to which it could disperse. On 5 July 1958 the Air Defense Command's 497th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron arrived at Torrejón from Geiger AFB, Washington. It had an air defence role with North American F-86 Sabres. On 26 April 1960, the 497th FIS transitioned to the F-102 Delta Dagger and operated under SAC control until its transfer to the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) 86th Air Division (Defense) at Ramstein Air Base West Germany on 1 July 1960. This transfer was made in order that all USAF fighter assets in Europe could be concentrated in one command. It operated F-102s until 3 June 1964, when it was reassigned to the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing at George AFB, California. Its F-102 aircraft were transferred to other USAFE 86th AD FIS squadrons. Tactical operations With the phaseout of the B-47 from SAC in the mid-1960s, the need for SAC European bases diminished. The Sixteenth Air Force was turned over to USAFE on 15 April 1966 and the strategic focus changed to tactical. Prior to 1966, Torrejón AB hosted TDY squadrons of tactical aircraft rotating from Continental U.S. Tactical Air Command (TAC) bases which would perform 30-day rotations to Aviano Air Base Italy and Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. With the USAFE takeover of the base, TAC transferred the 401st Tactical Fighter Wing from England Air Force Base, Louisiana to USAFE on a permanent basis to Torrejón on 27 April 1966, to perform host functions at the base and to support the rotational TDY duty to Italy and Turkey for NATO alerts. The 401st TFW's initial operational squadrons at Torrejón were: 307th Tactical Fighter Squadron (1966–1971) (Tail Code: TJ) 353d Tactical Fighter Squadron (1966–1971) (Tail Code: TK) 613th Tactical Fighter Squadron (1966–1993) (Yellow/Black Tails, Tail Code: TL) 401st TFW squadrons flew the North American F-100D/FSuper Sabre. Due to the demands of the Vietnam War, the 401st had deployed two of its three permanently assigned fighter squadrons (612th, 614th) to South Vietnamese bases (Phan Rang AB and Phu Cat AB). To provide the 401st a full operational capability at Torrejón, aircraft and personnel were transferred on a permanent basis to the 401st TFW from Homestead AFB, Florida (307th TFS) and Myrtle Beach AFB South Carolina (353d TFS). As well as the USAFE tactical aircraft, SAC retained a presence at Torrejón with the 98th Strategic Wing flying KC-135 Stratotankers from the base. The 98th SW replaced