page_title: 39th Air Base Wing
section_title: Strategic Air Command
hierarchical_section_title: 39th Air Base Wing / History / Strategic Air Command
caption_attribution_description: English: Emblem of the USAF 39th Bombardment Wing
context_page_description: The 39th Air Base Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Third Air Force. It is stationed at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. The wing is also the host unit at Incirlik.
  The mission of the 39 ABW is to support and protect United States and NATO assets and people throughout Turkey while providing a full spectrum of capabilities to the warfighter. A non-flying unit, the 39 ABW also supports three geographically separated units.
  Its origins begin with its predecessor, the World War II 39th Bombardment Group which was part of Twentieth Air Force. The 39th Bomb Group's aircraft engaged in very heavy bombardment B-29 Superfortress operations against Japan. Its aircraft were identified by a solid black square painted on the tail with an "P" inside. Active for over 40 years, the 39th Bombardment Wing was a component wing of Strategic Air Command's deterrent force during the Cold War.
  The 39th Air Base Wing is commanded by Colonel Davis S. Eaglin. Its Command Chief Master Sergeant is Chief Master Sergeant Thomas C. Daniels.
context_section_description: 4135th Strategic Wing
  The origins of the 39th Bombardment Wing began on 1 December 1958 when Strategic Air Command established the 4135th Strategic Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida and assigned it to Second Air Force as part of SAC's plan to disperse its Boeing B-52 Stratofortress heavy bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for the Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike. On 1 January 1959 the wing was reassigned to the 822d Air Division. The wing remained a headquarters only until 1 April 1959 when three maintenance squadrons and a squadron to provide security of the wing's special weapons were activated and assigned to the wing. It became fully organized in July, when the 301st Bombardment Squadron (BS), consisting of 15 Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses moved to Eglin from Ramey AFB, Puerto Rico where it had been one of the three squadrons of the 72d Bombardment Wing and the 54th Aviation Depot Squadron was activated to oversee the wing's special weapons. Starting in 1960, one third of the squadron's aircraft were maintained on fifteen-minute alert, fully fueled and ready for combat to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet missile strike.  This was increased to half the squadron's aircraft in 1962. The 4135th (and later the 39th) continued to maintain an alert commitment until inactivated.    In addition, the wing conduct final testing of the GAM-77 Hound Dog and the GAM-72 Quail air-launched cruise missiles from its B-52s as part of the testing program carried out by the Armament Division of Air Force Systems Command.  The first launch of a Hound Dog by SAC was made by a wing crew on 29 February 1960 and the first Quail launch a few months later, on 8 June. In 1962 the 4135th Airborne Missile Maintenance Squadron was activated in November 1962 to maintain these missiles.
  39th Bombardment Wing
  However, SAC Strategic Wings could not carry a permanent history or lineage and SAC looked for a way to make its Strategic Wings permanent.  In 1962, in order to perpetuate the lineage of many currently inactive bombardment units with illustrious World War II records, Headquarters SAC received authority from Headquarters USAF to discontinue its Major Command controlled (MAJCON) strategic wings that were equipped with combat aircraft and to activate Air Force controlled (AFCON) units, most of which were inactive at the time which could carry a lineage and history.
  As a result, the 4135th SW was replaced by the newly constituted 39th Bombardment Wing, Heavy (39th BW), which assumed its mission, personnel, and equipment on 1 February 1963. In the same way the 62d Bombardment Squadron, one of the unit's World War II historical bomb squadrons, replaced the 301st BS. The 54th Munitions Maintenance Squadron was also reassigned to the 39th. The 4135th's component maintenance and security units were replaced by units with the 39th designation of the newly established wing. Under the Dual Deputate organization, all flying and maintenance squadrons were directly assigned to the wing, so no operational group element was activated. Each of the new units assumed the personnel, equipment, and mission of its predecessor.
  The 39th BW trained to maintain combat readiness for strategic bombardment on global scale, maintaining airborne alert, ground alert, and participated in numerous exercises. On 25 June 1965 The growing United States commitment to the Vietnam War meant funds were also needed to cover the costs of combat operations in Indochina and the 39th Bombardment Wing was inactivated on 25 June 1965. The wing's 62d BS was reassigned to the 2d Bombardment Wing at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana to support SAC Arc Light combat operations over Southeast Asia but its other components were discontinued.   SAC's place at Eglin was taken by Tactical Air Command, which organized the 33d Tactical Fighter Wing, which took over the SAC facilities at the base.
caption: 39th Bombardment Wing Patch
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