WEBVTT

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During the 19 fifties , mcdill found

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itself on the back end of history and

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basically was ruled surplus by the

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Strategic Air Command . So this meant

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that the base was late for closure ,

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not later than 1962 there was not much

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of a need to base bomber forces this

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far south away from the targets in the

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Soviet Union where Strategic Air

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Command saw excess , tacular air

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command saw opportunity . So you'll

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find in 1963 1964 you'll see

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the first waves of F 84 F S come to the

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base from mcdill . These new pilots

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that were cross training from all

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manner of other air force aircraft

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practiced the very first striping and

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bombing missions over targets in the

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Avon Park Range which was conveniently

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located near the base . So really this

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was an optimal location to to mint new

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fighter pilots that were capable of

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going directly into combat after

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getting their upgrade training here at

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MC . Generation after generation of

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tactical air command pilots were

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produced at the base and deployed out

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to Southeast Asia to execute missions

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all the way to the beginning of the

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1970 s throughout the 19 seventies .

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And really up to 1979 the base was

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primarily an F four base and they had

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two active duty wings . So a humongous

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part of the training pipeline for all F

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four pilots that serve in the air force

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came from a 1979 began the transition

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to the F-16 fourth generation fighter

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and that fighter retained ownership of

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the skies over Tampa Bay all the way

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until the beginning of the 19 nineties .

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Perhaps the biggest engagement for the

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F-16 pilots was the 1990 Desert Storm

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Desert Shield operation . So one third

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of all of the 16 pilots trained here at

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mcgill that supported that conflict and

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the F-16s logged more combat hours than

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any other coalition aircraft in that

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conflict . So mcgill's impact was huge

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in that it's the final phase as a

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fighter base .