4756th Air Defense Wing

4756th Air Defense Wing
F-102 Delta Dagger of the wing at Tyndall AFB in 1960
Active	1957-1960; 1962-1967
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Air Defense Fighter Training and Weapons Development
Part of	Air Defense Command
Insignia
Patch showing 4756th Air Defense Wing emblem

The 4756th Air Defense Wing was the designation of two different discontinued United States Air Force organizations. Both wings were stationed at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida and fulfilled similar missions. The first was organized in 1957 when Air Defense Command (ADC) assumed responsibility for managing Tyndall from Air Training Command and focused on weapons testing and development and evaluating the readiness of ADC fighter units. The wing also controlled a ground control intercept radar squadron. This wing was discontinued in 1960 and its mission transferred to its parent 73d Air Division.

The second wing was organized in 1962. It also conducted testing, but focused on crew training for interceptor aircraft. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the wing also assumed an alert state at bases in Florida. This wing was discontinued in 1968 and its mission transferred to the Air Defense Weapons Center, which had replaced the 73d Air Division at Tyndall in 1966.

The first wing was organized in 1957, when Tyndall Air Force Base was transferred from Air Training Command to Air Defense Command (ADC). It assumed the mission, personnel and equipment of ATC's 3625th Combat Crew Training Wing, which was discontinued. The primary mission of the wing was to conduct air defense weapons employment and testing. It also provided combat crew training on the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter until ADC released all its F-104s to the ANG in 1960 because the F-104A fire control system was not sophisticated enough to make it an all weather interceptor. From 1957 until 1959, the wing also controlled the 678th Aircraft Control & Warning Squadron, which performed the radar aircraft detection, warning, and control mission. In addition to the mission units listed below, the wing was assigned various support and maintenance units to carry out its mission as host unit for Tyndall, Between 1960 when the wing was discontinued and 1962, most of the wing's units were reassigned directly to the 73d Air Division (Weapons).