Barksdale Air Force Base (Barksdale AFB) is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in northwest Louisiana, United States, in Bossier Parish. It is contiguous to Bossier City, Louisiana, along the base's western and northwestern edge. Barksdale AFB occupies more than east of Bossier City and along the southern edge of Interstate 20. More than 15,000 active-duty and Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) members serve at Barksdale. The host unit at Barksdale is the 2nd Bomb Wing (2 BW), the oldest bomb wing in the USAF. It is assigned to the Air Force Global Strike Command's (AFGSC) Eighth Air Force (8 AF). Equipped with about 44 B-52H Stratofortress bombers, 2 BW provides flexible, responsive global combat capability and trains all AFGSC and AFRC Boeing B-52 Stratofortress crews. The base was established in 1932 as Barksdale Field, named for World War I aviator and test pilot Lieutenant Eugene Hoy Barksdale (1896-1926). Role and operations Units at Barksdale include the oldest bomb wing in the USAF, the 2nd Bomb Wing (2 BW). The 2nd participated in Brig Gen Billy Mitchell's 1921 off-shore bombing test (as the 2nd Bomb Group).F Components of the 2nd Bomb Wing are: 2nd Operations Group (Tail Code: "LA") 11th Bomb Squadron (Boeing B-52H Stratofortress) "Mr. Jiggs", Gold Tail Stripe 20th Bomb Squadron (B-52H) "Buccaneers", Blue Tail Stripe 96th Bomb Squadron (B-52H) "Devil's Own", Red Tail Stripe 2nd Operations Support Squadron 2nd Mission Support Group 2nd Maintenance Group 2nd Medical Group The commander of the 2nd Bomb Wing is Colonel Michael A. Miller. He also functions as the installation commander of Barksdale Air Force Base. The vice commander is Colonel Scott Weyermuller. Other assigned units at Barksdale are: Air Force Global Strike Command Headquarters, Eighth Air Force 307th Bomb Wing (Air Force Reserve Command) (Tail Code: "BD") 93d Bomb Squadron (B-52H) "Indian Outlaws", Blue/Gold Chex Tail Stripe 343d Bomb Squadron (B-52H) 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron Det 13 ACC TRSS 8th Information Warfare Flight 26th Operational Weather Squadron The base is closed to the public. However, the base is home to the Barksdale Global Power Museum, which hosts static displays of numerous aircraft including a Royal Air Force Avro Vulcan bomber, Consolidated B-24 Liberator, Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, North American P-51 Mustang, Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark, and multiple versions of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. There is an annual open house when non-Department of Defense visitors are