The host unit at Fairchild is the 92d Air Refueling Wing (92 ARW) assigned to the Air Mobility Command's Eighteenth Air Force. The 92 ARW is responsible for providing air refueling, as well as passenger and cargo airlift and aero-medical evacuation missions supporting U.S. and coalition conventional operations as well as U.S. Strategic Command strategic deterrence missions. Fairchild AFB was established in 1942 as the Spokane Air Depot. It is named in honor of General Muir S. Fairchild (1894–1950). A World War I aviator, he was the Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force at the time of his death.