page_title: 836th Air Division
section_title: MacDill Air Force Base
hierarchical_section_title: 836th Air Division / History / MacDill Air Force Base
caption_attribution_description: English: 12th Tactical Fighter Wing McDonnell F-4C-20-MC Phantom 63-7607 1964 This aircraft was part of the first production block of USAF F-4 Phantom IIs. Note the "Buzz Code" FJ on the fuselage. In 1969 during the Vietnam war, this aircraft was modified as EF-4C Wild Weasel flak suppression aircraft and assigned to the 67th Tactical Fighter Squadron. It was deployed relocated to Korat RTAFB in Thaliand in 1972-72 to take part in the Linebacker raids. The aircraft survived the Vietnam war and returned to the United States, being returned to the F-4C configuration in 1978. It was assigned to Air National Guard service, and was eventually retired to AMARC as FP0733 Aug 14, 1991. The long life of this aircraft came to an end when it was transferred to Fritz Enterprises, Taylor, MI Jun 1, 1999 for scrapping.
context_page_description: The 836th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Tactical Air Command at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, where it was inactivated on 1 May 1992. The division had been activated at Davis-Monthan in January 1981 to replace Tactical Training, Davis-Monthan. Its primary mission was training for Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt II and BGM-109G Gryphon crews. The 602d Tactical Control Wing moved to Davis-Monthan, and the division's training mission expanded to include Forward Air Controllers flying several aircraft. The BGM-109 mission ended with the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. In 1989, division elements participated in Operation Just Cause. The division was inactivated with the implementation of the Objective Wing reorganization, which established a single wing on each Air Force Base.
  The division was first activated in 1957 at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia as the command headquarters for the 405th Fighter-Bomber Wing and the 345th Bombardment Wing, along with base support organizations assigned to its 836th Air Base Group.
context_section_description: The 836th was activated a second time in July 1962 at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, when Tactical Air Command (TAC) replaced Strategic Air Command as MacDill's host and the division's 836th Combat Support Group became the base's support organization. The 12th Tactical Fighter Wing, which moved to MacDill from Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas was assigned to the 836th, along with the 15th Tactical Fighter Wing, activated the same day as the division.  Although these two wings were originally equipped with Republic F-84F Thunderstreak aircraft, by 1964 they became the first two McDonnell F-4 Phantom II wings in the Air Force.
  Initially, the 15th Wing provided logistical support and trained crews for both wings.  However, it reorganized as a mission capable tactical fighter wing for the Cuban Missile Crisis in October. Once the wings began to equip with the Phantom, the 15th Wing resumed the role of training crews on the new fighter.
  In October 1964 the division once again included the Super Sabre in its inventory, when the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida, was assigned. This assignment also marked the first time the division was responsible for a wing stationed at another base. The division added the 33d Tactical Fighter Wing when that wing activated at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida in April 1965. The 836th supervised tests for weapon systems, aircraft armament and munitions, and tactical procedures through the 33d Wing, which included a test support division until December 1967, when its test operations expanded to include a full squadron.
  The division's wings at MacDill began deployments of their Phantoms to the Pacific for combat operations, beginning in December 1964 with the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the 12th Wing.  Continuing through most of 1965, either the 12th or 15th Wing had one of its squadrons detached for combat operations in Southeast Asia. In November 1965, the entire 12th Wing moved to the new base at Cam Ranh Air Base, Vietnam.  The wing's 557th and 559th Tactical Fighter Squadrons were briefly assigned directly to the division until they could join the wing at Cam Ranh.
  In 1966 the 31st Wing became the second division wing to open operations at a new base in Vietnam when it left Homestead with its F-100s for Tuy Hoa Air Base. Its personnel remaining at Homestead were reorganized into the 4531st Tactical Fighter Wing. The 4531st began equipping with the Phantom II to prepare for its new mission as an F-4 Replacement Training Unit, although its first replacement class did not start until June 1967 and it would be November 1967 before the wing was able to graduate its first class.  The wing also operated Lockheed AT-33 T-Birds to conduct the air-to-air portion of replacement training and maintained Piasecki H-21 helicopters to support TAC's Sea Survival School, which moved to Homestead.
  The division again deployed subordinate units to Southeast Asia for combat operations starting in 1967. Its 33d Wing trained entire combat ready squadrons, which deployed to the Pacific, where they were reflagged and returned to Eglin to form once again.  Its 4th Tactical Fighter Squadron deployed in this manner once, while the 16th and 40th Tactical Fighter Squadrons each deployed two times between May 1967 and November 1968.  In November 1969, the 40th deployed a third time, but did not return to reform.
  The 4531st Wing acted as the active duty air advisory unit for several Air National Guard fighter and air refueling units. As a result, in May 1968, when the Pueblo Crisis occurred, two National Guard groups, the 174th Tactical Fighter Group at Martin State Airport, Maryland and the 175th Tactical Fighter Group at Hancock Field, New York were activated and assigned to the division. These two groups were soon transferred to Cannon Air Force Base, where they reinforced the 140th Tactical Fighter Wing.  In addition, the 4531st Wing deployed twenty F-4s of its 68th and 560th Tactical Fighter Squadrons and supporting personnel to Kunsan Air Base to expand the Air Force's presence in Kor
caption: 12th Tactical Fighter Wing F-4[note 5]
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