From a modest beginning in 1986, with just four KC-135E aircraft transferred from the Arkansas Air National Guard at Little Rock AFB, the unit has blossomed into Wing status and all the accouterments of a full Air Refueling Wing. The first rendezvous and refueling of the squadron occurred just weeks after the arrival of the first aircraft. The pilot in command was Lt Col Tom Gresch, and the navigator conducting the rendezvous was Capt Michael R. Stack, formerly of the Illinois Air National Guard's 126th Air Refueling Wing in Chicago. In 1995, the wing transitioned from the KC-135E to the KC-135R Stratotanker.