On 7 August 1945, the word Strategic was removed from USSAFE, and the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) was established.

At the close of World War II, most of the air bases used by the USAAF were returned to the British government and were in various states of repair by 1948.

RAF Lakenheath was refurbished with an extended runway to accommodate the giant Convair B-36, however the B-36s were maintained at Carswell Air Force Base in Texas for the time being.

SAC continued rotational deployments of its strategic bomber force, keeping a strategic bomber force in Europe for almost 20 years until 1966, when the Boeing B-47 Stratojet was phased out of SAC's inventory with the UK bases being returned to the British or converted into USAFE tactical bases.

There was a need for standardization and also to modernize for an aircraft which could perform many different tasks from air defense to ground support and aerial reconnaissance.

On 21 February 1966, French President Charles de Gaulle announced that France would loosen its ties to NATO.

The 313th Tactical Airlift Wing operates Lockheed C-5 Galaxy and C-141 Starlifter flights to and from the UK from bases worldwide.

Those aircraft were used to fly ELINT and COMINT missions along the borders of Poland, the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, monitoring and recording military communications.

Mildenhall also hosted Lockheed SR-71 Blackbirds from Detachment 4, 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, California.

Besides photo reconnaissance flights, the SR-71s at Mildenhall were involved in ELINT missions that were carried out within the framework of the SALT I Agreement of 1972.

SR-71s at Mildenhall also played a key role in the 1986 Operation El Dorado Canyon involving American retaliatory action in Libya.

With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the need for large numbers of USAF forces in the UK no longer existed and plans were made for significant cuts.

The bases at Bentwaters, Woodbridge, Chicksands, Greenham Common, Sculthorpe, Wethersfield and Upper Heyford were closed by the end of 1993.