page_title: 86th Air Division
section_title: Operations
hierarchical_section_title: 86th Air Division / History / Operations
caption_attribution_description: English: 32d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron Convair F-102 Delta Dagger 56-0996
context_page_description: The 86th Air Division is a former designation of the 86th Airlift Wing, a United States Air Force organization. It was assigned to United States Air Forces in Europe at Ramstein Air Base, West Germany. It was inactivated on 14 November 1968. Its mission was the air defense of NATO-controlled airspace in Western Europe.
context_section_description: 86th AD FIS were linked to a number of ground control radar stations through an extensive communications network.   In Central Europe, NATO had divided the region into four Air Defense Sectors.   Each of these sectors had their own operations enter which functioned as the central coordination center for units under its control.
  The 86th AD always had one flight of interceptors in the air.  A normal sortie lasted about 90 minutes.  Along with the airborne aircraft, each squadron had two to four aircraft in an alert hangar, with one pair on five-minute and the other pair on fifteen minute alert (although in November 1963, this was changed to a thirty-minute alert).   An additional two squadron aircraft were maintained on a one-hour standby.  The main peacetime mission for the interceptors was the identification of unknown aircraft in the ADIZ (Air Defense Identification Zone).  This was a thirty-mile wide zone between Communist-controlled areas and NATO airspace.  Between two and four alert scrambles happened weekly to identify intruders.   These were usually airliners or private aircraft off their track or flight plan.  In addition, each squadron was tasked to provide assistance to pilots in distress.
  Another, but no less important mission was the control of the Southern Air Corridor between West Germany and West Berlin.   Radar controllers of the 616th Aircraft Control & Warning Squadron at Wasserkuppe guided both military and civilian aircraft though the negotiated air corridor over East Germany to and from Tempelhof Central Airport.
  86th AD aircraft also would fly "ferret" missions along the East German border. Squadron aircraft would depart in two waves, about eight minutes apart, flying towards East German airspace at a high altitude and speed.   Within a mile of the border they would sharply turn and head to the nearest NATO airfield.   The purpose of these missions was to cause the Warsaw Pact Air Defense System to turn on their radars so that USAF ELINT aircraft could locate and evaluate these radars.
  Beginning in 1963, the Air Defense Warning and Control System in Central Europe was modernized.   The radar sites were converted from a manual plotting to the 412-L AWCS (Air Weapons and Control System) which was equipped with a data link.  Similar to the Air Defense Command SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment), the 412-L system was coordinated by a Joint Test Center at Ramstein AB.  The system became operational in April 1965, and in recognition of how well it accomplished its myriad missions and for implementing the single 412L Air Weapons Control System, the 86th AD received a second Air Force Outstanding Unit Award for the period from July 1964 to June 1965.
  In June 1965, the mission of the 86th AD was changed to include not only air defense but offensive air operations.   This change was due to the assignment of the 601st Tactical Control Squadron.  However, in June 1966, the division reverted to a purely defensive role.
caption: 32d FIS F-102 Delta Dagger, 1962
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