1st Strategic Aerospace Division

1st Strategic Aerospace Division
1st Strategic Aerospace Division emblem
Active	30 August 1943 – 31 October 1945 7 June 1946 – 1 December 1948 1 July 1954 – 1 April 1955 15 April 1955 – 20 May 1956 15 April 1957 – 1 September 1991
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Command and Control
Part of	Strategic Air Command
Garrison/HQ	Vandenberg AFB, California
Engagements	World War II European Campaign (1943–1945)
Decorations	Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC): Germany, 11 January 1944 Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards: 1 January 1970 – 30 June 1971; 1 July 1974 – 30 June 1976; 1 July 1977 – 30 June 1979; 1 July 1982 – 30 June 1983; 1 July 1984 – 30 June 1986; 1 July 1986 – 30 June 1988.

The 1st Strategic Aerospace Division (1st SAD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Strategic Air Command, assigned to Fifteenth Air Force, being stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. It was inactivated on 1 September 1991.

The division directed and supervised heavy bombardment (1943–1945) and fighter (1944–1945) operations during World War II in the European Theater.

Replacing the Eighth Air Force in Okinawa in June 1946, the division directed fighter reconnaissance and bomber organizations, and provided air defense for the Ryukyu Islands, Japan until December 1948.

From 1954 to 1955, the division served as a holding unit at Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts, for personnel of Eighth Air Force, who moved to the base as part of a transfer of Eighth's headquarters from Carswell Air Force Base, Texas.

Activated again under the Air Research and Development Command in April 1957, it was the first division level organization controlling intermediate range and intercontinental ballistic missiles. It became an operational component of Strategic Air Command (SAC) in January 1958 and began operational testing of missile systems, supporting missile launchings by SAC and other agencies, and training SAC missilemen. These missions continued until the final disbandment on 1 September 1991.

History

Lineage

• Established as 1st Bombardment Division on 30 August 1943

Activated on 13 September 1943

Redesignated 1st Air Division on 19 December 1944

Inactivated on 31 October 1945

• Activated on 7 June 1946

Inactivated on 1 December 1948

Activated on 1 July 1954

Inactivated on 1 April 1955

• Redesignated 1st Air Division (Meteorological Survey) on 12 April 1955

Activated on 15 April 1955

Inactivated on 20 May 1956

• Redesignated 1st Missile Division on 18 March 1957

Activated on 15 April 1957

• Redesignated 1st Strategic Aerospace Division on 21 July 1961

Redesignated 1st Strategic Missile Center on 31 July 1990

Inactivated on 1 September 1991.

Assignments

• VIII Bomber Command (later, Eighth Air Force), 13 September 1943
• VIII Fighter Command, 16 July – 31 October 1945
• Pacific Air Command, U.S. Army (later, Far East Air Forces), 7 June 1946 – 1 December 1948
• Eighth Air Force, 1 July 1954 – 1 April 1955
• Strategic Air Command, 15 April 1955 – 20 May 1956
• Air Research and Development Command, 15 April 1957
• Strategic Air Command, 1 January 1958
• Fifteenth Air Force, 1 September 1988 – 1 September 1991.

Stations

• Brampton Grange, England, 13 September 1943
• RAF Alconbury, England, 16 September – 31 October 1945
• Kadena (later, Kadena Army Air Base; Kadena Air Force Base), Okinawa, 7 June 1946 – 1 December 1948
• Westover AFB, Massachusetts, 1 July 1954 – 1 April 1955
• Offutt AFB, Nebraska, 15 April 1955 – 20 May 1956
• Inglewood, CA, 15 April 1957
• Cooke (later, Vandenberg) AFB, California, 16 July 1957 – 1 September 1991.

Components

Divisions

• 301st Fighter (Provisional): 18 August – 16 September 1948 (not operational entire period)
• 316th Air Division: 13 June 1946 – 21 June 1948

Wings

(World War II)

• l Combat Bombardment (later, l Bombardment): 13 September 1943 – 12 August 1945
• 2d Bombardment: 31 July – 12 August 1945
• 40th Combat Bombardment (later, 40th Bombardment): 13 September 1943 – 26 September 1945
• 41st Combat Bombardment (later, 41st Bombardment): 13 September 1943 – 1 June 1945
• 67th Fighter: attached 6 October – 31 December 1944, assigned 1 January – 12 August 1945
• 92d Combat Bombardment: 1 December – c. 11 December 1943
• 94th Combat Bombardment (later, 94 Bombardment): 12 December 1943 – 18 June 1945
• 101st Provisional Heavy Bombardment Combat: attached 13–16 September 1943
• 102d Provisional Heavy Bombardment Combat: attached 13–16 September 1943
• 103d Provisional Heavy Bombardment Combat: attached 13–16 September 1943

(United States Air Force)

• 32d Composite: 24 August – 1 December 1948
• 51st Fighter: 18 August – 1 December 1948.
• 71st Tactical Reconnaissance: 18 August – 25 October 1948 (not operational, and detached, 24 August – 25 October 1948)
• 301st Fighter: 7 June 1946 – 1 December 1948 (not operational, 18 August – 1 December 1948)
• 316th Bombardment: 7 June 1946 – 21 June 1948
• 392d Strategic Missile: 18 October – 20 December 1961
• 456th Troop Carrier: attached c. 15 April 1955 – 26 March 1956
• 703d Strategic Missile: 25 September 1958 – 15 January 1959
• 704th Strategic Missile: 1 August 1957 – 1 July 1959 (not operational 6 April – 1 July 1959)
• 706th Strategic Missile: 23 February 1958 – 16 January 1959
• 4320th Strategic (Missile): 1–23 February 1958
• 4392nd Aerospace Support Wing: 21 July – 20 December 1961, 1 July 1987 – 15 January 1991
• Strategic Missile, Provisional: attached 1 January – 1 February 1958.

Groups

• 6th Bombardment: 1 June 1947 – 18 October 1948 (not operational)
• 71st Tactical Reconnaissance: attached 18 August – 1 November 1948
• 93d Bombardment: attached 24 May – 25 August 1948
• 94th Bombardment: 12 August – 26 September 1945
• 96th Bombardment: 12 August – 26 September 1945
• 98th Bombardment: attached 25 August – 1 December 1948
• 100th Bombardment: 12 August – 26 September 1945.

Squadrons

• Too Numerous. See AFHRA Factsheet

Aircraft and Missiles

• Too Numerous. See AFHRA Factsheet

See also

• List of United States Air Force air divisions

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

• 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.
• Berger, Carl. History of the 1st Missile Division. Santa Barbara County, California: Vandenberg Air Force Base, 1960.
• Bishop, Cliff T. Fortresses of the Big Triangle First: A History of the Aircraft Assigned to the First Bombardment Wing and the First Bombardment Division of the Eighth Air Force for August 1942-31 March 1944. Bishop's Stortford, UK: East Anglia Books, 1986. ISBN 1-869987-00-4.
• Bowman, Martin W. Airfields Of 1st Air Division (USAAF): Cambridgeshire * Northamptonshire * Bedfordshire. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Pen and Sword Books, 2007. ISBN 1-84415-453-X.
• Mackay, Ron. First in the Field: The 1st Air Division over Europe in WWII. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, 2007. ISBN 0-7643-2588-4.
• Merritt, Robert F. 1st Air Division, Okinawa. Okinawan, Japan: McFadden, 1947.
• USAF. History and Lineage: 1st Strategic Aerospace Division, 1st Bombardment Division, 1st Air Division, 1st Missile Division. Santa Barbara County, California: Vandenberg Air Force Base, 1981.