USAF Patch b Fighter a Cmd 4 AF Fourth Air Force ADC Air Defense Command

USAF Patch US Air Force Fourth Air Force 4 AF Air Defence Command ADC 1966 Hamilton AFB Embroidered on twill cut edge 100mm by 96mm four inches by three and three quarters inches.

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Fourth Air Force based at Hamilton Field was assigned to USAAFs Air Defense Command in March 1946 before being reassigned to USAF Continental Air Command ConAC in December 1948 continuing its tasking of air defense of the CONUS west of the Rocky Mountains and taking responsibility for training Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard personnel throughout the region.

The Fourth Air Force air defense mission was transferred to Western Air Defense Force WADF when it was activated in 1949 and it continued with training Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard personnel. Air Defense Command inactivated Fourth Air Force on 1 September 1960 with its reserve training mission reassigned to Sixth Air Force Reserve Region.

Fourth Air Force was reactivated at Hamilton AFB on 20 January 1966 assigned to Air Defense Command when its Air Defense Sector organizations were inactivated tasked with the air defense of the CONUS west of the Rocky Mountains controlling 25 Air Division 26 Air Division and 27 Air Division. Air Defense Command was redesignated Aerospace Defense Command ADCOM as part of a restructuring of USAF air defense forces on 16 January 1968. Further subordinate reorganization resulted in the inactivation of Fourth Air Force on 31 December 1969 along with Tenth Air Forces and several Air Divisions.

Fourth Air Force Reserve was reactivated at McClellan AFB on 8 October 1976 as a command component of the Air Force Reserve. As well as its Reserve training tasking Fourth Air Force personnel supported combat operations in Grenada Operation Urgent Fury and Panama Operation Just Cause and had more than 8000 Air Force Reservists deployed in the United States Europe and the Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Shield 1990 and Desert Storm 1991.

Fourth Air Force supported humanitarian missions including Operation Provide Promise in the Balkans and Operations Provide Relief and Restore Hope in Somalia as well as aid and rescue services in response to Midwest floods and California wildfires in 1993 the Northridge earthquake Los Angeles 1994 and to the residents of Florida the Gulf Coast and the Caribbean in the aftermath of the hurricanes and the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building in 1995. Fourth Air Force units support United Nations and Department of State missions including Haiti for Operation Uphold Democracy and supported Operations Vigilant Warrior and Desert Thunder deployments to Southwest Asia.

Fourth Air Force relocated to March ARB Air Reserve Base CA in April 1998.

The Fourth Air Force mission was expanded when it was assigned as intermediate echelon responsible for all Air Mobility Command AMC gained AFRC air refueling units in the United States and AMC gained AFRC strategic airlift units in the western United States. With a staff of sixty Reservists Air Reserve Technicians and civilian employees Fourth Air Force directs and supervises the equipping and training of more than 30000 Air Force reservists located across the continental United States Alaska Hawaii and Guam and has provided routine deployment of Reserve personnel to Air Expeditionary units in combat areas of Iraq and Afghanistan.

This patch dates from 1966.