302d Air Division

302 Air Division
Active	1943–1949
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Command and Control

"302d Troop Carrier Wing (World War II)" redirects here. For the 302d Troop Carrier Wing first activated in June 1949, see 302d Airlift Wing.

The 302 Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force Division. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, assigned to Fourteenth Air Force, being stationed at Marietta AAB, Georgia. It was inactivated on 27 June 1949.

Subordinate units of the 302d wing carried cargo and passengers within Great Britain and, later, to and from continental Europe, beginning in December 1943. Cargo included medical supplies and whole blood, and materiel such as gasoline, helmets, bayonets, belly tanks, ammunition, clothing, Signal Corps equipment, and even telephone poles. Passengers included war correspondents, entertainers, general officers, enlisted personnel, pilots, German prisoners, Allied ex prisoners of war, and wounded personnel, both Allied and enemy.

In February 1945, the wing assumed the additional mission of ferrying aircraft. In fulfilling this mission, the wing ferried B-17s, B-24s, B-26s, A-20s, P-51s, C-109s, and numerous other models within the European theater of operations.

A Reserve wing December 1946 – June 1949, it was redesignated later in inactive status as a division.

Lineage[]

Established as 302 Transport Wing (Special) on 2 November 1943

Activated on 5 December 1943

Inactivated on 15 December 1945

Activated in the Reserve on 20 December 1946

Redesignated: 302 Troop Carrier Wing on 31 December 1946

Redesignated: 302 Air Division, Troop Carrier on 16 April 1948

Inactivated on 27 June 1949

Redesignated 302 Air Division on 1 September 1959.

(Not Activated)

Assignments[]

Ninth Air Force

IX Air Service Command (later, IX Air Force Service Command), 5 December 1943

Air Service Command, United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe, 1 September 1944

Continental Air Depot Area, United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe (later, Continental Air Depot Area, Air Technical Service Command), 9 December 1944

Ninth Air Force, 1 June 1945
United States Air Forces in Europe, 18 July 1945
Army Service Forces, c. 8–15 December 1945
Fourteenth Air Force, 20 December 1946
Tactical Air Command

Ninth Air Force, 22 December 1948

Air Defense Command

Fourteenth Air Force, 1 February – 27 June 1949.

Stations[]

RAF Sunninghill, England, 5 December 1943
RAF Grove England, unkn-c. 8 September 1944
RAF Cranford, England, c. 8 September 1944
Paris, France, 15 November 1944 .AAF-386 Paris (1 Rue de Tillsit at Champs Elysees) France HQ 302nd Air Transport Wing .
RAF Grove, England, c. 1 October – 9 December 1945
Marietta AAB (later, AFB), Georgia, 20 December 1946 – 27 June 1949.

Components[]

Groups

27th Air Transport: 1 September 1944 – 5 April 1945; 18 July – 15 October 1945
31st Transport: 1 September 1944 – c. 4 September 1945
435th Troop Carrier: 15 July 1947 – 26 June 1949
514th Troop Carrier: 17 October 1947 – 26 June 1949

Squadrons

310th Ferrying: c. 1 May – c. 25 August 1945
311th Ferrying: c. 18 July – c. 15 September 1945
320th Transport: 18 July – 8 August 1945.

Aircraft[]

C-47 1944–1945
C-46 1945
C-64 1945.

References[]

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

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at 302d Air Division and the edit history here.