page_title: Barksdale Air Force Base
section_title: 301st Bombardment Wing
hierarchical_section_title: Barksdale Air Force Base / History / Cold War / 301st Bombardment Wing
caption_attribution_description: 53-2135 Boeing EB-47E Stratojet in markings of the 376th Bombardment Wing
context_page_description: Barksdale Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base in northwest Louisiana, United States, in Bossier Parish. It is contiguous to Bossier City, Louisiana along the base's western and northwestern edge. Barksdale Air Force Base occupies more than 22,000 acres east of Bossier City and along the southern edge of Interstate 20. More than 15,000 active-duty and Air Force Reserve members serve at Barksdale.
  The host unit at Barksdale is the 2d Bomb Wing, the oldest bomb wing in the Air Force. It is assigned to the Air Force Global Strike Command's Eighth Air Force. Equipped with about 44 B-52H Stratofortress bombers, 2 BW provides flexible, responsive global combat capability and trains all Air Force Global Strike Command and Air Force Reserve Command Boeing B-52 Stratofortress crews.
  The base was established in 1932 as Barksdale Field, named for World War I aviator and test pilot Lieutenant Eugene Hoy Barksdale.
context_section_description: The 301st Bombardment Wing joined the 91st SRW at Barksdale on 7 November 1949, being transferred from Smoky Hill AFB, Kansas, where it was reactivated the year before. Both wings operated a joint integrated headquarters although each wing continued tactical operations independently.
  Initially flying the B-29 Superfortress, after arriving at Barksdale the 301st was one of the first units to conduct aerial refueling operations with the KB-29 tanker version of the Superfortress. The wing converted to the Boeing B-47 Stratojet Stratojet in 1953 and traded in its KB-29 tankers for the upgraded Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter.
  The mission of the 301st was to train for strategic bombing missions and to conduct aerial refueling. The wing deployed to England in 1953 and to French Morocco in 1954.
  It was reassigned to Lockbourne AFB, Ohio on 15 April 1958 where it became an Electronic Countermeasures (ECM) unit and was engaged in various clandestine intelligence missions.
  To provide air defense of the base, United States Army established the Barksdale Defense Area in 1959 and constructed Nike Hercules surface-to-air missile sites for air defense. Sites were located near Bellevue (N.E. of Shreveport) (BD-10) 32°40′28″N 093°30′34″W, and Stonewall (BD-50) 32°17′39″N 093°47′17″W in Louisiana. The unit involved may have been from the 562nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment. They were operational between November 1960 and March 1966 when they were inactivated as part of the reduction of the air defenses in the United States against aircraft.
caption: Boeing EB-47E Stratojet in markings of the 376th Bombardment Wing
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