1st Strategic Aerospace Division

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1st Strategic Aerospace Division
USAF - 1st Strategic Aerospace Division.png
1st Strategic Aerospace Division emblem
Active1943–31 October 1945; 1946–1948; 1954–1955; 1955–1956; 1957–1991
CountryUnited States
BranchUnited States Air Force
RoleCommand of Missile units
Part ofStrategic Air Command
Garrison/HQVandenberg Air Force Base, California
Engagements
  • World War II
European Campaign (1943–1945)
Decorations
  • Distinguished Unit Citation: 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.
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Lt Gen Gerald W. Johnson

The 1st Strategic Aerospace Division (1st STRAD) 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 within the Eighth Air Force 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.

Lineage[]

  • Established as the 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 Strategic Missile Center on 31 July 1990
Inactivated on 1 September 1991[1]

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[1]

Stations[]

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

Components[]

Divisions

  • 301st Fighter Division (Provisional): 18 August – 16 September 1948 (not operational entire period)
  • 316th Air Division: See 316th Bombardment Wing below[1]

Wings

(World War II)
  • 1st Combat Bombardment Wing (later 1st Bombardment Wing): 13 September 1943 – 12 August 1945
  • 2d Bombardment Wing: 31 July – 12 August 1945
  • 40th Combat Bombardment Wing (later 40th Bombardment Wing): 13 September 1943 – 26 September 1945
  • 41st Combat Bombardment Wing (later 41st Bombardment Wing): 13 September 1943 – 1 June 1945
  • 67th Fighter Wing: attached 6 October – 31 December 1944, assigned 1 January – 12 August 1945
  • 92d Combat Bombardment Wing: 1 December – c. 11 December 1943
  • 94th Combat Bombardment Wing (later 94 Bombardment Wing): 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[1]
(United States Air Force)
  • 32d Composite Wing: 24 August – 1 December 1948
  • 51st Fighter Wing: 18 August – 1 December 1948.
  • 71st Tactical Reconnaissance Wing: 18 August – 25 October 1948 (not operational, and detached, 24 August – 25 October 1948)
  • 301st Fighter Wing: 7 June 1946 – 1 December 1948 (not operational, 18 August – 1 December 1948)
  • 316th Bombardment Wing (later 316th Air Division): 7 June 1946 – 21 June 1948
  • 392d Strategic Missile Wing: 18 October – 20 December 1961
  • 456th Troop Carrier Wing: attached c. 15 April 1955 – 26 March 1956
  • 703d Strategic Missile Wing: 25 September 1958 – 15 January 1959
  • 704th Strategic Missile Wing: 1 August 1957 – 1 July 1959 (not operational 6 April – 1 July 1959)
  • 706th Strategic Missile Wing: 23 February 1958 – 16 January 1959
  • 4320th Strategic Wing (Missile): 1–23 February 1958
  • 4392d Aerospace Support Wing: 21 July – 20 December 1961, 1 July 1987 – 15 January 1991
  • Strategic Missile, Provisional: attached 1 January – 1 February 1958 (became 4320th Strategic Wing subsequently)[1]

Groups

  • 6th Bombardment Group: 1 June 1947 – 18 October 1948 (not operational)
  • 71st Tactical Reconnaissance Group: attached 18 August – 1 November 1948
  • 93d Bombardment Group: attached 24 May – 25 August 1948
  • 94th Bombardment Group: 12 August – 26 September 1945
  • 96th Bombardment Group: 12 August – 26 September 1945
  • 98th Bombardment Group: attached 25 August – 1 December 1948
  • 100th Bombardment Group: 12 August – 26 September 1945[1]
  • 4000th Support Group (later other designations): 1966–1983

Squadrons

  • 644th Strategic Missile Squadron: April–December 1959
  • 864th, 865th, 866th Strategic Missile Squadrons
  • 4315th Combat Crew Training Squadron[note 1]
  • Others, too numerous[note 2]

Aircraft and missiles operated[]

From[note 2]

Aircraft
  • Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1943–1945
  • Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 1943–1945
  • North American P-51 Mustang, 1944–1945
  • Boeing B-29 Superfortress 1946–1948
  • Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, 1944, 1946–1948
  • Northrop P-61 Black Widow, 1946–1948
  • Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star, 1947–1948
  • B/ERB-17, 1946–1948
  • B-25, 1946
  • B-29/F-13, 1946–1947
  • Beechcrat C-45 Expeditor, 1946
  • Curtiss C-46 Commando, 1946–1947
  • L-4, 1946
  • L-5, 1946–1948
  • OA-10, 1946–1947
  • R-6, 1946
  • B/FB-17, 1948
  • RB-29, 1948
  • F-2, 1948
  • C-119, 1955–1956
Missile systems
  • PGM-17 Thor, 1958–1962
  • SM-65 Atlas, 1958–1966
  • PGM-19 Jupiter, 1958–1962
  • SM-68 Titan, 1960–1969
  • Minuteman I, 1961–1975
  • LGM-25C Titan II, 1962–1977
  • Minuteman II, 1966
  • Minuteman III, 1971–1991.

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ I was assigned to the 4315 CCTS at Vandenberg from April 1979 through July 1984 as Chief of Maintenance for the ICBM crew training simulators.[citation needed]
  2. ^ a b See' list in Air Force Historical Research Agency Factsheet, 1 Strategic Aerospace Division

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Factsheet 1 Strategic Aerospace Division". Air Force Historical Research Agency. 2 January 2008. Archived from the original on 30 October 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2014.

General references[]

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

  • 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.
  • Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979.* Merritt, Robert F. 1st Air Division, Okinawa. Okinawan, Japan: McFadden, 1947.
  • Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947–1977. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9.
  • 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.
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