Loring Air Force Base Heritage Museum

 On August 7, 1990, the wing began deploying aircraft, personnel, and equipment to Southwest Asia in support of Operation DESERT SHIELD. During DESERT SHIELD/STORM wing bombers deployed to Diego Garcia flew 960 missions (465 combat ) in 44 days, dropping 12,588,766 pounds of bombs. Loring and other tankers deployed to the same locations off-loaded 31,802,500 pounds of fuel to 648 receivers. In March 1991, resources deployed to the Gulf began their return to Loring. Organizational changes to the wing in 1991 resulted in renaming three existing organizations and activating two new groups and two support squadrons. The wing designation changed to the 42nd Wind under this SAC plan. In 1991, Loring was designated for closure. On October 1, 1991 the 407 ARS was inactivated and on October 3, of the same year, President Bush ordered alert crews to stand down for the first time in Loring’s history. December 1991 saw SAC and Loring stand down all Alert forces and Loring KC-135s ended theier 24-hour alert. One year later, the Air Force redesignated the wing as the 42nd Bomb Wing. In 1993, the wing began to draw down the base in anticipation of it’s scheduled closure in September, 1994. On November 16, 1993, the final B-52G assigned to Loring made its final flight from the base, ending a 40 year bombing mission for the wing. On March 2, 1994, the final KC-135R departed Loring.