MacDill Air Force Base

MacDill Air Force Base
Near Tampa, Florida in the United States
The main gate at MacDill AFB, with a KC-135R Stratotanker overhead.
The main gate at MacDill AFB, with a KC-135R Stratotanker overhead.
MacDill AFB is located in Florida
MacDill AFB
MacDill AFB
MacDill AFB is located in the United States
MacDill AFB
MacDill AFB
MacDill AFB is located in North America
MacDill AFB
MacDill AFB
Coordinates27°50′58″N 082°31′16″W / 27.84944°N 82.52111°W / 27.84944; -82.52111
TypeUS Air Force Base
Site information
OwnerDepartment of Defense
OperatorUS Air Force
Controlled byAir Mobility Command (AMC)
ConditionOperational
Website
  • www.macdill.af.mil
Site history
Built1939 (1939) (as Southeast Air Base, Tampa)
In use1939–present
Garrison information
Current
commander
  • Colonel Edward V. Szczepanik
  • Chief Raun M. Howell (command chief)
Garrison
Airfield information
IdentifiersIATA: MCF, ICAO: KMCF, FAA LID: MCF, WMO: 747880
Elevation4.2 metres (14 ft) AMSL
Runways
Direction Length and surface
05/23 3,481.1 metres (11,421 ft) Asphalt
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

MacDill Air Force Base (MacDill AFB) (IATA: MCF, ICAO: KMCF, FAA LID: MCF) is an active United States Air Force installation located 4 miles (6.4 km) south-southwest of downtown Tampa, Florida.

The "host wing" for MacDill AFB is the 6th Air Refueling Wing (6 ARW), assigned to the Eighteenth Air Force of the Air Mobility Command. The 6 ARW is commanded by Colonel Edward Szczepanik. The Wing Command Chief is Chief Master Sergeant Raun Howell.[2]

MacDill Air Force Base, located in South Tampa, was constructed as MacDill Field, a U.S. Army Air Corps, later U.S. Army Air Forces, installation just prior to World War II. With the establishment of the U.S. Air Force as an independent service in September 1947, it became MacDill Air Force Base. During the 1950s and 1960s, it was a Strategic Air Command (SAC) installation for B-47 Stratojet bombers. In the early 1960s, it transitioned to a Tactical Air Command (TAC) installation, briefly operating the F-84 Thunderstreak jet fighter before transitioning to the F-4 Phantom II. During the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s, it operated F-4 Phantom II fighters under various fighter wings, followed by F-16 Fighting Falcons in the mid-1980s to early 1990s.[3]

MacDill became an Air Mobility Command installation in 1996 and home to the 6th Air Refueling Wing, its 310th Airlift Squadron flying the C-37A, and its 50th Air Refueling Squadron and 91st Air Refueling Squadron flying the KC-135. The 6 ARW is further augmented by the Air Force Reserve Command's 927th Air Refueling Wing and 63d Air Refueling Squadron also flying KC-135s.

MacDill AFB is also home to the headquarters for two of the U.S. military's unified combatant commands: Headquarters, United States Central Command, and Headquarters, United States Special Operations Command. Both commands are independent from one another and each is commanded by a respective four-star general or admiral.

Two additional subunified commands are also headquartered at MacDill AFB: Commander, United States Marine Corps Forces Central Command, commanded by a three-star general, and United States Special Operations Command Central commanded by a two-star general or admiral.

  1. ^ "Airport Diagram – MacDill AFB (KMCF)" (PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. 15 August 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  2. ^ "Colonel Benjamin R. Jonsson". MacDill Air Force Base. August 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  3. ^ "History of MacDill, 1939-Present" (PDF). US Air Force. 1 January 2014.