McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base

Coordinates: 35°48′39″N 083°59′38″W / 35.81083°N 83.99389°W / 35.81083; -83.99389 (McGhee Tyson ANGB)
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the civil use of this airport, see McGhee Tyson Airport.
McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base
AMSL
Runways
Direction Length and surface
5R/23L 2,743.2 metres (9,000 ft) Asphalt
5L/23R 3,048.0 metres (10,000 ft) Concrete
Shared withMcGhee Tyson Airport

McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base (IATA: TYS, ICAO: KTYS, FAA LID: TYS) is a joint military facility located at McGhee Tyson Airport.[1] It is located approximately 10 miles (16 km) south of the central business district of Knoxville, near Alcoa, Tennessee. It was the site of McGhee Tyson Air Force Base from 1952 until 1960.

Overview

McGhee Tyson ANGB is the home of the

Army Aviation Support Facility of the Tennessee Army National Guard, operating several UH-60 Sikorsky Blackhawk helicopters
.

History

The announcement that the

McGhee-Tyson Airport 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

F-47D Thunderbolts, the 105th FIS was headquartered at Berry Field in Nashville. The 105th FIS remained at the base until 1 January 1952 when it was returned to state control under the Tennessee Air National Guard[2]

The

Air Defense Command's active duty Central Air Defense Force, 516th Air Defense Group (516 ADG), replaced the Air National Guard
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

460th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron became a second F-86D squadron at the base.[3] The 460th was reassigned to Portland Airport, Oregon, in 1955, while the 469th remained at TYS until 1957 when it was inactivated.[3][4]

North American F-86D Sabre at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. This type of interceptor aircraft was assigned to McGhee Tyson AFB during the 1950s.

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 Tennessee Air National Guard control.[4][5]

The 134 ARW, which is operationally gained by the

KC-135R Stratotankers for both air mobility and aerial refueling
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 USAF

Maxwell AFB, Alabama in 2010.[8]

See also

  • Aerospace Defense Command Fighter Squadrons

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

  1. ^ "Airport Diagram – McGhee Tyson (TYS)" (PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. 21 May 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  2. ^ 118th Airlift Wing globalsecurity.org Archived 2012-10-22 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b USAF Aerospace Defense Command publication, The Interceptor, January 1979 (Volume 21, Number 1).
  4. ^ a b "AFHRA Document 00464743". airforcehistoryindex.org. Archived from the original on 4 July 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  5. ^ AFHRA Organizational Records Branch Archived 2012-02-23 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "McGhee-Tyson ANGB". Archived from the original on 2007-02-15. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
  7. ^ "SECURITMcGhee Tyson Air National". Archived from the original on 2007-02-05. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
  8. ^ Air Force Officer Training School
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