Tactical Air Command 1946-92

TAC was the largest of the USAF’s major Cold War combatant commands. Formed in 1946 and headquartered at Langley AFB, Virginia, it operated a huge range of aircraft over the following 46 years until it was inactivated in 1992. In 1946, it was equipped with mainly World War Two aircraft types including P-47s and P-51s. It soon ushered into service jet aircraft operations with the P-80 and F-86. Within a few years, TAC was operating a wide range of tactical fighters, ground attack fighters, light bombers, tactical missiles, photographic reconnaissance and special mission aircraft. TAC played a significant part in the Korean War, the Cuban missile crisis and later the wars in SE Asia and the Gulf in 1991. As the Soviet threat diminished towards the end of the 1980s, all TAC’s preparations, planning and capabilities were tested for real following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. In 1992, in a major USAF reorganisation TAC became Air Combat Command.