McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base is a joint military facility located at

McGhee Tyson Airport McGhee Tyson Airport is a public/military airport 12 miles south of Knoxville,. Federal Aviation Administration. effective November 15, 2012. in Alcoa, Blount County, Tennessee, United States. It is named for United States Navy pilot Charles Mc ...

. It is located approximately 10 miles (16 km) south of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the " city ...

of Knoxville, near

Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for Aluminum Company of America) is a Pittsburgh-based industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary ...

, in Blount County, Tennessee, United States. It was the site of McGhee Tyson Air Force Base from 1952 until 1960.

Overview

McGhee Tyson ANGB is the home of the

134th Air Refueling Wing The 134th Air Refueling Wing (134 ARW) is a unit of the Tennessee Air National Guard, stationed at McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base, Knoxville, Tennessee. If activated for federal service, the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force Air ...

(134 ARW) of the

Tennessee Air National Guard The Tennessee Air National Guard (TN ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of Tennessee, United States of America. It is, along with the Tennessee Army National Guard, an element of the Tennessee National Guard. As state militia units, the units ...

, an

Air Mobility Command Air Mobility Command (AMC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the U.S. Air Force. It is headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, east of St. Louis, Missouri. Air Mobility Command was established on 1 June 1992, and was formed from elements ...

(AMC) gained unit which functions as the host wing for the installation. Other tenants of the base include the

119th Command and Control Squadron The United States Air Force's 119th Command and Control Squadron (119 CACS) is a space control unit located at McGhee Tyson ANGB, Tennessee. The unit augments the operations of USSTRATCOM on a continuous basis. Mission The 119th Command and Con ...

the I.G. Brown Air National Guard Training and Education Center
Air National Guard Band of the South
and the 1st Squadron, 230th Armored Cavalry Regiment's

Army Aviation Support Facility The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

of the Tennessee

Army National Guard The Army National Guard (ARNG), in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is an organized militia force and a federal military reserve force of the United States Army. They are simultaneously part of two different organizations: the Army Na ...

, operating several OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopters.

History

The announcement that the United States Air Force would build an air base at

McGhee-Tyson Airport McGhee Tyson Airport is a public/military airport 12 miles south of Knoxville,. Federal Aviation Administration. effective November 15, 2012. in Alcoa, Blount County, Tennessee, United States. It is named for United States Navy pilot Charles Mc ...

was made on January 26, 1951. Fighter-interceptors based there would defend the Atomic Energy Commission facilities at nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Alcoa aluminum plant and the rest of the Tennessee Valley, including the vital Tennessee Valley Authority dams. Initial construction was estimated at $5.5 million. The military facilities built on the northwest side of the airfield have remained separate from the civilian airport. The base officially opened on August 9, 1952 as McGhee Tyson Air Force Base, but air defense alert operations began there much sooner. The federalized Tennessee

Air National Guard The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the ter ...

Detachment 1, 105th Fighter Interceptor Squadron was assigned to the base while on active duty during the Korean War. Assigned to

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was established in 1946, briefly inac ...

(ADC) and flying F-47D Thunderbolts, the 105th FIS was headquartered at

Berry Field Nashville International Airport is a public/military airport in the southeastern section of Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Established in 1937, its original name was Berry Field, from which its ICAO and IATA identifiers are derived. The ...

in Nashville. The 105th FIS remained at the base until 1 January 1952 when it was returned to state control under the

The

's active duty

Central Air Defense Force The Central Air Defense Force (CADF) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command being stationed at Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base, Missouri. It was inactivated on July 1, 1960. History C ...

516th Air Defense Group The 516th Air Defense Group is a disbanded United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the 35th Air Division at McGhee Tyson Airport, Tennessee. It was inactivated on 18 August 1955. The group was originally activated as a ...

(516 ADG), replaced the

unit on 1 January 1952. With it were the 516th Air Base Squadron, 516th Materiel Squadron, and the 516th Infirmary. Between 1200 and 1400 airmen, with a then-$1.5 million annual payroll, were assigned to the base. The tactical unit of the 516 ADG was the 469th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron (469 FIS), which initially inherited the World War II-vintage F-47s (formerly P-47 Thunderbolts) of the

, later replacing them with F-86D Sabre jet fighters. In 1953, the

460th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron The 460th Fighter-Interceptor Training Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Tactical Air Command's 325th Fighter Weapons Wing at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, where it was inactivated on 15 Octo ...

became a second F-86D squadron at the base.USAF Aerospace Defense Command publication, The Interceptor, January 1979 (Volume 21, Number 1). The 460th was reassigned to Portland Airport, Oregon in 1955, while the 469th remained at TYS until 1957 when it was inactivated. North American F-86D Sabre USAF

The 516th Air Defense Group was redesignated as the 355th Fighter Group (Air Defense) on 18 August 1955. The 354 FIS was activated with F-86Ds to become the second FIS. On August 29, 1957 the Air Force announced that the base, by then worth $7.75 million in then-current dollars, would close. About 4,000 active duty Air Force personnel left the area, taking with them $25.5 million in equipment from the base. Regular Air Force operations at McGhee Tyson Airport ended on January 8, 1958 and the 354 FIS was inactivated on that date. The 355 FIS remained until 1 July 1960 when it was inactivated along with the F-86 interceptor squadrons, and the base turned over to

control. The 134 ARW, which is operationally gained by the

(AMC), operates

KC-135R Stratotanker The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It is the predominant variant of the Boeing C-135 Stratolifter, C-135 Strat ...

s for both air mobility and

aerial refueling Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft ...

of military aircraft. McGhee Tyson ANGB is also home to the I.G. Brown Air National Guard Training and Education Center and its associated Academy of Military Science (AMS). Similar to

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signa ...

(USAF) Officer Training School (OTS), AMS was an alternate commissioning source for prospective USAF officers, primarily former enlisted airmen of the

Air Force Reserve The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It is the federal Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force, consisting of commi ...

and

directly inputted into various units of the

Air Force Reserve Command The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is a MAJCOM, major command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It is the federal Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force, consisting of ...

and the Air National Guard throughout the United States. The AMS program was merged into the Officer Training School (OTS) organization at Maxwell AFB, Alabama in 2010.

Air Force Officer Training School Officer Training School (OTS) is a United States Air Force and United States Space Force commissioning program located at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. Overview Officer Training School is a part of the Jeanne M. Holm Center fo ...

References

* Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office 1961 (republished 1983, Office of Air Force History, ). * * A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980, by Lloyd H. Cornett and Mildred W. Johnson, Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado * Winkler, David F. (1997), Searching the skies: the legacy of the United States Cold War defense radar program. Prepared for United States Air Force Headquarters Air Combat Command. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mcghee Tyson Air National Guard Base Airports in Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee Buildings and structures in Blount County, Tennessee Installations of the United States Air National Guard Installations of the United States Air Force in Tennessee Airports established in 1952

Overview

History

See also

References