In mid-October 1962, the Nineteenth moved from its home base, Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina, to Homestead AFB, Florida. Once at Homestead, the Nineteenth spearheaded the deployment of TAC units at the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Nineteenth’s commander headed the main air operations center, the Air Force Atlantic Advanced Operational Nucleus (AFLANT ADVON), which activated shortly after President Kennedy’s speech declaring a quarantine of Soviet missile shipments into Cuba. Augmented by airmen and officers from other TAC air forces, AFLANT ADVON soon controlled nearly 1,000 aircraft and 7,000 men and women. The Nineteenth returned to North Carolina in December 1962 when the crisis ended.