The announcement that the United States Air Force would build an air base at McGhee-Tyson Airport was made on January 26, 1951. Fighter-interceptors based there would defend the Atomic Energy Commission facilities at nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Alcoa aluminum plant and the rest of the Tennessee Valley, including the vital Tennessee Valley Authority dams. Initial construction was estimated at $5.5 million. The military facilities built on the northwest side of the airfield have remained separate from the civilian airport. The base officially opened on August 9, 1952 as McGhee Tyson Air Force Base, but air defense alert operations began there much sooner. The federalized Tennessee Air National Guard Detachment 1, 105th Fighter Interceptor Squadron was assigned to the base while on active duty during the Korean War. Assigned to Air Defense Command and flying F-47D Thunderbolts, the 105th FIS was headquartered at Berry Field in Nashville. The 105th FIS remained at the base until 1 January 1952 when it was returned to state control under the Tennessee Air National Guard The Air Defense Command's active duty Central Air Defense Force, 516th Air Defense Group, replaced the Air National Guard unit on 1 January 1952. With it were the 516th Air Base Squadron, 516th Materiel Squadron, and the 516th Infirmary. Between 1200 and 1400 airmen, with a then-$1.5 million annual payroll, were assigned to the base. The tactical unit of the 516 ADG was the 469th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which initially inherited the World War II-vintage F-47s of the Air National Guard, later replacing them with F-86D Sabre jet fighters. In 1953, the 460th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron became a second F-86D squadron at the base. The 460th was reassigned to Portland Airport, Oregon in 1955, while the 469th remained at TYS until 1957 when it was inactivated. . This type of interceptor aircraft was assigned to McGhee Tyson AFB during the 1950s.|alt=|left The 516th Air Defense Group was redesignated as the 355th Fighter Group on 18 August 1955. The 354 FIS was activated with F-86Ds to become the second FIS. On August 29, 1957 the Air Force announced that the base, by then worth $7.75 million in then-current dollars, would close. About 4,000 active duty Air Force personnel left the area, taking with them $25.5 million in equipment from the base. Regular Air Force operations at McGhee Tyson Airport ended on January 8, 1958 and the 354 FIS was inactivated on that date. The 355 FIS remained until 1 July 1960 when it was inactivated along with the F-86 interceptor squadrons, and the base turned over to Tennessee Air National Guard control. The 134 ARW, which is operationally gained by the Air Mobility Command, operates KC-135R Stratotankers for both air mobility and aerial refueling of military aircraft. McGhee Tyson ANGB is also home to the I.G. Brown Air National Guard Training and Education Center and its associated Academy of Military Science. Similar to U.S. Air Force Officer Training School, AMS was an alternate commissioning source for prospective USAF officers, primarily former enlisted airmen of the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard directly inputted into various units of the Air Force Reserve Command and the Air National Guard throughout the United States. The AMS program was merged into the Officer Training School organization at Maxwell AFB, Alabama in 2010.
