Uncle Rainey's days of fun in the sun would soon come to an end and he went home on leave. Once there he married his sweetheart Emily and moved on to his next duty station. He arrived at the Eighth Air Force Headquarters in July 1957. His assignment differed from that of intelligence in that he was to prepare graphic presentations for the Generals and their staff. Staff meetings are where the Generals and their subordinates commands plan and prepare for operations and exercises. Planning for such events takes careful consideration for all possible contingencies. Presentations of the material are required to be made daily. Uncle Rainey remained on Staff duty for twelve months and then he rotated back to the states.
After World War II the base briefly trained weather reconnaissance and combat squadrons using P-61 Black Widow, P-38 Lightning, P-51 Mustang, and B-25 Mitchell aircraft. Those missions soon ended, however, and Rapid City Army Air Field temporarily shut down from September 1946 - March 1947. When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset. The primary unit assigned to Rapid City Air Force Base was the new 28th Bombardment Wing (BMW) flying the B-29 Superfortress.
The installation changed names a few more times during its early years. In January 1948, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen Carl A. Spaatz renamed it Weaver Air Force Base in honor of Brig Gen Walter R. Weaver, one of the pioneers in the development of the Air Force. In June of that year, however, in response to overwhelming public appeals, Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington returned it to its previous name. The base was also declared a "permanent installation" in early 1948.
Shortly after additional runway improvements, in July 1949, the 28 BMW began conversion from B-29s to the huge B-36 Peacemaker. In April 1950 the Air Staff reassigned the base from 15th Air Force to 8th Air Force. The base experienced one of its worst peacetime tragedies in March 1953 when an RB-36 and its entire crew of 23 crashed in Newfoundland while returning from a routine exercise in Europe. On 13 June 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower made a personal visit to dedicate the base in memory of Brig Gen Richard E. Ellsworth, commander of the 28th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, who lost his life in that accident.
Military organizations periodically upgrade manpower and machines from time to time to meet new national security requirements. Ellsworth Air Force Base's organizations were no exception. Headquarters Strategic Air Command (SAC) reassigned the 28 BMW from 8th Air Force back to 15th Air Force in October 1955. Approximately one year later, SAC set plans in motion to replace the 28th's B-36s with the new all-jet B-52 Stratofortress. The last B-36 left Ellsworth on 29 May 1957 and the first B-52 arrived sixteen days later. In 1958 all base units came under the command of the 821st Strategic Aerospace Division, headquartered at Ellsworth.
The 28th Bomb Wing was established on 28 July 1947 under the “Hobson Plan”, which was designed to streamline the peacetime forces after WWII. The wing existed only on paper until 15 August 1947 when SAC organized it under the 15th Air Force. Upon its activation, the wing included the 28 Bombardment Group (Heavy), 28th Airdrome Group (now Support Group), 28th Maintenance and Supply Group (Now Logistics Group), 28th Station Medical Group, and the 612th Army Air Forces Band.
On 12 July 1948, in its first of many name changes, SAC activated the organization as the 28th Bombardment Wing, Medium. Just one week later, the wing deployed the entire 28th Bombardment Group and its 77th, 717th, and 718th Bombardment Squadrons (BS) to England for a 90 day B-29 show-of-force mission during the Soviet blockade of Berlin. In May 1949, in preparation for the huge B-36 Peacemaker, the wing’s name changed to the 28th Bombardment Wing, Heavy.
The wing flew the B-29 until 1950 and maintained proficiency in heavy global bombardment. By 1950, however, the wing had gradually transitioned out of the Superfortress and into the Peacemaker. With the change in aircraft also came a modified mission: global strategic reconnaissance with bombardment as a secondary tasking. The wing’s name changed again in April 1950, this time to the 28th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, Heavy. Meanwhile intermediate command assignments changed from the 15th to the 8th Air Force. In May 1951 the wing flew a record setting B-36 training mission lasting 41 hours without refueling. In June 1952, SAC inactivated the old 28th BG and assigned its squadrons directly under the 28 BW. Although the wing’s aerial reconnaissance capability lasted until September 1958, by April 1955 the Air Force had already changed the wing back to its former status as the 28th Bombardment Wing, Heavy, under the 15th Air Force (later attached to the 3rd Air Division), which specialized almost exclusively in ordnance delivery.
The 28 BW started replacing its B-36s with the new all-jet B-52 Stratofortress in 1957. In September 1958, a pair of the wing’s hot new B-52s set two world speed records over a closed course without payload, while simultaneously setting a record for jet closed course distance without refueling. In February 1959 the wing gained its first KC-135 Stratotanker along with the new 928th Air Refueling Squadron (AREFS). This unit provided in-flight refueling for long-range sorties during lengthy continental U.S. or overseas deployments. Uncle Rainey left the Air Force in December 1958 under the early release program. He returned with his wife and daughter Jennifer to Norwalk Connecticut. But the Cold War would continue.
Uncle Rainey’s story with the unit ends here but the story of the Strategic Air Command and it’s relation with Ellsworth and the 28th bombardment wing continues.
