Established on 18 December 1945 the end of World War II, assuming jurisdiction of former Eleventh Air Force, assets in the Alaska Territory.

The 57th FG was equipped with 3 squadrons of very-long range P-51H Mustangs, originally designed for escort missions of B-29 Superfortresses during the war from the Mariana Islands to Japan and back.

Following the National Security Act of 1947, the United States Air Force assumed control of the original Army Fort Richardson and Elmendorf Field, gaining full ownership of its facilities in 1951.

With growing tensions in US-Soviet relations, SAC explored the possibility of attacking Soviet targets via great circle routes over the North Pole as part of "Project Nanook".

SAC chose to expand Ladd's former World War II Air Transport Command satellite field, known as "Mile 26" due to its distance from Fairbanks.

The airfield's jurisdiction had been transferred from ATC to Eleventh Air Force on 1 November 1945, but had remained a satellite of Ladd Field, and was in a standby status.

Mile 26, later known as Eielson AFB had its runway lengthened to 14,500 feet and a major construction project was undertaken to expand and build new support facilities at the base in the late 1940s.

The 6th SW remained stationed at Eielson until being inactivated on 1 September 1992 as part of the reorganization of the USAF command structure after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The 10th AD was responsible for the Aircraft Control and Warning (Radar) stations in southern Alaska and for the 64th, 65th and 66th Fighter-Interceptor Squadrons which were assigned directly to the division after the 57th FIG was inactivated in April 1953.

King Salmon (formerly the Eleventh Air Force Naknek AAF) began being used as a FOB in 1948 The 11th AD was responsible for the Radar stations north of the Alaska Range to the northern coast along the Arctic Ocean and for the 449th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron based at Ladd AFB.

Defense Department budget reductions in the second half of the Eisenhower Administration began a steady decline in AAC, along with the Soviet switch from a bomber force to an intercontinental missiles as its major offensive weapon.

Discussions and political disagreement ensued throughout 1960, however the Army's decision to station a new battle group at Ladd and increase the number of personnel assigned there settled the matter.

Replaced by the P-61 Black Widow (1947), and later by the F-82 Twin Mustang (1948) (449th FIS), these World War II-designed aircraft were equally unsuited for modern air defense operations.

The F-94s replaced most of the Twin Mustangs of the 449th FIS at Ladd, however about a dozen F-82s (of various types) were retained due to their longer flight endurance and their ground support capability that the F-94 lacked.

The F-82s would fly low along the terrain then pop up and initiate simulated strafing runs against them, causing the troops to take cover by hitting the muddy tundra.

Eventually the lack of logistical support for the F-82 made them simply unserviceable, the last Twin Mustang being grounded in October 1953 and was dropped from the inventory rolls.

Under Eleventh Air Force, a radar system was set up to warn of Japanese attacks which stretched from Point Barrow to Shemya, however it was dismantled after the end of the war.

Once the radar project were underway, AAC turned its attention to improving its air defense data processing and weapons control functions.

BADE linked the GCI and surveillance radar sites to Combined Operations Control (COC) centers at Murphy Dome and Fire Island.

The White Alice sites and their antennas are now being torn down, nothing remaining but flattened mountain tops Alaskan Air Command's interest in the DEW Line started in the spring of 1953 when it was asked to logistically support the installation of several experimental radars built between Barter Island and Point Barrow.

The site was later upgraded to phased array radar and expanded early detection and tracking to include sea launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).

The 1964 Good Friday earthquake (27 March) measured 9.2 on the moment magnitude scale and struck south central Alaska at around 1736 local time, killing 115 people and causing property damage in excess of $750 million.

Budget reductions under the Nixon administration in 1969 meant that the assigned strength dropped to 9,987; the Aleutian DEW Line segment was dismantled; Fire Island, Unalakeet and Northeast Cape AFS were closed and the squadrons inactivated.

Despite a diminished number of personnel and aircraft, the arrival of the 43d Tactical Fighter Squadron in June 1970, from MacDill AFB, Florida with McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantoms.

Consequently, the rotational ADC F-106 deployments from the lower continental states ceased soon after the 43d assumed mission responsibilities at Elmendorf, Eielson, Galena and King Salmon on 1 August.

The White Alice Communications network was inactivated in 1979, being replaced by an Alascom owned and operated satellite earth terminal as part of an Air Force plan to divest itself of the obsolete radio system and transfer the responsibility to a commercial firm.

The 18th Tactical Fighter Squadron was assigned to Eielson Air Force Base where it was equipped with A-10 Thunderbolt II close air-ground support aircraft.

The air sovereignty role while still important, has diminished in utility to that of the "Polar Thrust" whereby Alaskan aircraft deploy anywhere in the globe on short notice to deliver whatever ordnance or capability is required.

In 1989 President George Bush stopped at Elmendorf en route to Japan for the state funeral of Japanese Emperor Hirohito and addressed a crowd of over 7,000 in Hangar Five.

Ironically, this was the same hangar in which President Richard Nixon had greeted Hirohito eighteen years previously when the emperor had made his first official state visit outside his native land.