 27th Air Division | |
|---|---|
 The area of the Los Angeles Air Defense Sector (1960-6) and 27th Air Division (1966-9) was adjacent to the 26th, 30th, and 31st Air Divisions at the Four Corners | |
| Active | 1950–1959, 1966-1969 |
| Country |
 United States |
| Branch |
 United States Air Force |
| Role | Command and Control |
| Part of | Air Defense Command |
The 27th Air Division was a USAF numbered air division and the geographic Air Defense Command region controlled by the 27th AD. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command (ADC)'s Tenth Air Force, at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. It was inactivated on 19 November 1969.
Area of the 27th Air Division (1950-9) and subsequent 1959 Los Angeles Air Defense Sector
Norton AFB[]
Activated as the 27 Air Division (Defense) on September 7, 1950,[1] the unit was assigned to ADC for most of its existence,[2] the division's initial air defense area was southern California and later southern Nevada[3] (and a small portion of Arizona by 1953).[3]
- 4705th Defense Wing
- The 4705th Defense Wing was a placeholder[Clarification needed] military organization that absorbed the 1st Fighter-Interceptor Wing personnel and equipment 5 days after the 4705th Defense Wing was organized[when?] at Norton AFB[4] (e.g., the 94th Fighter-Interceptor Squadronat George AFB).[5] The wing was discontinued and 94th FIS reassigned directly to 27th Air Division, which had reorganized at Norton AFB in February,[3] one month later.[6]
In May 1958, the 27th AD directed a hostile intercept of a "declared unknown" aircraft (without proper IFF), but the "interceptor pilot remembered...that opening bomb bay doors was to be considered a hostile act only after declaration of an Air Defense Emergency or Warning Yellow or Red" (the SAC B-47 was on an RBS bomb run near the Los Angeles Bomb Plot.)[7] The 27th AD was designated 1 of 23 NORAD divisions effective June 10, 1958, by NORAD General Order 6.[7]:7
Planned 27th Air Division (Rocky Mountain) with Super Combat Center at Denver
Rocky Mountain Division[]
The "27th Air Division (Rocky Mountain)" was to transfer to the midwest with command of 2 NORAD sectors (Reno and Denver Air Defense Sectors) during deployment of SAGE. In addition to a hardened Air Defense Direction Center at Stead Air Force Base for the Reno sector; NORAD's July 25, 1958, SAGE Geographic Reorganization Plan identified the Super Combat Center/Direction Center (SCC/DC) nuclear bunker for the division was to be at Denver, Colorado (cf. the bunkers later planned for Cheyenne Mountain and in a Cripple Creek mine). The division's general area was west-to-east from the western Nevada state meridian (near the Sierra Escarpment) to the Great Plains near Oakley, Kansas; and north-south from mid-Wyoming to just south of the Four Corners latitude. Existing Permanent System radar stations in the planned Rocky Mountain Division included the Fallon, Tonopah, and Winnemucca AFSs (the atomic-powered "SAGE feeder station" in the Black Hills NF became operational in 1962);[8]:169 and facilities and cities to be protected by the division included the Salt Lake City military installations west of the Rockies and planned Titan missile launch complexes and assembly plant at the Colorado Front Range. The Reno sector was activated February 15, 1959, and the AN/FSQ-7 at Stead AFB[8]:135 was replaced by Backup Interceptor Control at Fallon Naval Air Station by 1970.
In February 1959, the Los Angeles Air Defense Sector was activated during deployment of SAGE as a subordinate unit of the 27th AD.[9] However, the Denver SCC/CC was cancelled on March tbd, 1959; so instead of moving from the Southwest United States to the Zone of Interior (and the 28th Air Division then taking over as the Southwestern Air Division), the 27th Air Division was inactivated on October 1, 1959 (command transferred to the subordinate Los Angeles Air Defense Sector).
Luke AFB[]
Reactivated in January 1966 at Luke AFB,[3] the 27th AD consolidation the Los Angeles and Phoenix Air Defense Sectors, and the division assumed the additional designation of 27th NORAD Region after activation of the NORAD Combat Operations Center at Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado.[citation needed] The Norton AFB SAGE Direction Center closed in June 1966 (the Luke AFB DC was 1 of 6 still open in 1970).[8]:47 When the 27th AD was inactivated in 1969,[3] command of its components transferred to the 26th Air Division (March AFB CA), and a 1987 reorganization placed sites "under the Southwest Air Defense Sector of the 25th Air Division."[8]
Lineage[]
- Constituted as the 27 Air Division (Defense)
- Activated on 20 September 1950
- Inactivated on 1 February 1952[10]
- Organized on 1 February 1952
- Inactivated on 1 October 1959
- Redesignated as the 27th Air Division and activated on 20 January 1966
- Organized on 1 April 1966
- Inactivated on 19 November 1969.
Assignments[3]
- Western Air Defense Force (WADF), 20 September 1950 – 1 October 1959
- Air Defense Command, 20 January 1966
- Fourth Air Force, 1 April 1966
- Tenth Air Force, 15 September 1969 – 19 November 1969.
Stations[3]
- Norton AFB, CA, 20 September 1950 – 1 October 1959
- Luke AFB, AZ, 1 April 1966 – 19 November 1969.
Components[]
Sector[3]
- Los Angeles Air Defense Sector
- Norton AFB, CA, 15 February 1959 – 1 October 1959
Wings
- 1st Fighter-Interceptor Wing (attached)[3]
- March AFB, CA 20 September 1950 – 1 February 1952
- 78th Fighter Wing (Air Defense)[3]
- Hamilton AFB, CA, 15 September 1969 – 19 November 1969
- 4705th Defense Wing[6]
- Norton AFB, CA, 1 February 1952 – 1 March 1952
Groups
|
|
Defense Systems Evaluation Squadron
- Holloman AFB, New Mexico, 15 November 1969 – 19 November 1959
|
|
Radar squadrons
|
|
See also[]
- List of USAF Aerospace Defense Command General Surveillance Radar Stations
- List of United States Air Force aircraft control and warning squadrons
References[]
- ↑ [full citation needed]
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.
- ↑ until 1 December 1950, its parent WADF was part of Continental Air Command[citation needed]
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 Factsheet, 27th Air Division. Retrieved 18 February 2012
- ↑ Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings', Lineage & Honors Histories 1947-1977. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. p. 6. ISBN 0-912799-12-9. http://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/Publications/fulltext/combat_wings.pdf.
- ↑ Maurer, Maurer, ed (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. pp. 138, 262. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. http://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/Publications/fulltext/combat_sq_of_the_af_wwii.pdf.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 compiled by Johnson, Mildred W (31 December 1980) [February 1973 original by Cornett, Lloyd H. Jr]. A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946 - 1980. Peterson Air Force Base: Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center. p. 66. http://www.usafpatches.com/pubs/handbookofadcorg.pdf. Retrieved 2012-03-26.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Preface by Buss, L. H. (Director) (1 October 1958). North American Air Defense Command Historical Summary: January–June 1958 (Report). Directorate of Command History: Office of Information Services. "In May 1958, Western CONAD Region pointed out a weak area in the definitions of a hostile act uncovered in an incident in the 27th Air Division. A B-47 was declared unknown and intercepted, and then was observed opening its bomb bay doors prior to crossing Los Angeles. By the provisions of 55-6, the B-47 should have been declared hostile and destroyed. Fortunately, however, the interceptor pilot remembered the provisions of CONAD 55-3 which provided that opening bomb bay doors was to be considered a hostile act only after declaration of an Air Defense Emergency or Warning Yellow or Red. The actions of the bomber, CFWCR continued, were standard practice for SAC aircraft on radar bomb scoring runs. And when the aircraft was known to be friendly, the prnctice was not dangerous. However, in cases such as the one in the 27th, the aircraft could possibly be declared hostile and shot down."
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Winkler, David F; Webster, Julie L (June 1997). Searching the Skies: The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program (Report). Champaign, IL: U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories. LCCN 9720912. http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA331231. Retrieved 2013-04-23. "With the exception of a BUIC III at Tyndall AFB, ADC's BUIC III capability was mothballed. ... In 1975, reflecting a structural change in organization, ADC's acronym was changed to ADCOM, the Aerospace Defense Command. ... A reorganization in 1987 placed the site under the Southwest Air Defense Sector of the 25th Air Division. ... Luke-Williams Range/Ajo (A-9/NCC)...In 1961 Luke Range became a SAGE center. ... Z-247/J-29 — Phoenix/Humboldt Mountain/Cave Creek...A detachment of the Luke-based 4629th Air Defense Squadron came to this FAAoperated site in late 1972 ... Air Defense Command (ADC) activated a direction center at Luke AFB on June 15, 1959. This center controlled the Phoenix Air Defense Sector until disestablishment in 1966."
- ↑ Preface by Buss, L. H. (Director) (1 November 1959). North American Air Defense Command and Continental Air Defense Command Historical Summary: January–June 1959 (Report). Directorate of Command History: Office of Information Services.
- ↑ The simultaneous inactivation and organization in February 1952 represents only a change in the type of organization of the division between Table of Distribution and Table of Organization and had no practical effect on the unit.[citation needed]
- ↑ Factsheet, 94th Fighter Squadron. Retrieved 11 March 2012
- Grant, C.L., The Development of Continental Air Defense to 1 September 1954, (1961), USAF Historical Study No. 126
- Leonard, Barry (2009). History of Strategic Air and Ballistic Missile Defense. Vol I. 1945-1955. Fort McNair, DC: Center for Military History. ISBN 978-1-4379-2131-1. http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/bmd/BMDV1.pdf.
Vol II
- Leonard, Barry (2009). History of Strategic Air and Ballistic Missile Defense. , Vol II, 1955-1972. Fort McNair, DC: Center for Military History. ISBN 978-1-4379-2131-1. http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/bmd/BMDV2.pdf.
- Redmond, Kent C.; Smith, Thomas M. (2000). From Whirlwind to MITRE: The R&D Story of The SAGE Air Defense Computer. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-18201-0.
The original article can be found at 27th Air Division and the edit history here.