MacDill Air Force Base

MacDill Air Force Base (MacDill AFB) is a base of the United States Air Force located in Florida, 8 miles south of Tampa at the tip of the Interbay Peninsula. MacDill is home to the 6th Air Mobility Wing and a large number of tenant units.

Though the south end of Interbay Peninsula was used as a military staging area as early as the Spanish-American War, the land at the end of the peninsula was not formally declared a military installation until it was given to the War Department in 1939 by the state and Hillsborough County. The base was dedicated on April 16, 1941. It was named in honor of Col. Leslie MacDill, one of the Army's aviation pioneers who had been killed in an aircraft accident in 1938.

The base's first mission, from 1941, was B-17 training. The base was also used as a staging area for aircrews entering the Pacific theatre, by way of Ascension Island and Africa. In 1942, the base became the primary training facility for the B-26 Marauder; however, B-26 training ceased in 1943 and the base reverted to a primary B-17 facility. During World War II as many as 488 German POWs were held at MacDill.

In 1945, with the war in Europe over, the base lost its B-17 mission and became the primary training facility for the B-29 Superfortress. Once the base transitioned from the Army Air Force to the Air Force in 1947, it fell under the control of Strategic Air Command, or SAC. The B-29s were replaced by the B-50s in 1950, and in 1951 by B-47 Stratojet and KC-97 medium-range bombers and tankers. The B-29s were all gone by 1953.

The first attempt to close MacDill was made in 1960, when it was listed as surplus and slated for closure. However, the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1961 pointed up the base's strategic location and usefulness as a staging area, and the cuts were stayed. That year, in response to the Missile Crisis, the United States Strike Command was established at MacDill as a crisis response force; it was one of the first unified commands, a command that draws manpower and equipment from all branches of the U.S. military.

In 1962, a detachment of F-84 aircraft arrived as the vanguard of a new mission for the base; by 1963 SAC had given way to TAC (Tactical Air Command), and the base was training F-84 and F-4 pilots for deployment to Vietnam. During the Vietnam era the base continued to train pilots on both the F-84 and F-4, and for a time also on the B-57.

MacDill remained a fighter base for almost 30 years, but other changes went on in the background. The B-57s left in 1972, and that same year Strike Command was renamed United States Readiness Command. In 1979, the first F-16 fighters arrived and began to replace the aging F-4s. In 1983, the new Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force was activated, and in 1987 it became U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM. That same year USRC was redesignated U.S. Special Operation Command, or SOCOM.

By the 1990s, the U.S. was looking to downsize the military and eliminate a large number of bases. MacDill figured prominently in this: the Tampa area saw substantial commercial air traffic at several airports within ten miles of MacDill, creating hazardous conditions for F-16 training, and the noise associated with the high-performance jets was deemed unsuitable for high-density residential areas like those around MacDill. As a result the 1991 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission ordered that all flightline activities cease at MacDill by 1993. The F-16 training mission was moved to Luke Air Force Base, outside of Phoenix, Arizona.

In 1993, with the help of Congressman Bill Young, the flightline closure order was rescinded and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) transferred to MacDill to use the flightline for weather and research flights. Then, in 1994, the 6th Air Base Wing stood up at MacDill to operate the base and provide support services for CENTCOM, SOCOM, and the large and growing number of other tenant units, as well as to provide services for transient air units. Later that year the base served as the primary staging facility for Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti.

This staging was considered evidence of the quality and usefulness of the MacDill flightline, even in light of the high air traffic levels in Tampa, and with further Congressional prodding and lobbying from the 6th ABW command, MacDill was chosen as the site for a KC-135 air refueling mission. With the arrival of 12 tankers and the 91st Air Refueling Squadron, from Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, the 6th Air Base Wing was renamed the 6th Air Mobility Wing, and came under the control of Air Mobility Command.

In January, 2001, the 310th Airlift Squadron was activated at the base, flying the C-43 and EC-135. New C-37 aircraft were delivered starting in 2001, and the C-43 and EC-135 have both been decommissioned. The 310th's primary mission is dedicated airlift support for the commanders of SOCOM and CENTCOM.

MacDill is also home to a division of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, the Joint Communications Support Element, the 622nd Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, the 297th Military Intelligence Battalion, Detachment 1 of the 347th Rescue Wing (from Moody Air Force Base), the Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratory, elements of the American Red Cross, the Civil Air Patrol, and the Army Corps of Engineers, and the anti-medfly operation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, among numerous other agencies. The base also supports the large and active military retiree community in the Tampa Bay area.

External links

• MacDill AFB Home Page (http://public.macdill.amc.af.mil) - official site.
• GlobalSecurity.org: MacDill AFB (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/macdill.htm)