17th Air Division (United States)

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17th Air Division

Official crest of the 17th Air Division
Active 3 October 1940–1 September 1941
23 June 1942–15 November 1943
28 February 1944–8 October 1948
1 July 1959–30 June 1971
24 January 1975–1 January 1976
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
Garrison/HQ see "Stations" section below
Equipment see "Aircraft / Missiles / Space vehicles" section below
Decorations see "Lineage and honors" section below


Contents

[edit] History

Beginning in January 1943, the wing supervised the training of heavy bombardment groups and crews. Initially, it controlled the third phase of training, in which each bombardment group split into tactical components and operated from squadron sized airfields under simulated combat conditions. Later, the 17th supervised the first and second phases of heavy bombardment group and crew training. It also exercised limited supervision over the training of the XXI Bomber Command and XXII Bomber Command during 1944. Later as an Air Division, it gained control of the 340th Bombardment Wing and the 305th Bombardment Wing at Bunker Hill Air Force Base (later, Grissom Air Reserve Base), Indiana, and the 4040th Air Base Squadron at Richard I. Bong AFB (later, Richard Bong State Recreation Area, Wisconsin in 1959. The two bombardment wings flew normal Strategic Air Command (SAC) alert patrols and participated in special exercises as required. However, the division lost its bombardment wings and gained missile wings in 1963 and assumed responsibility for Titan and Minuteman missiles in Missouri, Kansas, and later Arkansas. When joined by the 70th Bombardment Wing on 1 July 1965, with B-52 and KC-135 aircraft, the division reverted to an earlier designation - 17th Strategic Aerospace Division. From 1965–1971, the division's subordinate units frequently deployed bomber and tanker resources. Operation Arc Light in Southeast Asia, consisting of military operations against enemy forces in Vietnam, drew most of the deployments. From 1 July 1975–1 January 1976, it maintained an effective training program for United States Air Force tactical units in Thailand.

[edit] Background of name

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[edit] Mission

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[edit] Operations

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[edit] Lineage and honors

Established as 17 Bombardment Wing on 3 October 1940. Activated on 18 December 1940. Inactivated on 1 September 1941.

Activated on 23 June 1942. Redesignated: 17 Bombardment Training Wing on 5 January 1943; 17 Bombardment Operational Training Wing on 15 April 1943. Inactivated on 15 November 1943.

Redesignated 17 Bombardment Operational Training Wing, Very Heavy on 28 February 1944. Activated on 11 March 1944. Inactivated on 9 April 1946. Disbanded on 8 October 1948.

Reconstituted, and redesignated 17 Air Division, on 1 July 1959. Activated on 15 July 1959. Redesignated: 17 Strategic Aerospace Division on 15 February 1962; 17 Strategic Missile Division on 1 September 1963; 17 Strategic Aerospace Division on 1 July 1965. Inactivated on 30 June 1971.

Redesignated 17 Air Division on 24 January 1975. Activated on 1 July 1975. Inactivated on 1 January 1976.

[edit] Service streamers

This unit earned the following organizational service streamers:

World War II: American Theater

[edit] Campaign streamers

This unit earned the following organizational campaign streamers:

none

[edit] Armed forces expeditionary streamers

none

[edit] Decorations

This unit earned the following unit decorations:

none

[edit] Awards

[edit] Emblem

Per fess arched light blue and checky argent and azure, in middle base a rook, in dexter flank a king and in sinister flank a queen all or, above the rook ascending in pale between in chief two mullets of the last a missile of the second emitting a flame to base gules, all within a diminished border of the fourth. (Approved 28 April 1964)

[edit] Assignments

GHQ Air Force, 18 December 1940; Southeast Air District (later, Third Air Force), 16 January 1941–1 September 1941 (attached to Bomber Command [of Third Air Force], 23 April 1941–1 September 1941).

Second Air Force, 23 June 1942; II Bomber Command, 15 May 1943; Second Air Force, 6 October 1943–15 November 1943.

Second Air Force, 11 March 1944; Fifteenth Air Force, 31 March 1946–9 April 1946.

Second Air Force, 15 July 1959; Eighth Air Force, 1 July 1963; Fifteenth Air Force, 31 March 1970–30 June 1971.

Pacific Air Forces, 1 July 1975–1 January 1976.

[edit] Components

Commands:

Wings:

Groups:

Squadron:

[edit] Stations

Savannah Air Base (later, Army Air Base), Georgia, 18 December 1940–1 September 1941.

Rapid City Army Air Base (later, Ellsworth Air Force Base), South Dakota, 23 June 1942; Walla Walla Army Airfield (later, Walla Walla Regional Airport), Washington, 24 June 1943–15 November 1943.

Smoky Hill Army Airfield (later, Salina Municipal Airport), Kansas, 11 March 1944; Colorado Springs, Colorado, 15 April 1944; Grand Island Army Airfield, Nebraska, 22 May 1944; Sioux City Army Air Base, Iowa, 9 February 1945; Tarrant Field, Texas, 24 December 1945–9 April 1946.

Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, 15 July 1959–30 June 1971. U-Tapao International Airport, Thailand, 1 July 1975–1 January 1976.

[edit] Aircraft / Missiles / Space vehicles

A-18 Shrike, 1940–1941; A-20 Havoc, 1940–1941; A-24 Banshee, 1940–1941; Martin B-12, 1940–1941; B-18 Bolo, 1940–1941; P-36 Hawk, 1941; P-39 Airacobra, 1941; Curtiss P-40, 1941; PT-17 Kaydet, 1941.

B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942–1943; B-24 Liberator, 1942–1943.

B-29 Superfortress, 1945–1946.

B-47 Stratojet, 1959–1963; KC-97 Stratotanker, 1959–1963; KC-135 Stratotanker, 1959–1962, 1965–1970; Atlas (SM-65), 1960–1962; Titan II (LGM-25II), 1963–1971; Minuteman I (LGM-30A/B), 1964–1967; B-52 Stratofortress, 1965–1969; Minuteman II (LGM-30F), 1966–1971.

A-7 Corsair II, 1975; AC-130 gunship, 1975; CH-53 Sea Stallion, 1975; CH/HH-53 Super Jolly Green Giant, 1975; F-4 Phantom II, 1975; OV-10 Bronco, 1975; T-39 Sabreliner, 1975.

[edit] Commanders

Major General Lewis H. Brereton, 18 December 1940–28 July 1941; Unknown, 29 July 1941–6 August 1941; Colonel Asa N. Duncan, 7 August 1941–c.1 September 1941.

Brigadier General Walter R. Peck, 23 June 1942; Colonel Allen W. Reed, 14 September 1943; Major Floyd S. Cofer Jr., 6 November 1943–15 November 1943.

None (not manned), 11 March 1944–11 April 1944; Brigadier General Frank A. Armstrong Jr., 12 April 1944; Brigadier General Robert F. Travis, 7 November 1944; Colonel Kermit D. Stevens, by 28 August 1945; Brigadier General Robert F. Travis, c.5 September 1945; Brigadier General Hugo P. Rush, 7 September 1945; Brigadier General Robert F. Travis, 5 November 1945–1946.

None (not manned), 15 July 1959–22 July 1959; Brigadier General Harold E. Humfeld, 23 July 1959; Brigadier General Robert H. Strauss, 1 April 1960; Major General Joseph J. Preston, 1 August 1963; Brigadier General Richard N. Ellis, c.8 September 1964; Major General William E. Creer, 1 July 1966; Brigadier General James M. Keck, 7 July 1967; Colonel Robert J. Ray, 18 August 1968; Brigadier General Robert R. Scott, 20 August 1969; Colonel George R. Brendle, 14 June 1971–30 June 1971 (acting).

Brigadier General Walter H. Baxter III, 1 July 1975–1 January 1976.

[edit] References


[edit] External links