On 31 October 1955, the entire wing deployed to Anderson Air Force Base, Guam, remaining there until 26 January 1956, when it returned to Walker.

[1] 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.

[6] On 1 June 1963, a crew of the 579th was conducting a propellant loading exercise when an explosion occurred, destroying the squadron's launch complex 1.

[8] On 19 November 1964, Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara announced Project Added Effort which would phase out that all Atlas-F missiles by the end of June 1965.

[citation needed] Soon after, on 8 December 1965, the Department of Defense announced that Walker would close in connection with the drawdown of older model B-52s.

[17] The wing mission had expanded to include air refueling support for B-52s involved with Operation Chrome Dome operations[18] In 1966 it added a permanently based maintenance squadron was added to the wing to provide maintenance support for deployed aircraft.

[1][note 9] In Alaska, the wing's 24th Squadron flew RC–135 strategic reconnaissance missions and conducted Alaska Tanker Task Force[note 10] missions with deployed KC–135s from SAC, the Air Force Reserve and the Air National Guard.

From April 1968 to July 1972 the wing periodically served as the airborne monitor of the Alaskan Ballistic Missile Early Warning System station at Clear, Alaska.

The wing maintained a detachment at Shemya Air Force Station, in the Aleutian Islands On two occasions, from February through May 1975 and June through September 1976, the wing moved all operations to Shemya when Eielson closed for repair of earthquake damage.

Cullen Award for greatest contributions to SAC's photographic and signal intelligence effortsthree times, in 1973, 1978 and 1983.

[1] On 4 October 1968, exactly 11 years to the day after the launch of Sputnik-1, a wing Rivet Ball aircraft captured the first photographic evidence of a Soviet ICBM test with three multiple reentry vehicles.

On 13 January 1969, RC-135S, serial 59-1491 hydroplaned off the end of Runway 28 at Shemya while attempting to land after an operational mission.

On 15 March 1981, an RC-135 Cobra Ball aircraft, serial 61-2664 departed Eielson for Shemya with 24 people on board.

On 25 February 1985, an RC-135T, serial 55-3121 Rivet Dandy aircraft crashed into a mountainous area near Valdez, Alaska while on a training mission.

[citation needed] The 24th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron moved to Offutt on 7 July 1992, terminating the wing's operational mission and it was inactivated on 1 September 1992.

[1] Following the 1991 Base Realignment and Closure Commission decision to terminate the 56th Fighter Wing's mission at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida by the end of 1993 and relocate it and its General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft to Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, Air Mobility Command assumed responsibility for operating MacDill and providing support for United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), United States Central Command (USCENTCOM) and other tenant units from Air Combat Command.

[citation needed] The wing provided refueling support for global air mobility missions.

[1] Following the 9/11 attacks, the wing also provided refueling support for fighters flying homeland security over the southeastern United States.

[citation needed] On 1 October 2008, the 927th Air Refueling Wing moved on paper to MacDill from Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan and became a classic reserve associate unit, providing crews and support personnel sharing operation of the 6th's KC-135R aircraft.

[citation needed] The wing deploys to forward locations to support the Global War on Terrorism and performs medical evacuation missions from overseas theaters of operations.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency