Following the end of World War II, Headquarters United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) had little funding and most wartime personnel had been released from active duty and returned to civilian life.

Six months later, in March 1948, the first test of the United States' resolve began with the blockade of Berlin by the Soviet Union and the need for tactical air power in Europe to underscore the airlift mission was necessary.

The 36th Fighter Group, flying Lockheed F-80B "Shooting Stars," was transferred from Howard AFB in the Panama Canal Zone to Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base near Munich.

Despite the resumption of surface traffic into the city, the airlift continued until 30 September to mass a reserve of food, fuel, and other supplies in the event the Soviets reimposed the blockade.

This move reflected an effort to concentrate all fighter forces deployed within the continental United States (CONUS) to strengthen the air defense of the North American continent.

In 1961, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara organized the United States Strike Command at MacDill AFB, Florida to integrate CASF efforts with those of the Strategic Army Corps.

The American intelligence community, suspicious of the construction on the island, needed tangible proof that Soviet ballistic missiles were being deployed to Cuba and called for photographic aerial reconnaissance.

RF-8A Crusader photo reconnaissance aircraft Light Photographic Squadron SIX TWO (VFP-62)[5] operating from NAS Jacksonville and NAS Key West, Florida conducted high-speed low level reconnaissance flights over the Cuban missile sites while additional P-2 Neptune and P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft operating from various bases tracked Soviet ships and submarines transiting to and from Cuba.

For the next three weeks, wing aircraft, by photographic and visual reconnaissance, gathered vital data, including prestrike intelligence, air-surveillance verification of Cuban buildup, and subsequent dismantling of the IRBM and MRBM sites and Soviet Ilyushin Il-28 jet tactical bombers.

The wing also garnered extensive intelligence concerning Cuban ground equipment, military encampments, cruise-missile sites, and possible landing beaches for amphibious assault by U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps forces.

Like the Navy's RF-8A Crusaders, TAC RF-101 Voodoo reconnaissance aircraft from Shaw AFB continued to fly high speed low level sorties over Cuba on a daily basis, photographing suspected missile sites and Cuban military bases.

Former Secretary of State Dean Acheson and the Joint Chiefs of Staff favored an invasion, but U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy vehemently opposed that plan and instead advocated a blockade.

The President listened to his brother, and on 22 October 1962, appeared on television to explain to America and the world that the United States was imposing a strict quarantine on offensive military equipment being shipped to Cuba.

Then on 26 October, Khrushchev sent another message in which he offered to withdraw or destroy the weapons in Cuba, provided the United States would lift the blockade and promise not to invade the island.

[4] After a heated debate Robert Kennedy met with the Soviet Ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Dobrynin, and in effect, promised to remove obsolete American PGM-19 Jupiter MRBMs from Turkey.

Meanwhile, the Navy's F-111B program was canceled after five examples when it became apparent that its performance characteristics were unsuitable for an aircraft-carrier based fighter and interceptor, with many of its design features and systems being incorporated into the successful Grumman F-14 Tomcat.

[14] To support the increased military strength in Southeast Asia, TAC also began deploying its C-130 equipped troop carrier (later re-designated tactical airlift) squadrons to bases in Okinawa and the Philippines.

[16] Congressional pressure in Washington grew against these bombings, and on 30 June 1973, the United States Congress passed public law PL 93-50 and 93-52, which cut off all funds for combat in Cambodia and all of Indochina effective 15 August 1973.

New methods of projecting global air power had been perfected and several new types of aircraft were developed as a result of some of the lessons and shortcomings that had been learned in the skies over Hanoi.

The A-10 Thunderbolt II, optimized as a close air support aircraft with emphasis on being able to defeat Soviet armor in the event of a Soviet/Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe, began arriving in March 1977 at Myrtle Beach AFB, South Carolina, equipping the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing.

Finally, the F-16 Fighting Falcon, later nicknamed the "Viper," also entered the Air Force inventory, initially assigned to the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hill AFB, Utah in January 1979.

In 1975, PACAF and USAFE tactical airlift wings were also reassigned to MAC, thus ending the theater troop carrier mission as it had existed since the beginning of World War II.

[23] The 57th Fighter Weapons Wing at Nellis AFB, Nevada began giving Regular Air Force units some of the most intense combat training ever achieved through the Red Flag program, beginning in 1976.

The aggressor units at Red Flag were originally equipped with readily available T-38 Talon aircraft loaned from the Air Training Command (ATC) to simulate the Soviet Union's MiG-21.

Northrop F-5 Tiger II fighters, painted in color schemes commonly found on Soviet and Warsaw Pact aircraft, were added shortly thereafter and became the mainstay until the F-16 was introduced in the mid/late 1980s.

After launching from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68), an unforeseen low-level sandstorm, also known as a haboob, caused two of eight helicopters to lose their way en route to Desert One, but only after men and equipment had been assembled there.

In January 1982, a devastating accident during a training flight claimed the lives of four USAF ADS pilots at their primary practice facility, Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field, northwest of Nellis AFB.

Starting in 1981, Ninth Air Force aircraft and personnel were deployed to Egypt for Exercise BRIGHT STAR, an evolution that would continue biennially for the rest of the decade.

In the early morning hours of 17 January 1991, anti-aircraft batteries in Baghdad erupted as the first strikes by F-117A Nighthawks hit critical command and control targets in the Iraqi capital.

General John M. Loh, who served as Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force before becoming the commander of TAC on 26 March 1991, was heavily involved in the restructuring decisions.