Recent from talks
Eielson Air Force Base
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Eielson Air Force Base
Eielson Air Force Base (IATA: EIL, ICAO: PAEI, FAA LID: EIL) is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located approximately 26 miles (42 km) southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska, and just southeast of Moose Creek, Alaska. It was established in 1943 as Mile 26 Satellite Field and redesignated Eielson Air Force Base on 13 January 1948. It has been a Superfund site since 1989. Eielson AFB was named in honor of polar pilot Carl Ben Eielson.
Its host unit is the 354th Fighter Wing (354 FW) assigned to the Eleventh Air Force of the Pacific Air Forces. The 354 FW's primary mission is to support RED FLAG-Alaska, a series of Pacific Air Forces commander–directed field training exercises for U.S. Forces, joint offensive counter-air, interdiction, close-air support, and large force employment training in a simulated combat environment. These exercises are conducted on the Joint Pacific Alaskan Range Complex (JPARC) with air operations flown out of Eielson and its sister installation, Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson (the former Elmendorf Air Force Base).
Eielson projects to have 54 Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II combat aircraft assigned to the installation, of which the first two aircraft arrived on 21 April 2020. The last of the aircraft arrived in April 2022. The planes come with an estimated 3,500 personnel, to include airmen and their families as well as civilian personnel. The F-35 program increases the number of military personnel at Eielson by approximately 50%, which is a significant change for a base once on the brink of closure.
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. 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, 165 feet (50 m) across and 6,625 feet (2,019 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 600 acres (2.4 km2). Completed on 17 October 1944, the 14-month project cost about eight-million dollars.
Operational uses of Mile 26 were few. Ladd Field served as the debarkation point for the 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.
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 Fighter Group, equipped successively with P-38 Lightnings, P/F-51 Mustangs, F-80 Shooting Stars, and F-94 Starfire aircraft. The 57th FG was inactivated on 13 April 1953. On 1 December 1947 Strategic Air Command B-29 Superfortress bombers arrived at Mile 26 Field with the deployment of the 97th Bombardment Wing, Very Heavy, from 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.
Hub AI
Eielson Air Force Base AI simulator
(@Eielson Air Force Base_simulator)
Eielson Air Force Base
Eielson Air Force Base (IATA: EIL, ICAO: PAEI, FAA LID: EIL) is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located approximately 26 miles (42 km) southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska, and just southeast of Moose Creek, Alaska. It was established in 1943 as Mile 26 Satellite Field and redesignated Eielson Air Force Base on 13 January 1948. It has been a Superfund site since 1989. Eielson AFB was named in honor of polar pilot Carl Ben Eielson.
Its host unit is the 354th Fighter Wing (354 FW) assigned to the Eleventh Air Force of the Pacific Air Forces. The 354 FW's primary mission is to support RED FLAG-Alaska, a series of Pacific Air Forces commander–directed field training exercises for U.S. Forces, joint offensive counter-air, interdiction, close-air support, and large force employment training in a simulated combat environment. These exercises are conducted on the Joint Pacific Alaskan Range Complex (JPARC) with air operations flown out of Eielson and its sister installation, Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson (the former Elmendorf Air Force Base).
Eielson projects to have 54 Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II combat aircraft assigned to the installation, of which the first two aircraft arrived on 21 April 2020. The last of the aircraft arrived in April 2022. The planes come with an estimated 3,500 personnel, to include airmen and their families as well as civilian personnel. The F-35 program increases the number of military personnel at Eielson by approximately 50%, which is a significant change for a base once on the brink of closure.
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. 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, 165 feet (50 m) across and 6,625 feet (2,019 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 600 acres (2.4 km2). Completed on 17 October 1944, the 14-month project cost about eight-million dollars.
Operational uses of Mile 26 were few. Ladd Field served as the debarkation point for the 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.
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 Fighter Group, equipped successively with P-38 Lightnings, P/F-51 Mustangs, F-80 Shooting Stars, and F-94 Starfire aircraft. The 57th FG was inactivated on 13 April 1953. On 1 December 1947 Strategic Air Command B-29 Superfortress bombers arrived at Mile 26 Field with the deployment of the 97th Bombardment Wing, Very Heavy, from 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.
Recent media