The Wing flies the USAF fleet of Lockheed U-2 "Dragon Ladies" and Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft, and operates associated ground support equipment.

Visitors enter the base through a main gate that local merchants, individuals and the Beale Military Liaison Committee donated $100,000 to construct.

Native Americans lived on this land; the mortar bowls they carved into the bedrock lie embedded in a shallow stream.

In 1940, the "Camp Beale" area consisted of grassland and rolling hills and the 19th century mining town of Spenceville.

These additional activities led to rehabilitation of existing base facilities and construction of rifle, mortar, demolition, and machine gun ranges.

Also in 1952, Beale stopped being used as a bombing range and the U.S. Government declared portions of Camp Beale/Beale AFB as excess, eventually transferring out 60,805 acres (246.07 km2).

It activated the 4126th Strategic Wing to disperse its B-52 Stratofortress heavy bombers over a larger number of bases, making it more difficult for the Soviet Union to destroy the entire fleet with a surprise first strike.

SAC Strategic Wings were considered a provisional unit by HQ, USAF and could not carry a permanent history or lineage.

On 30 January 1959, the Air Force announced plans to conduct surveys in the vicinity of Beale to determine the feasibility for missile bases.

On 17 September, Col. Paul Calton, Commander of Beale's 4126th Strategic Wing, announced that the base would be the fifth HGM-25A Titan I missile installation.

On 24 May 1962, during a contractor checkout, a blast rocked launcher 1 at complex 4C at Chico, destroying a Titan I and causing heavy damage to the silo.

This was part of a consolidation of resources after the Vietnam War due to budget cuts, and the desire by HQ SAC to keep the senior unit on active duty.

The first U-2 arrived from Davis-Monthan on 12 July 1976, and until 26 January 1990, when budget restrictions forced the retirement of the SR-71, Beale was the home of two of the world's most unusual aircraft.

Mock missile attacks, site emergencies and simulated equipment failures also keep the Canadian and American crew busy.

[17] In the early 1970s SAC began to consolidate its B-52 assets as the age of the manned bomber was reduced with the advent of Intercontinental Strategic Ballistic Missiles.

During reconnaissance missions the SR-71 operated at high speeds and altitudes to allow it to outrace threats; if a surface-to-air missile launch was detected, standard evasive action was simply to accelerate.

The wing provided photographic intelligence for the Son Tay prison camp raid named Operation Ivory Coast, in North Vietnam, November 1970.

The "Dragon Lady" had gained national and international recognition with flights over the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, and Southeast Asia.

The Dragon Lady tracked Iraqi troop and armor buildups, assessed bomb damage, and monitored a massive oil spill in the Persian Gulf.

With its role taken over by the growing MQ-9 Reaper fleet, the Air Force decided to remove the Liberty aircraft from service, turning them over to the U.S. Army and U.S. Special Operations Command, which was completed by October 2015.

In July 1994, the 350 ARS transferred from Beale to McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas, taking the last of the KC-135Q tankers with it.

Tanker aircraft returned to Beale in 1998 when the 940th Air Refueling Wing (940 ARW), an Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) unit operationally gained by AMC, transferred to Beale with its KC-135R aircraft following the closure of its former home stations of Mather AFB, California in 1993 due to a 1988 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) decision and its subsequent home station of McClellan AFB, California in 1998 due to a 1993 BRAC decision.

In 2016, a decision was made to restore the AFRC KC-135 mission at Beale AFB and the 940 WG was again redesignated as the 940th Air Refueling Wing (940 ARW), taking custody of its first KC-135R aircraft in July 2016.

In June 2016, the 940 WG was redesignated back to its previous title of the 940th Air Refueling Wing (940 ARW), reversing the earlier BRAC 2005 decision.

[21] With the redesignation of the 940 ARW to its previous incarnation and its shift in operational claimancy to AMC, the 13th Reconnaissance Squadron (13 RS), which was previously assigned to the former 940 WG, was realigned as a geographically separated unit (GSU) of the 926th Wing (926 WG) at Nellis AFB, Nevada, and further assigned to the wing's 726th Operations Group (726 OG) at Creech AFB, Nevada.

On 24 May during a contractor checkout, a terrific blast rocked launcher 1 at the complex, destroying a Titan I and causing heavy damage to the silo.

[citation needed] Native Americans lived on this land, and the mortar bowls they carved into bedrock lie embedded in a shallow stream.

[24] An unincorporated community which covered much of the existing area was listed in the 1970 United States census under the name Beale East.

[48] Simultaneously activists with protest group Code Pink blockaded the North Gate of Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California.

[49] The US Code of Federal Regulations specifies that amateur radio operators within 240 kilometers of Beale must not transmit with more than 50 watts of power on the 70-centimeter band.