed, along with his mechanic Earl Borland, in the crash of their [[Hamilton H-47|Hamilton H-45]] aircraft in 1929. Eielson and Borland were attempting a rescue flight to an icebound ship in the [[Bering Sea]] when they were killed. On 1 April 1948, the Eielson Air Force Base Wing (Base Complement) was formed. The host-unit subsequently would be dubbed the Eielson Air force Base Bomb Wing, and finally, in January 1949, the [[5010th Combat Support Group|5010th Wing]]. Colonel John L. Nedwed, the third commander of the base since it fell under Alaskan Air Command fifteen months before, became the first to head the 5010th.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nhwallofhonor.com/pages/textmcdanieledwinarthur1948.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809023145/https://nhwallofhonor.com/pages/textmcdanieledwinarthur1948.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 August 2022|access-date=4 January 2020|title=Edwin Arthur McDaniel}}</ref>

[[File:120124-F-KS512-001.jpg|thumb|Ptarmigan Hall in 1962, later renamed to Amber Hall|alt=Ptarmigan Hall in 1962, Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska|left]]

For the next 34 years, the 5010th (alternately known as the Wing, Composite Wing, Air Base Wing, and lastly, Combat Support Group) served as host-unit at Eielson. Construction boomed at Eielson during the 1950s. Many of the facilities used today were built at that time, including Amber Hall, the Thunderdome, [[Base Exchange]], Gymnasium, Theater, some of the schools, and many of the dormitories.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.themilitarystandard.com/afb/ak/eielson.php|access-date=25 January 2020|title=Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska|archive-date=14 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814063801/http://www.themilitarystandard.com/afb/ak/eielson.php|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.eielson.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/382601/amber-halls-past-provides-answers-for-the-future/|access-date=12 August 2021|title=Amber Hall's past provides answers for the future|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812222132/https://www.eielson.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/382601/amber-halls-past-provides-answers-for-the-future/|archive-date=12 August 2021}}</ref>

[[File:Eielson AFB.jpg|thumb|The flight line and Thunderdome hangar building at Eielson|alt=The flight line and Thunderdome hangar building at Eielson Air Force Base]]

The [[720th Bombardment Squadron|720th Fighter-Bomber Squadron]], equipped with [[F-86 Sabre]]s, was deployed to Eielson during 1954–55. The 720th was a part of the [[450th Bombardment Wing|450th Fighter-Bomber Wing]] stationed at [[Foster Air Force Base]], [[Texas]]. The 720th was replaced by the [[455th Flying Training Squadron|455th Fighter-Bomber Squadron]] (323d FBW), stationed at [[Grissom Air Reserve Base|Bunker Hill Air Force Base]], Indiana.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnic.navy.mil/Regions/cnrse/installations/nas_pensacola/about/tenant_commands/air_force/455_FTS/|access-date=26 January 2020|title=455 Flying Training Squadron|archive-date=26 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126135432/https://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/cnrse/installations/nas_pensacola/about/tenant_commands/air_force/455_FTS.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Air Defense Command]] deployed interceptors to Eielson during the 1960s. Det. 3, [[317th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron]] from Elmendorf Air Force Base deployed [[F-102 Delta Dagger]]s and [[F-106 Delta Dart]]s to the base between 1960 and 1969.

During the height of the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] of October 1962, Eielson-based [[Lockheed U-2]] pilot Charles Maultsby was allegedly blinded by the [[Aurora|aurora borealis]] while collecting radiation from Soviet nuclear weapons tests over the [[North Pole]] and accidentally strayed {{convert|300|mi|km}} into Soviet airspace, into [[Chukotka Autonomous Okrug|Chukotka]]. Soviet [[Mikoyan|MiG]] interceptors were sent to intercept the plane before he was escorted back to U.S. territory by nuclear-armed F-102 interceptors.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dobbs|first=Michael|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/608213334|title=One minute to midnight : Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the brink of nuclear war|date=2008|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|isbn=978-0-307-26936-2|edition=1st |location=New York|oclc=608213334}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-07-03|title=Key Issues: Nuclear Weapons: Issues: Accidents: 20 Mishaps that Might Have Caused Nuclear War|url=http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/issues/accidents/20-mishaps-maybe-caused-nuclear-war.htm|access-date=2021-09-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703203219/http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/issues/accidents/20-mishaps-maybe-caused-nuclear-war.htm|archive-date=3 July 2020}}</ref>
 
The [[Cold War]] saw the use of Eielson's expansive reservation as a maneuver area for the [[U.S. Army]]. The 1960s [[171st Infantry Brigade (United States)|171st Infantry Brigade]] (Separate) and [[172nd Infantry Brigade (United States)|172nd Infantry Brigade]] (Separate) both trained here, both on a regular and extensive basis, not to mention units of the [[Alaska National Guard]]. Later in the 70s mid 80s the 172nd Infantry Brigade (the 171st Infantry Brigade was inactivated on 13 November 1972), followed by the 6th Infantry Division when the 172nd Infantry Brigade itself was deactivated on 15 April 1986 (it was reactivated in Alaska on 17 April 1998, and inactivated in Iraq on 14 December 2006)

Today the [[1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (United States)|1st Brigade 25th Infantry Division]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.eielson.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/383784/combat-forces-integration/|access-date=25 January 2020|title=Combat Forces Integration|archive-date=25 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125110354/https://www.eielson.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/383784/combat-forces-integration/|url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[25th Infantry Division (United States)|4th Brigade 25th Infantry Division]] can be found training there.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.eielson.af.mil/News/Photos/igphoto/2001075411/|access-date=25 January 2020|title=High in the sky}}</ref> Several important large scale winter field problems have been conducted here over the years as well, seeing large numbers of U.S. Army ground combat units from the [[Contiguous United States]] lower 48 states, [[United States Marine Corps|U.S. Marine Corps]] units, and [[Canadian Armed Forces]] troops.

'''375th/58th Strategic Weather Squadron'''
{{Main|58th Strategic Weather Squadron}}
The 375th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, from the [[308th Bombardment Group]] at [[Tinker Air Force Base]], [[Oklahoma]], arrived at Eielson on 5 March 1949. The 308th flew [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress variants#WB-29|WB-29 Superfortresses]]. The unit was redesignated the 58th Strategic Weather Squadron on 21 February 1951 as part of the [[303d Aeronautical Systems Wing|303d Bombardment Wing]] at [[Davis-Monthan Air Force Base]], [[Arizona]].

The 58th Weather Squadron remained at Eielson until 8 August 1958.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ww35.usafunithistory.com/PDF/50-74/58%20WEATHER%20RECONNAISSANCE%20SQ.pdf|access-date=25 January 2020|title=58th WEATHER RECONNAISSANCE SQUADRON|archive-date=28 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210828193824/http://ww35.usafunithistory.com/PDF/50-74/58%20WEATHER%20RECONNAISSANCE%20SQ.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

'''6th Strategic Wing'''
{{Main|6th Strategic Wing}}
[[File:Rc-135eielson.jpg|thumb|A SAC [[RC-135]] Recon Aircraft of the 6th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing|alt=|left]]

In July 1960, the [[Strategic Air Command]] (SAC) stationed the [[4157th Strategic Wing|4157th Combat Support Group (later Strategic Wing)]] at Eielson. The '''[[6th Strategic Wing]]''' (6 SW) replaced the 4157 SW on 25 March 1967, relocating from [[Walker Air Force Base]], [[New Mexico]] after its closure.

The 6th SW flew [[Boeing RC-135|RC–135]] strategic reconnaissance missions with an assigned squadron, and, with [[Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker|KC–135 Stratotankers]] deployed to Eielson from SAC, [[Air Force Reserve Command]] (AFRC), and the [[Air National Guard]] (ANG), conducted Alaska [[Tanker Task Force]] (ATTF) missions to support reconnaissance and numerous exercises for the USAF and [[U.S. Navy]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dafhistory.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/434138/6-air-refueling-wing-amc|access-date=26 January 2020|title=6 Air Mobility Wing (AMC)|archive-date=26 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126094151/https://www.afhra.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/434138/6-air-mobility-wing-amc/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The 6th SW remained at Eielson AFB until 1992.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rc135.com/0001/INDEX044.HTM|access-date=24 January 2020|title=History of The 6th|archive-date=15 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200915172424/http://www.rc135.com/0001/INDEX044.HTM|url-status=live}}</ref>

'''343d Composite Wing'''
{{Main|343d Composite Wing}}
A new chapter for the base began 1 October 1981 when the [[343d Wing|343d Composite Wing]] replaced the 5010th as Eielson's host unit. Flying squadrons assigned to the new wing included the [[25th Air Support Operations Squadron|25th Tactical Air Support Squadron]] (TASS) and the [[18th Aggressor Squadron|18th Fighter Squadron]] (18 FS). The 25 TASS, at Eielson since 1971, flew [[O-2 Skymaster]] and [[OV-10 Bronco]] aircraft until its inactivation in 1989; the newly assigned 18 FS operated [[A-10 Thunderbolt II]]s until it converted to [[F-16 Fighting Falcon]]s in 1991.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.f-16.net/units_article197.html|access-date=24 January 2020|title=18th Aggressor Squadron (USAF PACAF)|archive-date=24 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200124212556/http://www.f-16.net/units_article197.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1984, the 343d Composite Wing was redesignated a Tactical Fighter Wing. Seven years later, in 1991, it was redesignated as the 343d Wing. Also that year, the 343d gained a second flying unit, the 11th Tactical Air Support Squadron (11 TASS), which flew [[Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II#Variants|OA-10]] aircraft.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.eielson.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/384093/arctic-hawgs-take-final-flight/|access-date=24 January 2020|title=Arctic Hawgs take final flight|archive-date=24 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200124212043/https://www.eielson.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/384093/arctic-hawgs-take-final-flight/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===354th Fighter Wing===
{{Main|354th Fighter Wing}}

{{See also|354th Operations Group}}

[[File:354th-fw-headquarters-eielson.jpg|thumb|354th Fighter Wing Headquarters building|alt=|left]]

On 20 August 1993, the 354 FW replaced the 343d Wing. No personnel or equipment were affected by the change. Prior to its shutdown, the 343d was the oldest surviving air combat unit in Alaska with a lineage dating back to the [[Aleutian Islands campaign|Aleutian Campaign]]. The 18 FS, whose history also dated back to [[World War II]], remained active, but the 355 FS replaced the 11th TASS.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.themilitarystandard.com/afb/ak/eielson.php|access-date=26 January 2020|title=Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska|archive-date=14 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814063801/http://www.themilitarystandard.com/afb/ak/eielson.php|url-status=live}}</ref>

Another change involved the 3rd Fighter Training Squadron, which was replaced by the 353rd Fighter Squadron (later redesignated as a Combat Training Squadron).

Within the first year of its arrival the 354 FW hosted an Arctic [[combat search and rescue]] exercise between the United States, Canada, and Russia. Ironically, these were the same countries that took part in the search and recovery efforts that followed the fatal crash of Carl Ben Eielson and his mechanic, Earl Borland, in 1930 as they were attempting to fly relief supplies to the ''[[Nanuk (ship)|Nanuk]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.alaska.edu/uajourney/notable-people/fairbanks/carl-ben-eielson/|access-date=25 January 2020|title=The following story was reprinted from the June 30, 1930 edition of Farthest North Collegian.|archive-date=25 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125095843/https://www.alaska.edu/uajourney/notable-people/fairbanks/carl-ben-eielson/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The 343d FW [[3d Flying Training Squadron|3d Fighter Training Squadron]] was replaced by the 353d Fighter Training Squadron from the 354th FW. The 3d Fighter Training Squadron had its origins with the 3d Tactical Fighter Squadron at [[Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base]], Thailand, being formed in March 1973. The 3d TFS received its [[LTV A-7 Corsair II|A-7D Corsair II]] aircraft from the then deployed 353d Tactical Fighter Squadron of the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing, deployed to Korat from [[Myrtle Beach Air Force Base]], [[South Carolina]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://airandspace.si.edu/support/wall-of-honor/robert-g-hedgepeth|access-date=4 January 2020|title=Robert G. Hedgepeth|archive-date=26 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126095812/https://airandspace.si.edu/support/wall-of-honor/robert-g-hedgepeth|url-status=live}}</ref>