5010th Combat Support Group

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 Boeing B-29 Superfortresses, Convair B-36 Peacemakers and finally B-47s. In fact, the largest hangar on Eielson today, now used for Exercise Cope Thunder, was originally built to house two B-36 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, the Thunderdome, Base Exchange, Commissary, Gymnasium, Theater, Base Chapel, some of the schools and many of the dormitories, just to name a few.

On 1 October 1981, the 343rd Wing, as the 343d Composite Wing, replaced the 5010th Combat Support Group absorbing its personnel and equipment, as Eielson's host unit.

Lineage

 * Designated Eielson AFB Wing and organized on 20 April 1948
 * Redesignated Eielson Bombardment Wing, 1948
 * Redesignated 5010th Wing, ca. 20 September 1948
 * Redesignated 5010th Composite Wing on 4 June 1949
 * Redesignated 5010th Air Base Wing, ca. 8 October 1954
 * Redesignated 5010th Combat Support Group, 1 January 1965
 * Discontinued ca. 1 October 1981.