page_title: United States Air Forces Central Command
section_title: Cold War
hierarchical_section_title: United States Air Forces Central Command / History / Cold War
caption_attribution_description: F-15E Strike Eagle Serial No: 88-1690 of the 4th TFW - Seymour Johnson AFB, NC - 1990 Source: United States Air Force Historical Research Agency - Maxwell AFB, Alabama
context_page_description: United States Air Forces Central Command is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command, a joint Department of Defense combatant command responsible for U.S. security interests in 27 nations that stretch from the Horn of Africa through the Persian Gulf region, into Central Asia.
  Activated as 9th Air Force on 8 April 1942, the command fought in World War II both in the Western Desert Campaign in Egypt and Libya and as the tactical fighter component of the United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe, engaging enemy forces in France, the Low Countries and in Nazi Germany. During the Cold War, it was one of two Numbered Air Forces of Tactical Air Command.
  Co-designated as United States Central Command Air Forces on 1 January 1983, on 2009 as part of a complicated transfer of lineage, the lineage and history of the Ninth Air Force was bestowed on USAFCENT, and a new Ninth Air Force, which technically had no previous history, was activated. On 20 August 2020, the 9 AF designation was returned to USAFCENT with the deactivation of the 2009 established 9 AF.
context_section_description: Following World War II, Ninth Air Force was reactivated on 28 March 1946 at Biggs AAF, Texas. After several relocations, on 20 August 1954, Ninth Air Force Headquarters was assigned to Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, where it remains today. The postwar Numbered Air Forces were components of the new major command structure of the United States Air Force, and Ninth Air Force became one of the tactical air forces of the new Tactical Air Command. Ninth Air Force commanded TAC Wings east of the Mississippi River.
  Initially being equipped with propeller-driven F-51, F-47 and F-82 aircraft during the postwar years, in the 1950s, Ninth Air Force units received the jet-powered F/RF-80 Shooting Star, F-84G/F Thunderjet, F-86D/H Sabre, and F-100 Super Sabre aircraft. Ninth Air Force squadrons and wings were frequently deployed to NATO during the 1950s and 1960s as "Dual-Based" USAFE units, and reinforcing NATO forces in West Germany and France during the Lebanon crisis of 1958 and the 1961 Berlin Wall Crisis.
  During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, Ninth Air Force units went on war alert, deploying to bases in Florida, being able to respond to the crisis on a moment's notice.
  During the Vietnam War, detached Ninth Air Force units engaged in combat operations over Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The practice of stripping away squadrons and aircraft from their home Tactical Air Command Wings and attaching them indefinitely to a new wing under Pacific Air Forces was the method used for long-term deployments to the South Vietnam and Thailand air bases engaged in combat operations. In addition to these operational deployments, Ninth Air Force units performed a "backfilling" role in Japan and South Korea for PACAF as well as in Italy and Spain for USAFE to replace units whose aircraft and personnel were deployed to Southeast Asia. With the end of American involvement during the early 1970s, these units were returned in large part to their home Ninth Air Force units in the United States.
  During the remainder of the 1970s, NATO deployments resumed supporting the COMET, CORONET and CRESTED CAP exercises. These deployments were designed to exercise CONUS based Air Force squadrons long range deployment capabilities and to familiarize the personnel with the European theatre of operations. During these NATO deployments, exercises with Army infantry and armored units were conducted to enhance the Close Air Support role in Europe.
  Ninth Air Force Wings in 1979 were:
  1st Tactical Fighter Wing (F-15A/B) (FF) Langley Air Force Base, Virginia
  4th Tactical Fighter Wing (F-4E) (SJ) Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina
  23d Tactical Fighter Wing (A-7D) (EL) England Air Force Base, Louisiana
  31st Tactical Fighter Wing (F-4D) (ZE/HS) Homestead Air Force Base, Florida
  33d Tactical Fighter Wing (F-15A/B) (EG) Eglin Air Force Base, Florida
  56th Tactical Fighter Wing (F-4D/E) (MC) MacDill Air Force Base, Florida
  347th Tactical Fighter Wing (F-4E) (MY) Moody Air Force Base, Georgia
  354th Tactical Fighter Wing (A/OA-10A) (MB) Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, South Carolina
  363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing (RF-4C) (JO) Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina
  During the 1980s, Ninth Air Force wings upgraded from the Vietnam-Era F-4s and A-7s to newer F-15s, F-16 and A-10 aircraft. First-generation F-15A/B models were later sent to Air National Guard fighter units while Regular Air Force units upgraded to the higher-capability F-15C/Ds and the new F-15E replaced the F-4E in the 4th TFW.
  With the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, the 1991 Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) reductions meant the closing of Myrtle Beach AFB and England AFB. MacDill AFB was realigned under Air Combat Command as the headquarters of United States Central Command and United States Special Operations Command, but minus tactical aircraft operations with the reassignment of the 56th Fighter Wing to Air Education and Training Command and relocation to Luke AFB, Arizona.
  The restructuring of USAF CONUS forces by the inactivation of Tactical Air Command and subsequent creatio
caption: F-15E Strike Eagle Serial No: 88-1690 of the 4th TFW, Seymour Johnson AFB, NC. Developed from the F-15B in the late 1980s, the Strike Eagle gave the F-15 a close air support mission while retaining the air superiority role.
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