Tainan AB, USAF Main Gate in 1972A F-CK-1 of the 1st Tactical Fighter Wing of the ROC Air Force prepares to land at Tainan Air Base (2010)Tainan Airport runway
On 20 October 1957, the USAF 6200th Air Base Wing (also known as the Tainan Air Base Group) was activated to support the 7th Tactical Missile Squadron (later redesignated the 868th Tactical Missile Squadron which was coming from the CONUS. Lieutenant colonel Carl C. Lee became the first commander of the Tainan Air Base Group.
Another redesignation on 18 August 1958 changed the unit's name to the 6214th Air Base Group). On 1958, the A Company of the 802nd Engineer Aviation Battalion, US Army Corps of Engineers was deployed to Tainan Air Force Base for infrastructure work, construction of new base buildings, and laying of new concrete runways.[5][6]
The 868th Tactical Missile Squadron was stationed here from 1958 to 1962, which operated MGM-1 Matadors, probably under the ultimate control of the United States Taiwan Defense Command. On 7 April 1965, the 552d Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing dispatched a Flight from McClellan Air Force Base, California to Tainan Air Base. From 8 February 1966, the 6214th Air Base Group changed the unit's name to the 6214th Combat Support Group.[7]
Air Asia Corporation, headquartered at this airport, prospered during the Vietnam War due to the need for aircraft maintenance by the United States Armed Forces.[citation needed] During the Cold War the United States deployed nuclear weapons on Taiwan. Nuclear weapons are known to have been stored at Tainan Air Force Base until their withdrawal was ordered in 1972.[9]
On 31 July 1974, the 6214th Combat Support Group changed name to the 6214th Air Base Group.
From 1 December 1974, the 6214th Air Base Group was reorganized to the 6214th Air Base Squadron,[10] and Tainan AB had been placed in caretaker status.
On 31 May 1975, the 6214th Air Base Squadron was dissolved.[11]
Because of the shared use with the Air Force, the airport terminal was built quite a distance away from the airfield. Passengers disembark at the apron and board shuttle buses to the terminal. The shared use with the Air Force also means some flights have to be cancelled when the Air Force conducts exercises.[citation needed]
On 24 February 1969, Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 104, a Handley Page Dart Herald with 36 passengers and crew board, crashed while attempting an emergency landing at Tainan. Everyone on board was killed.[13]
On 16 April 1977, a FEATDouglas C-47A B-247 was damaged beyond economic repair in a landing accident.[14]
On 21 March 2003, TransAsia Airways flight 543 (Airbus A321 registration B-22603) on a flight from Taipei Songshan Airport to Tainan Airport, collided with a truck that was on runway 36R. None of the 175 passengers and crew were killed or injured but the two occupants in the truck were injured and the aircraft was written off.[15][16]
In 2015 two United States Marine CorpsF/A-18C Hornets made an unscheduled landing at the base after one of them developed an engine anomaly in-flight. The aircraft were accommodated in an air force hangar until a C-130 full of American technicians could be flown in to check them out.[17]
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