In January 1950, the unit became the first jet-equipped flying unit in New York with the assignment of the F-84B Thunderjet. The runway had to be lengthened to accommodate the new aircraft. In June of 1950, the F-84s were returned to the U.S. Air Force for duty in Korea and the base transitioned to the F-51 Mustang. In March 1953, the 138th accepted a secret mission to determine whether the Air National Guard could perform air defense missions for the U.S. Air Force. This required putting two aircraft and crews on 5-minute runway alert status from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset for several months.
The results were so successful that air defense became a permanent mission for the Air National Guard and continues today. The active duty Air Force exercised a right to return to Hancock Field and activated the 4624th Air Base Squadron under the Air Defense Command (ADC). The active duty portion of the base was renamed the Syracuse Air Force Station on December 1, 1953.
The Eastern Air Defense Force moved the 32nd Air Division to the new station on February 15, 1952, from Stewart AFB. Initially it assumed responsibility for an area including Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and part of New York, using a manual control center.
In also supervised construction of the SAGE blockhouses and the installation and testing of the SAGE electronic and data processing equipment which, when made operational, made the air defense system of the 32nd AD obsolete. The division was then moved to Dobbins AFB, Marietta Georgia on November 15, 1958. In 1954, the 138th Fighter Squadron acquired the F-94 Starfire. The F-94 was a two seat interceptor aircraft based on the proven P-80/T-33 designs, with an afterburning engine and a radar operator in the back seat to direct the pilot in darkness or virtually any weather conditions. Two specially equipped T-B25K aircraft were assigned to the unit to train the newly assigned personnel as radar observers. In December 1957, the 138th was reassigned the familiar ground attack mission, along with a new aircraft, the F-86 Saber. The F-86 would carry 138th pilots twice over the Atlantic Ocean, as well as to New Mexico, South Carolina, Florida, and Puerto Rico. The aircraft would be used by the unit for two of their call-ups to active duty.
"The Boys from Syracuse" was a nickname given to the unit by Col. Curtis Irwin in 1958. The name came from the Rogers and Hart musical, "The Boys from Syracuse", which in turn was based upon William Shakespeare's "A Comedy of Errors". The nickname gained popularity in the community, Air Guard and Air Force worldwide. The unique connection to a unit's hometown appeared to generate a feeling of pride and good neighborliness wherever the unit personnel went.