Tyndall Air Force Base
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| Type | Military: Air Force base | ||||||||||||
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| Owner | U.S. Air Force | ||||||||||||
| City | Bay County, Panama City, Florida, USA | ||||||||||||
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| TerraSync | No | ||||||||||||
Tyndall Air Force Base (commonly wrote Tyndall AFB) is a United States Air Force Base located 12 miles (19 km) east of Panama City, Florida 
. The base was named in honor of World War I pilot 1st Lt Frank Benjamin Tyndall. The base operating unit and host wing is the 325th Fighter Wing (325 FW) of the Air Combat Command (ACC). The base is delineated as a census-designated place and had a resident population of 2,994 at the 2010 census.
History
Tyndall Field was opened on 13 January 1941 as a gunnery range. The airfield was named in honor of 1st Lt Frank Benjamin Tyndall (1894–1930). Lieutenant Tyndall was a World War I pilot, Silver Star recipient, and commander of the 22d Aero Squadron. He shot down six German airplanes in combat over France well behind enemy lines during World War I and killed on 15 July 1930 near Mooresville, North Carolina, in the crash of a Curtiss P-1. With the establishment of the USAF in 1947, the facility was renamed "Tyndall Air Force Base" on 13 January 1948.
In December 1940, a site board determined that Flexible Gunnery School No. 9 would be located 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Panama City, Florida on East Peninsula. On 6 May 1941, Army and local dignitaries held an official ground breaking for the school. Panama City's mayor, Harry Fannin, dug the first spade full of sand, and Colonel Warren Maxwell, Tyndall's first commander, wielded the first ax on the stubborn palmetto plants, so common on the East Peninsula. The site was covered with pine and palmetto trees, scrub brush, and swamps. Bulldozers worked around the clock to clear the brush and fill in swamps.
On 7 December 1941, the first of 2,000 troops arrived at Tyndall Field. The first class of gunnery students began in February 1942. Although construction was incomplete, instructors and students began preparing for the first class, omposed of 40 gunnery students and began on 23 February 1942. Of the thousands of students passing through the Tyndall gates, the most famous was actor Clark Gable, a student here during 1943. Foreign student training began at Tyndall in 1943 with French Air Force gunnery students being the first and Chinese students following later that year. Today, foreign students attend weapons controller training at Tyndall.
When WWII ended, Tyndall Field was demobilized. The base fell under the control of the Tactical Air Command (TAC) in 1946, but this only lasted three months, as Tyndall became part of the Air University (AU). Tyndall Field was subsequently renamed as Tyndall Air Force Base when the U.S. Air Force became a separate service in 1947.
In September 1950, Tyndall became an Air Training Command (ATC) installation, designated as the USAF Pilot Instructor School. The base also trained Ground Controlled Intercept (GCI) operators as well as interceptor pilots & flight crews for the Air Defense Command (ADC). Under the auspices of this training system, GCI trainees would direct TF-51H Mustangs against "enemy" A-26 Invaders. In late 1952, both aircraft were replaced by Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star jet trainers. Airborne radar operator students would begin their training aboard radar-equipped TB-25 Mitchells, then transition to either Lockheed F-94 Starfire or Northrop F-89 Scorpion aircraft. North American F-86F and F-86Ds were eventually added to the training program as Air Defense Command units were equipped with them.
In September 1957, Tyndall became an Air Defense Command, later Aerospace Defense Command, base until October 1979 when ADC was inactivated and all its bases and units transferred to Tactical Air Command. Tyndall was headquarters of the ADC 73d Air Division in the late 1950s, and the NORAD Southeast Air Defense Sector from 1960 to 1979. Also the ADC 20th Air Division was based at Tyndall, which was responsible for the air defense of virtually all of the southeastern United States during the 1960s and 1970s. The ADC 23d Air Division, also based at Tyndall, was responsible for air defense forces in the upper midwest and south central United States.
In the late 1950s into the 1960s, the base transitioned into the F-100 Super Sabre, F-101B, F-102A and TF-102B, F-104 Starfighter, and the F-106A and B aircraft, training interceptor pilots for ADC assignments. The base served as a stopover and refueling point for ADC aircraft deployed to Florida during the Cuban Missile Crisis, to be redeployed to other bases in the southeast shortly thereafter. The base maintained an alert facility from which the F-101 Voodoo and F-102 Delta Dagger interceptors were scrambled to intercept unknown aircraft. Tyndall shared training for the F-102 aircraft with Perrin AFB, Texas until Perrin AFB's closure in mid-1971.
On 1 July 1956 Tyndall AFB became the station operating for the third phase of the ADC mobile radar program, being designated as TM-198. Activated by the 678th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, Tyndall became operational to support the CIM-10 Bomarc surface-to-air missile program at Hurlburt Field . In 1958 the site was operating with an AN/FPS-20 search radar and a pair of AN/FPS-6 height-finder sets to support the 4751st Air Defense Missile Squadron.
In 1962 the search radar was upgraded and re-designated as an AN/FPS-64. On 31 July 1963, the site was redesignated as NORAD ID Z-198. During 1965 Tyndall AFB joined the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system, feeding data to DC-09 at Gunter AFB, Alabama. After joining, the squadron was re-designated as the 678th Radar Squadron (SAGE) on 1 June 1965. Also in 1965, Tyndall became a joint-use facility with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
On 1 October 1979, this site came under Tactical Air Command jurisdiction with the inactivation of Aerospace Defense Command and the formation of ADTAC. On 1 March 1983 the 678th Air Defense Group was inactivated and Tyndall became the home of the NORAD 23rd ADS (Air Defense Squadron) and operated the Southeast Regional Operations Control Center (SE ROCC), later renamed Sector Operations Control Center (SOCC).
The height-finder radar, modified as an AN/FPS-116 c. 1977, was removed c. 1988. In 1995 an AN/FPS-64A was performing search duties. The site now operates an ARSR-4 search radar under FAA control as part of the Joint Surveillance System (JSS) as site "J-11".
In 1991, Tyndall underwent a reorganization in response to the Department of Defense efforts to streamline defense management. Headquarters, {{wikipedia|First Air Force}, what had predominantly been the Numbered Air Force for the Air National Guard , moved from Langley AFB , Virginia, to Tyndall. With the disestablishment of Tactical Air Command (TAC) in 1992, Tyndall was temporarily transferred to the Air Combat Command (ACC) and then to the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) in July 1993.
The 21st century proved to be momentous for Tyndall AFB. The base was selected as the first home of the Air Force's newest aircraft, the F-22 Raptor. 2002 brought more change as the Chief of Staff of the Air Force changed the organizational structure of the 325th Fighter Wing, from an objective type wing to a combat organization. This organization moved all maintenance activities under the 325th Maintenance Group and all support activities under the 325th Mission Support Group.
Today, Tyndall is the home of the 325th Fighter Wing, providing training for all F-22A Raptor pilots. In 2012, with the gaining of a combat-coded F-22 squadron, Tyndall AFB returned to Air Combat Command, after a 19-year tenure in AETC.
Technical characteristics
Runways
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Communications
FGCom frequencies
(The following table takes into account some frequencies available only in the current development version.)
| ATIS | 254.400 |
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| CLNC DEL | 118.050 |
| GND | 121.900 |
| TWR | 133.950 |
| APP/DEP 1 | 119.100 |
| APP/DEP 2 | 124.150 |
| APP/DEP 3 | 125.200 |
| PAM | 124X, | 00 NM |
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Custom scenery
J Maverick 16 ais currently redesigning the airport so that the scenery is as faithful as possible to the real air base.
Progress
The following table takes into account improvements available only in the current development version on GitHub.
| Task | Progress | Remarks |
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| Runway, beacon, PAPI, Tower | 
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| Taxiway layouts |
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| Taxi signs |  Not done
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| Aprons | Not done
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| Buildings | Not done
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| Parking positions and ground net | Not done
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| Comprehensive air base scenery | 
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ATC services (USAF_TY)
ATC service will be provided with OpenRadar regularly on weekdays, using also Mumble and FGCom - check Lenny's website for the exact times and dates, but usually on Wednesday evenings. For further informations about KPAM, you can download the chart on the right, use SkyVector and GCMAP. To avoid pilot/ATC misunderstandings see the minimum list of best practices, and don't simulate an emergency or found an excuse to land/take-off from Tyndall only because it is controlled in that moment, especially for airliners (e.g. terrorists on board, engine faliture, passenger with cardiac arrest, President on board, very top secret mission, ...).
External Links
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