Barksdale Air Force Base
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| Barksdale Air Force Base | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| IATA: BAD - ICAO: KBAD | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Military | ||
| Operator | USAF | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 166 ft (51 m) | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 15/33 | 11,756 | 3,658 | PEM |
Barksdale Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base that lies at the foot of the Shreveport/Barksdale Highway Bridge in Bossier City, Louisiana. Barksdale is the home of the Air Force's 2d Bomb Wing, headquarters of the Eighth Air Force, and the Air Force Reserve Command's 917th Wing. Barksdale hosts a large complement of B-52 bombers and A-10 "tank busters". During World War II Barksdale played host to the major contingent of the Free French Air Forces.
[edit] History
Barksdale Field official opened in 1933. It is named in honor of Lt. Eugene Hoy Barksdale, United States Army Air Corps, who lost his life August 11, 1926 , while flight testing an observation airplane in Dayton, Ohio .
By the mid-1930s, Barksdale Field was used by fighter and pursuit aircraft to hone their gunnery and bombing skills. The 1940s saw the training of bomber crews. Barksdale then became headquarters for the Air Training Command from 1945 to 1949 and began phasing out bomber crew training. Barksdale Field was renamed Barksdale Air Force Base January 13, 1948.
From 1972 through 1973 almost all of the base's resources were deployed overseas for operations over Vietnam. All aircraft and crews returned to Barksdale in January and October of 1973. January 1, 1975 , Headquarters Eighth Air Force was installed on Barksdale.
In April 1982, and again in December 1990, the space shuttle Columbia made a stop at Barksdale on its way back to Cape Canaveral.
In April 1992, 265 buildings on Barksdale’s main base were placed on the National Registry of Historic Places.
Barksdale was the first location to which President George W. Bush was flown after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
