With the departure of the 97th Bomb Wing, the Eielson Air Force Base Wing (Base Complement) was formed on April 1, 1948. On April 20, 1948, it was designated the 5010th Air Base Wing, and would be the host unit at the base until 1964.
The wing accommodated numerous SAC units on temporary deployment to Eielson, playing host to B-29s, B-36s and finally B-47s. In fact, the largest hangar on Eielson today, now used for the Air Force's Cope Thunder exercises, was originally built to house two B-36 "Peacekeeper" bombers, the largest bomber ever in Air Force inventory.
Construction boomed at Eielson AFB during the wing's tenure in the 1950s. Many of the facilities still in use today were built at that time - Amber Hall, Thunderdome, Base Exchange, Commissary, Gymnasium, Theater, Base Chapel, some of the schools and many of the dormitories, just to name a few.
Read more about 5010th Air Base Wing: Lineage
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Lo! it rushes thee to meet;
And all that Nature made thy own,
Floating in air or pent in stone,
Will rive the hills and swim the sea,
And, like thy shadow, follow thee.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak, for him have I offended. Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any, speak, for him have I offended. Who is here so vile that will not love his country? If any, speak, for him have I offended.”
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