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.
MacDill AFB Show map of Florida MacDill AFB Show map of the United States MacDill AFB Show map of North America
Coordinates	27°50′58″N 082°31′16″W / 27.84944°N 82.52111°W / 27.84944; -82.52111
Type	US Air Force Base
Site information
Owner	Department of Defense
Operator	US Air Force
Controlled by	Air Mobility Command (AMC)
Condition	Operational
Website	www.macdill.af.mil
Site history
Built	1939 (1939) (as Southeast Air Base, Tampa)
In use	1939–present
Garrison information
Current commander	Colonel Edward V. Szczepanik Chief Raun M. Howell (command chief)
Garrison	6th Air Refueling Wing (Host) 927th Air Refueling Wing
Airfield information
Identifiers	IATA: MCF, ICAO: KMCF, FAA LID: MCF, WMO: 747880
Elevation	4.2 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.