However, the base is home to the Barksdale Global Power Museum, which hosts static displays of numerous aircraft including a Royal Air Force Avro Vulcan bomber, Consolidated B-24 Liberator, Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, North American P-51 Mustang, Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark, and multiple versions of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.

In 1926, Shreveport citizens learned that the 3rd Attack Wing stationed at Fort Crockett, Texas, would be enlarged by 500 percent and would require at least 20,000 acres (81 km2) to support aerial gunnery and a bombing range.

The efforts to procure the government's commitment to build the facility in the Shreveport metropolitan area were spearheaded by a committee co-chaired by local civic leaders Andrew Querbes and John D. Ewing, beginning in 1927.

However, in February 1928, a young crop duster, a U.S. Army Air Corps captain named Harold Ross Harris, was hired to fly over the local area in order to find a suitable site for the airfield.

Following the return of this delegation, a special U.S. Army board visited Shreveport and reported the location met all requirements of the Air Corps.

Subsequent to the establishment of the military installation, Bossier City grew and expanded southward and eastward, eventually enveloping the area surrounding the base.

Also during World War II Barksdale played host to the major contingent of the Free French Air Forces and Nationalist Chinese aircrews.

The 47th Bombardment Wing, Light, equipped first with the Douglas B-26 Invader was assigned on 19 November 1948, from Biggs Field for transitioning to the North American B-45 Tornado.

The 47th Bomb Wing was assigned to NATO and was reassigned first to Langley AFB, Virginia in March 1951, then afterwards to RAF Sculthorpe, England, arriving in the UK on 1 May 1951.

The 91st maintained operational detachments of aircraft and crews drawn from several components to provide reconnaissance support in overseas areas, including the United Kingdom and locations in North Africa.

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.

It was assigned to Barksdale on 3 May 1958 as part of SAC's plan to disperse its big 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.

In addition to the Motorola SST-181 X Band Beacon Transponder for Combat Skyspot, the B-52G had onboard ECM for protection against enemy surface-to-air missiles.

Barksdale's last KC-135 was placed in the Eighth Air Force Museum after its final flight in March 1994 and the last KC-10 departed for McGuire AFB in October.

In the immediate aftermath of the Columbia disaster in February 2003, a hangar at Barksdale AFB, being the closest base to the accident site, was used to collect and catalogue the orbiter's debris before it was shipped to Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

[12] The Russians stayed for six days, seeing a slice of America and participating in Strategic Air Command's final Bombing and Navigation Competition awards symposium.

Dubbed Operation Desert Strike, the mission came in response to Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein's attacks on Kurds in northern Iraq and was the first combat employment of the B-52H in history.

Fourteen months later, in November 1997, personnel and aircraft deployed from Barksdale to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean by order of U.S. president Bill Clinton.

Remaining at Diego Garcia until June 1998, Barksdale's forces bolstered the ability to defend the security of the region against possible aggression by Iraq and to accomplish specific military objectives if a diplomatic solution to the confrontation could not be achieved.

U.S. military forces, including Barksdale's B-52s, launched a sustained series of air strikes against Iraq shortly after midnight 17 December 1998.

The three-day-long campaign, dubbed Operation Desert Fox, followed the latest in a series of roadblocks by the Iraqi government against weapons inspections conducted by the U.N. Special Commission.

From March to June 1999, ten B-52s and personnel of the 2nd Bomb Wing played a prominent role in halting the brutal Serb expulsion of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo.

Immediately following the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, Barksdale provided a safe haven for President George W. Bush on his return flight to the nation's capital.

Shortly thereafter, the National Command Authority called upon the base to provide substantial forces to spearhead the Global War on Terrorism.

Returning yet again to the skies of Iraq, Barksdale B-52s flew over 150 combat sorties against military targets throughout the southern half of the country during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

On 30 August 2007, a B-52 originating from Minot AFB carried six AGM-86 cruise missiles, each loaded with a W80 nuclear warhead, to Barksdale without the knowledge of base personnel or crew.

A 2013 North Korean propaganda photo shows that Barksdale is one of four targets in the United States for a potential North Korean nuclear attack, alongside the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, the headquarters of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and the site of the Pearl Harbor attacks, and San Diego, the homeport of the Navy's Pacific Fleet.

[17] Barksdale is thought to be targeted because it hosts the headquarters of the Air Force Global Strike Command and its fleet of nuclear-armed bombers.

"[19] Though declining to comment on specifics, a spokesperson for Barksdale said that enemies of the United States are "grossly overmatched in their capabilities" and that the Air Force is "ready to project that power and [to] make sure they understand that message loud and clear.

On this same day, the 917th became the first unit in Air Force Reserve history to acquire a strategic mission: B-52Hs were added to the wing make-up and the 93rd Bomb Squadron was activated.