Editing Beale Air Force Base (section)

===100th Air Refueling Wing===
At Beale, the 17th continued global strategic bombardment alert to 30 June 1976 when it was inactivated as part of the phaseout of the B-52 at Beale. The wing's KC-135 tanker aircraft were subsequently reassigned to the [[100th Air Refueling Wing]], which SAC moved to Beale from Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, as part of SAC's phaseout from Davis-Monthan. The mission of the 100th ARW was primarily to refuel SR-71s of the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing. Concurrent with this action the 100th's U-2 aircraft at Davis-Monthan would merge with the 9 SRW and its SR-71 operations at Beale. The first U-2 arrived from Davis-Monthan on 12 July 1976, and until 26 January 1990, when budget restrictions forced the retirement of the SR-71, Beale was the home of two of the world's most unusual aircraft.

On 1 October 1971, the 1883d Communications Squadron, reassigned from [[Kincheloe Air Force Base]] in [[Michigan]], arrived at Beale AFB, remaining under the command of the Strategic Communications Area.{{sfn|Miller|1990|page=383}}

The 100 ARW remained at Beale until 15 March 1983 when its assets were absorbed by the senior [[9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing]], which became a composite wing under the one-base, one-wing concept.<ref>[http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=9859 100th Air Refueling Wing at AFHRA] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110507070731/http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=9859 |date=7 May 2011 }}</ref>