page_title: Foster Air Force Base
section_title: Tactical Air Command
hierarchical_section_title: Foster Air Force Base / History / United States Air Force / Tactical Air Command
caption_attribution_description: English: Emblem of the USAF 450th Fighter-Day Wing
context_page_description: Foster Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base, located approximately 6 miles east-northeast of Victoria, Texas. A flying training airfield during World War II, it was part of Tactical Air Command during the Cold War as a tactical fighter and command base.
context_section_description: Foster Air Force Base was designated a permanent military installation on 1 July 1954.  Col Frank L. Dunn became the new commander, replacing Col C. C. Sonnkalb.
  Under Tactical Air Command, the 450th Fighter-Bomber Wing, was activated at Foster, on 1 July 1954, replacing and absorbing the assets of the 3580th PTW. Four operational squadrons (720th, 721st, 722d and 723d) were assigned to the 450th Fighter-Bomber Group, initially being equipped with the North American F-86F Sabre.  Its aircraft wore an approximation of the stars and stripes, with seven red and six white stripes on the trailing edge, and three stars in white on the blue forward portion of the fin.  They also were designated with a colored, scalloped nose chevron.
  Along with the 450th, a second group, the 322d Fighter-Day Group was assigned to Foster, and attached to the 450th FDW. The 322d consisted of the 450th, 451st and 452d Fighter-Bomber Squadrons, also flying the F-86F.  Its aircraft wore a broad band on the fin with its playing card insignia superimposed.  The 450th FBG was an operational unit, while the 322d took over the training mission formerly performed by ATC prior to the transfer of the base to TAC.
  With these two fighter groups assigned to the base, assigned personnel increased to about 6,000.  The primary mission of the 450th FBW was to maintain tactical proficiency for combat operations and to prepare for overseas deployments as part of Ninth Air Force.
  In early 1955, the 450th FBW began receiving new North American F-100C/D Super Sabre aircraft, replacing the obsolescent F-86s.  The 450th FBW was the first operational Tactical Air Command wing to be equipped with the F-100.  With the change of equipment, the wing was redesignated as the 450th Fighter-Day Wing on 8 March 1955, with all its subordinate groups and squadrons also being redesignated.
  On 8 July 1955, Foster AFB became the location of Headquarters, Nineteenth Air Force (19AF), under the command of Maj Gen Henry Viccellio.  19AF had no units or aircraft permanently assigned, with its mission focused on planning and carrying out force protection and rapid response using temporarily attached units deployed to overseas crisis locations. From Foster, Nineteenth AF responded to the 1958 Lebanon crisis, when the United States sent in forces to sustain a pro-Western government after a conflict in Iraq threatened to spill across the border.  Also, attached to Nineteenth AF, the 450th FDW carried out the first overseas deployment of a complete tactical force as a unit in a training flight to Europe in 1956. The next year three Foster-based F-100s flew the first TAC single-engine, nonstop, round-trip mission over a great distance when they "attacked" Panama in a training maneuver.
  On 1 July 1958, the 450th was redesignated as the 450th Tactical Fighter Wing (450 TFW) as part of a worldwide USAF renaming of its Fighter-Bomber and Fighter-Day units with a single mission designator.
caption: Emblem of the 450th Fighter-Day Wing
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