Sixteenth Air Force
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| 16th Air Force | |
|---|---|
 Emblem of the 16th Air Force |
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| Active | 20 May 1954 - 1 December 2006 |
| Country | United States of America |
| Branch | United States Air Force |
| Part of | United States Air Forces Europe |
| Garrison/HQ | Ramstein Air Base, Germany |
Sixteenth Air Force was a Numbered Air Force under the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) major command of the United States Air Force.
[edit] History
Sixteenth Air Force was originally activated on 20 May 1954 as the Joint United States Military Group, Air Administration (Spain), a separate operating agency of the US Air Force. It became the Sixteenth Air Force on 15 July 1956. On 1 Jan 1957, at Madrid, Spain, the 7602nd Support Wing was activated with KC-97's under Sixteenth Air Force. The 7602 SW was reassigned to SAC apparently a couple of months before 16AF itself, on 10 May 1957. Almost a year later, on 1 July 1957, 16AF became part of Strategic Air Command (SAC). Later that year, the 7602 SW became the 3977 Support Wing, and on 1 April 1958, the 3977th Support Group. SAC moved Sixteenth Air Force from its first home in Madrid to Torrejon AB, Spain on 1 February 1958. With SAC's withdrawal from Europe, the Sixteenth Air Force was turned over to USAFE 15 April 1966.
Sixteenth Air Force remained at Torrejon AB until 10 August 1992, when it moved to Aviano AB, Italy. During its time at Aviano AB, Sixteenth Air Force was the operational air force for USAF combat operations in the Balkans.
In 2005, Sixteenth Air Force moved to Ramstein AB, Germany to become USAFE's new Warfighting Headquarters. At this time the 401st Air Expeditionary Group, responsible for ongoing US Air Force contingency support in the Balkans, was the only major unit assigned to Sixteenth Air Force in its new role. All other wings that were assigned were reassigned to HQ Air Command Europe.
On 1 December 2006, the Sixteenth Air Force was inactivated at Ramstein AB and simultaneously reconstituted as the 16th Air Expeditionary Task Force at Izmir Air Base, Turkey. It was replaced at Ramstein by the Third Air Force.
[edit] References
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