28th Air Division The 28th Air Division ( 28th AD ) is an inactive United States Air Force organization . Its last assignment was with Tactical Air Command , being stationed at Tinker Air Force Base , Oklahoma . It was inactivated on 29 May 1992 . History . Established in December 1949 , the Air Defense Command 28th Air Division assumed responsibility for conducting the air defense of an area that embraced California , Utah , Nevada , Colorado , and Arizona . It became part of the Western Air Defense Force in 1950 . With no fighter interceptor squadrons directly assigned , the division used interceptors of the 78th Fighter Wing , based at Hamilton Air Force Base , California , as well as Air National Guard interceptors based within its geographical area . By November 1954 its geographical boundaries included northern California , southern Oregon , and parts of Nevada and Utah . The division participated frequently in air defense exercises with U . S . Army artillery , U . S . Navy interceptors , and Strategic Air Command bombers . On 15 February 1959 , it added the San Francisco Air Defense Sector to its components , and the geographical area expanded to include California and Arizona , and parts of Oregon , Idaho , Nevada , and New Mexico . The division gained the Los Angeles , Phoenix , and Reno Air Defense Sector s and also the 552d Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing , whose RC - 121 Constellation AWACS aircraft augmented naval picket ships in providing radar coverage seaward from the west coast of the United States . During 1961 , it transitioned to a SAGE system in all four of its sectors . Reorganization in 1963 altered the 28th ' s boundaries to include the states of Nevada , Arizona , Utah , and parts of California , Oregon , Idaho , Montana , Wyoming , Colorado , and New Mexico . On 1 April 1966 , the 28th was reassigned , in name only , to Malmstrom Air Force Base , Montana , and replaced the Great Falls Air Defense Sector . The division ' s area included Montana and part of North Dakota , and later , parts of South Dakota , Nebraska , and Wyoming . Assumed additional designation of 28th NORAD Region after activation of the NORAD Combat Operations Center at Cheyenne Mountain , Colorado and reporting was transferred to NORAD from ADC at Ent AFB in April 1966 . The division in the 1960s and 1970s deployed aircraft and personnel from subordinate units in support of the Vietnam War . Became part of ADTAC on 1 October 1979 with the inactivation of ADC and the incorporation of the CONUS air defense mission into Tactical Air Command . Beginning in April 1985 , the 28th provided theater and Air Force commands with airborne forces for surveillance , warning , command and control , communications , and electronic combat operations . It was the Tactical Air Command single manager for the E - 3 Airborne Warning and Control System ( AWACS ) , EC - 130H Compass Call , EC - 130E Airborne Battlefield Command and Control Center ( ABCCC ) , and EC - 135K Tactical Deployment Control Squadron ( TDCS ) in support of unified and specified commands . Inactivated on 29 May 1992 as part of the inactivation of ADTAC , its mission being incorporated into the Air Combat Command Western Air Defense Sector .