The 4th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 unit. Its last assignment was with Fifteenth Air Force

Fifteenth Air Force

The Fifteenth Expeditionary Mobility Task Force is one of two EMTFs assigned to the United States Air Force Air Mobility Command . It is headquartered at Travis Air Force Base, California....

, stationed at Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

. It was inactivated on 23 August 1988.

As the 4th Bombardment Wing, the unit was one of the primary B-17 Flying Fortress heavy strategic bombardment wings of VIII Bomber Command

VIII Bomber Command

The VIII Bomber Command is an inactive United States Army Air Forces unit that is better known as the later appellation Eighth Air Force, as was popularized in post-World War II filmsand is frequently called the First Eighth Air Force by its veterans and successors in the services.The command was...

 and later, Eighth Air Force

Eighth Air Force

The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana....

 in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

During the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

, the 4th AD was an intermediate command echelon of Strategic Air Command

Strategic Air Command

The Strategic Air Command was both a Major Command of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic...

, controlling strategic bombardment and intercontinental strategic missile wings until inactivated in 1988.

Lineage

• Established as 4 Bombardment Wing on 19 October 1940

Activated on 18 December 1940

Inactivated on 1 October 1941

• Activated on 7 June 1942

Redesignated as: 4 Combat Bombardment Wing (Heavy) on 30 August 1943

Redesignated as: 4 Combat Bombardment Wing, Heavy on 24 August 1944

Disestablished on 18 June 1945

• Reestablished, and redesignated 4 Bombardment Wing, Light on 31 December 1946

Activated in the Reserve on 20 December 1946

Redesignated 4 Air Division, Bombardment on 16 April 1948

Inactivated on 27 June 1949

• Redesignated 4 Air Division on 1 February 1951

Organized (Table of Distribution) on 10 February 1951

Discontinued on 16 June 1952

• Activated (Table of Organization) on 16 June 1952

Redesignated as: 4 Strategic Aerospace Division on 1 September 1964

Redesignated as: 4 Strategic Missile Division on 30 June 1971

Redesignated as: 4 Air Division on 1 March 1973

Inactivated on 23 August 1988.

Assignments

• General Headquarters (GHQ) Air Force, 18 December 1940 – 1 October 1941.

Apparently further assigned to Northeast Air District (later, First Air Force) c. 16 January 1941

• VIII Bomber Command
  VIII Bomber Command
  The VIII Bomber Command is an inactive United States Army Air Forces unit that is better known as the later appellation Eighth Air Force, as was popularized in post-World War II filmsand is frequently called the First Eighth Air Force by its veterans and successors in the services.The command was...
  
  , 7 June 1942
• 3d Bombardment Division, 13 September 1943 – 18 June 1945
• First Air Force
  First Air Force
  The First Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command . It is headquartered at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida....
  
  , 20 December 1946 – 27 June 1949
• Second Air Force
  Second Air Force
  The Second Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Education and Training Command . It is headquartered at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi....
  
  , 16 June 1952
• Fifteenth Air Force
  Fifteenth Air Force
  The Fifteenth Expeditionary Mobility Task Force is one of two EMTFs assigned to the United States Air Force Air Mobility Command . It is headquartered at Travis Air Force Base, California....
  
  , 31 March 1970 – 23 August 1988.

Components

Wings

• 2 Bombardment: 1 April 1963 – 1 September 1964
• 28 Bombardment: 15 January 1973 – 1 May 1982
• 44 Strategic Missile: 30 June 1971 – 1 May 1982; 23 January 1987 – 15 July 1988
• 55 Strategic Reconnaissance: 1 October 1976 – 1 April 1980
• 90 Strategic Missile: 30 June 1971 – 23 August 1988
• 91 Strategic Reconnaissance (later, 91 Strategic Missile): 10 February – 11 September 1951; 30 June 1971 – 30 November 1972
• 92 Strategic Aerospace: 31 March 1970 – 30 June 1971
• 97 Bombardment: 1 July 1959 – 1 July 1963
• 301 Bombardment (later, 301 Air Refueling): 10 February 1951 – 15 April 1958 (detached 3 December 1951 – c. 4 March 1953; c. 10 February-c. 17 April 1954); 5 January – 23 August 1988
• 319 Bombardment: 1 September 1964 – 30 June 1971; 15 January 1973 – 22 January 1975; 1 May 1982 – 23 January 1987
• 321 Strategic Missile: 1 November 1964 – 22 January 1975; 1 May 1982 – 23 January 1987
• 340 Bombardment: 1 September 1963 – 1 September 1964 (detached c. 1–31 August 1964). 321 Strategic Missile: 1 November 1964 – 22 January 1975; 1 May 1982 – 23 January 1987
• 341 Strategic Missile: 30 June 1971 – 15 January 1973; 23 January 1987 – 23 August 1988
• 351 Strategic Missile: 30 June 1971 – 1 July 1973
• 376 Bombardment: 1 June 1951 – 3 December 1957 (detached 1 June – 10 October 1951)
• 401 Provisional Combat Wing Bombardment: 6 June – 14 September 1943
• 410 Bombardment: 1 September 1964 – 31 March 1970
• 454 Bombardment: 1 February – 1 July 1963
• 494 Bombardment: 1 July 1963 – 1 July 1964
• 4130 Strategic: 1 July-l September 1963
• 4228 Strategic: 1 July 1958 – 1 February 1963
• 4238 Strategic: 1 March 1958 – 1 April 1963.

Groups

• 34th Bombardment Group: 18 August-c. 1 October 1941
• 43d Bombardment Group: August-5 September 1941
• 94th Bombardment Group: 13 June 1943 – 6 January 1945
• 95th Bombardment Group: July-13 September 1943
• 96th Bombardment Group: c. May-c. September 1943
• 100th Bombardment Group: 6 June 1943 – 1 January 1944
• 319th Bombardment Group: 17 October 1947 – 27 June 1949
• 320th Bombardment Group: 17 October 1947 – 27 June 1949
• 385th Bombardment Group: c. June 1943-c. August 1945
• 388th Bombardment Group: c. July 1943-c. August 1945
• 390th Bombardment Group: c. July-13 September 1943
• 447th Bombardment Group: c. November 1943-c. June 1945
• 486th Bombardment Group: c. January-c. June 1945
• 487th Bombardment Group: c. January-c. August 1945

Squadron

• 376th Air Refueling Squadron
  376th Air Refueling Squadron
  The 376th Air Refueling Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 4238th Strategic Wing, stationed at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana. It was inactivated on 15 August 1960...
  
  : 1 June 1951 – 20 May 1952; 1 December 1957 – 15 April 1958.

Stations

• Mitchel Field, New York, 18 December 1940
• Westover Field, Massachusetts
  Massachusetts
  The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
  
  , 20 March – 1 October 1941; 7 June 1942
• Bolling Field, DC, c. 28 July c. 28 August 1942
• RAF High Wycombe
  RAF High Wycombe
  RAF High Wycombe is a Royal Air Force station, situated in the village of Walters Ash, near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England. Its purpose is to serve the needs of the RAF Air Command, situated on the site. It is also the headquarters of the European Air Group...
  
   (Camp Lynn) (AAF-101), England, 12 September 1942
• Marks Hall (AAF-160), England, 18 January 1943
• Camp Blainey, England, June 1943

• RAF Bury St Edmunds
  RAF Bury St Edmunds
  RAF Bury St Edmunds was a World War II airfield in England. The field is located 3 miles east of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. The airfield, now in private ownership and much reduced in size, is still active and is known as Rougham Airfield....
  
   (AAF-468), England, 13 September 1943 – 18 June 1945
• Mitchel Field, New York, 20 December 1946 – 27 June 1949
• Barksdale AFB, Louisiana
  Louisiana
  Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
  
  , 10 February 1951 16 June 1952; 16 June 1952 – 1 September 1964
• Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota
  North Dakota
  North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
  
  , 1 September 1964
• Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyoming
  Wyoming
  Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
  
  , 30 June 1971 – 23 August 1988

Aircraft and missiles

• A-29 Hudson
  Lockheed Hudson
  The Lockheed Hudson was an American-built light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built initially for the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and primarily operated by the RAF thereafter...
  
   1941;
• B-17 Flying Fortress 1941;
• B-18 Bolo
  B-18 Bolo
  The Douglas B-18 Bolo was a United States Army Air Corps and Royal Canadian Air Force bomber of the late 1930s and early 1940s. The Bolo was built by Douglas Aircraft Company and based on its DC-2 and was developed to replace the Martin B-10....
  
   1941;
• LB-30 1941.
• B-17 Flying Fortress 1943–1945.
• B/RB-45 Tornado
  B-45 Tornado
  The North American B-45 Tornado was the United States Air Force's first operational jet bomber, and the first jet aircraft to be refueled in the air. The B-45 was an important part of the United States's nuclear deterrent for several years in the early 1950s, but was rapidly succeeded by the Boeing...
  
   1951;
• RB-50 Superfortress
  B-50 Superfortress
  The Boeing B-50 Superfortress strategic bomber was a post-World War II revision of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, fitted with more powerful Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engines, stronger structure, a taller fin, and other improvements. It was the last piston-engined bomber designed by Boeing for...
  
   1951;
• B-29 Superfortress
  B-29 Superfortress
  The B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States Air Forces in late-World War II and through the Korean War. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II...
  
   1951 – 1952;
• KB-29 Superfortress 1951 – 1952.
• B-29 Superfortress 1952 – 1954;
• KB-29 Superfortress 1952 – 1953;
• B-47 Stratojet
  B-47 Stratojet
  The Boeing Model 450 B-47 Stratojet was a long-range, six-engined, jet-powered medium bomber built to fly at high subsonic speeds and at high altitudes. It was primarily designed to drop nuclear bombs on the Soviet Union...
  
   1953 – 1958;
• KC-97 Stratotanker
  KC-97 Stratotanker
  The Boeing KC-97 Stratotanker was a United States strategic tanker aircraft based on the Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter. It was succeeded by the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker.-Design and development:...
  
   1953 – 1958;

• B/E/EB-47 Stratojet 1954 – 1957;
• RB-47 Stratojet 1958;
• B-52 Stratofortress
  B-52 Stratofortress
  The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber operated by the United States Air Force since the 1950s. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, who have continued to provide maintainence and upgrades to the aircraft in service...
  
   1959 – 1988;
• KC-135 Stratotanker
  KC-135 Stratotanker
  The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an aerial refueling military aircraft. It and the Boeing 707 airliner were developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype. The KC-135 was the US Air Force's first jet-powered refueling tanker and replaced the KC-97 Stratotanker...
  
   1959 – 1988;
• LGM-30A Minuteman I 1963 – 1974;
• LGM-30F Minuteman II 1965 – 1988;
• LGM 30G Minuteman III 1971 – 1972 1973 – 1988;
• C-135 Stratolifter
  C-135 Stratolifter
  |-See also:-External links:* at Globalsecurity.org...
  
   1977 – 1980;
• E-4 Nightwatch
  Boeing E-4
  The Boeing E-4 Advanced Airborne Command Post, with a project name of "Nightwatch", is an aircraft operated by the United States Air Force...
  
   1977 – 1980;
• EC-135 Looking Glass
  Looking Glass (airplane)
  Looking Glass is the code name for an airborne command center currently operated by the U.S. Navy. It provides command and control of U.S. nuclear forces in the event that ground-based command centers are destroyed or otherwise rendered inoperable.The Looking Glass was initiated by the U.S...
  
   1977 – 1982;
• RC-135 Rivet Joint 1977 – 1980;
• LGM-118A Peacekeeper
  LGM-118A Peacekeeper
  The LGM-118A Peacekeeper, also known as the MX missile , was a land-based ICBM deployed by the United States starting in 1986. A total of 50 missiles were deployed. They have since been deactivated....
  
   1986 – 1988.

Operations

The 4th Bombardment Wing moved to England in 1943 and as a part of Eighth Air Force

Eighth Air Force

The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana....

 began bombing operations against German occupied Europe. Targets included shipyards, synthetic rubber plants, chemical plants, marshalling yards, and oil facilities. In 1944, some subordinate units attacked coastline defenses and marshalling yards in preparation for the Allied invasion of France. Some units supported ground troops during the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944 – January 1945) and the assault across the Rhine (March 1945 – April 1945).

In the postwar years, the command was part of Air Defense Command assigned as a reserve wing assigned to First Air Force

First Air Force

The First Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command . It is headquartered at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida....

 (1946–1949)

Rectivated in 1951 as an intermediate command echelon of Strategic Air Command, the 4th Air Division was part of Second Air Force

Second Air Force

The Second Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Education and Training Command . It is headquartered at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi....

, controlling B-29, B-50 and B-47 wings. In 1962, units controlled by the 4th Air Division supported 2d Air Force's post attack command and control system, and became responsible for the Advanced Airborne Command Post. It participated in the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 and trained in electronic countermeasures and conducted combat operations in Southeast Asia in the late 1960s.

Reassigned to SAC's Fifteenth Air Force

Fifteenth Air Force

The Fifteenth Expeditionary Mobility Task Force is one of two EMTFs assigned to the United States Air Force Air Mobility Command . It is headquartered at Travis Air Force Base, California....

 in 1970, the 4th assured that assigned units were capable of conducting strategic aerospace warfare using intercontinental ballistic missiles, long-range bombardment, and air refueling resources, according to the Emergency War Order. In addition, the division assumed airborne command and control responsibilities that consisted of supporting auxiliary airborne command post aircraft.

Inactivated in 1988 as a result of budget reductions and a consolidation of SAC's command and control echelons.

See also

• List of United States Air Force air divisions

External links