CADF was an intermediate-level command and control organization of Air Defense Command. Its origins date to 1 March 1949 when Continental Air Command (ConAC) reorganized Air Defense Command when it became an operating agency. Air defense units within the Continental United States (CONUS) were given to the Eastern and Western Air Defense Liaison Groups, with Western and Eastern Air Defense Forces activated on 1 September 1949.

Central Air Defense Force (CADF) was activated as a third subordinate region under the re-established Air Defense Command in February 1951 to better organize ADC units in the Central and Southeast United States, its initial region being defined in the west as the area east of the 102nd degree of longitude, from the Canada–US border in the north to the Rio Grande border between the United States and Mexico in the south. The eastern boundary of the CADF was the area west of the 90th degree of longitude from the Michigan shoreline of Lake Superior south to the point of the Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee state boundaries, and eastward to the Atlantic Ocean coastline along the Tennessee–Kentucky and Virginia–North Carolina border, with all areas south and west of those boundaries.

The delineation was again adjusted in March 1956 to the region generally to the east of the 114th degree of longitude, roughly along the eastern borders of Idaho, Nevada and California from the Canada–US border in the north to the Mexican border in the south. The southeast region east of the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico was reassigned to EADF.

Central Air Defense Force was inactivated on 1 July 1960, with its assigned units reassigned either to 29th, 30th or 33rd Air Divisions, or to the new Air Defense Sectors created with the advent of the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system.

• Constituted as Central Air Defense Force (CADF) on 5 February 1951

Activated on 1 March 1951

Inactivated on 1 July 1960

Assignments edit

• Air Defense Command, 1 February 1951 – 1 July 1960

Stations edit

• Kansas City, Missouri, 5 February 1951
• Grandview AFB, Missouri, 24 February 1954

Site re-designated: Richards-Gebaur AFB, Missouri, 27 April 1957 – 1 July 1960

Components edit

Air Divisions edit

Wings edit

• 122d Fighter-Interceptor Wing

Federalized Indiana Air National Guard, 10 February 1951

Stationed at Baer Field, Indiana

Re-assigned to Central Air Defense Force 1 December 1951 from Eastern Air Defense Force (EADF)

Inactivated and returned to state control, 7 February 1952

• 128th Fighter-Interceptor Wing

Federalized Wisconsin Air National Guard, 10 February 1951

Stationed at Truax Field, Wisconsin

Re-assigned to Central Air Defense Force 20 May 1951 from Eastern Air Defense Force (EADF)

Inactivated and returned to state control, 6 February 1952

• 133d Fighter-Interceptor Wing

Federalized Minnesota Air National Guard, 10 February 1951

Stationed at Holman Field, Minnesota

Re-assigned to Central Air Defense Force 20 May 1951 from Eastern Air Defense Force (EADF)

Moved to Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, 28 June 1951

Inactivated and returned to state control, 6 February 1952

Groups edit

• Eastern Air Defense Force
• Western Air Defense Force

  This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

• USAF Aerospace Defense Command publication, The Interceptor, January 1979 (Volume 21, Number 1)
• Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-89201-092-4
• Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947–1977. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9
• A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980, by Lloyd H. Cornett and Mildred W. Johnson, Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado
• Winkler, David F. (1997), Searching the skies: the legacy of the United States Cold War defense radar program. Prepared for United States Air Force Headquarters Air Combat Command.