5010th Air Base Wing

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.