MacDill Air Force Base

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aerial Photo of MacDill Air Force Base, Florida - March 1987

MacDill Air Force Base Emblem showing a KC-135 Stratotanker of the 6th Air Mobility wing with the Tampa Skyline and Gasparilla ship in the background. From MacDill AFB press kit.

MacDill Air Force Base (MacDill AFB) is a base of the United States Air Force in Hillsborough County, Florida, 8 miles south of Downtown Tampa at the tip of the Interbay Peninsula. It's also a District due to the fact that the base is technically within the city limits of Tampa.

MacDill is home of the 6th Air Mobility Wing, USCENTCOM, USSOCOM and a large number of tenant units. MacDill is also the home of the NOAA hurricane hunter aircraft fleet, commanded by the NOAA Corps.

MacDill is commanded by Colonel Margaret Woodward.

The population was 2,692 at the 2000 census.

1 Geography
2 Demographics
3 History
4 External links

[edit] Geography

MacDill AFB is located at 27.8495 North, 82.5213 West (27.8495, -82.5213).

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 2,692 people, 638 households, and 599 families residing in the district. The racial makeup of the district was 61.80% European American, 24.50% African American, 12.0% Latin American, 0.60% American Indian, 2.90% Asian American, 0.40% Pacific Islander American, 5.10% from some other race, and 4.80% from two or more races.

There were 608 households out of which 39.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 87.8% were married couples living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 1.5% were non-families. 88.5% of all households were made up of individuals over 18 and none had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.75 and the average family size was 3.76.

[edit] History

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 Operations 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 and 56th Fighter Wing were 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 CT-43 and EC-135. New C-37 aircraft were delivered starting in 2001, and the CT-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 622d 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.

In March of 2006, The 6th AMW adopted the slogan "MacDill Lightning, High Voltage!" for their wing "battle cry". There is some dispute as to what this saying actually means; however some contest that the "lightning" refers to the rapid response of the wing's refueling capabilities. A less-meaningful definition could be derived from either the excess lightning in the Tampa Bay area or an indirect reference to the near-by Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team.