The 22nd Strategic Aerospace Division is an inactive

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

unit. Its last assignment was with the

Fifteenth Air Force The Fifteenth Air Force (15 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base. It was reactivated on 20 August 2020, merging the previous units of the Ninth Air Force ...

, stationed at

Walker Air Force Base Walker Air Force Base is a closed United States Air Force base located three miles (5 km) south of the central business district of Roswell, New Mexico. It was opened in 1941 as an Army Air Corps flying school and was active during World ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

. It was inactivated on 1 July 1965 due to budget constraints.

History

"The 22nd Wing replaced an operational training unit at Hunter Field, Georgia on 5 December 1942 and began supervising and coordinating various aspects of

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

training for subordinate groups. It moved to Florida in February 1943 and continued training until 15 August 1943. Reestablished in July 1959 and later redesignated 22nd Strategic Aerospace Division, it assured that assigned units were organized, manned, trained, and equipped to conduct

aerial refueling Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft a ...

operations and long-range

strategic bombing Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both. It is a systematica ...

using either

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

s or

conventional weapon The terms conventional weapons or conventional arms generally refer to weapons whose ability to damage comes from kinetic, incendiary, or explosive energy and exclude weapons of mass destruction (''e.g.'' nuclear, biological, radiological and c ...

s. In addition, from 1962 to 1965 the division controlled Atlas

ICBM An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons c ...

s."

Lineage

* Established as the 22nd Bombardment Training Wing on 28 November 1942 : Activated on 5 December 1942 : Disestablished on 15 August 1943 * Reestablished and redesignated 22nd Air Division on 1 July 1959 : Activated on 15 July 1959 : Redesignated 22nd Strategic Aerospace Division on 1 July 1962 : Discontinued and inactivated on 1 July 1965

Assignments

III Air Support Command The III Tactical Air Command was a United States Army Air Forces formation. Its last assignment was with Third Air Force stationed at Barksdale Field, Louisiana. It was disbanded on 24 October 1945. The command was established in 1941 as the 3rd ...

, 5 December 1942 *

III Fighter Command The III Fighter Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was at MacDill Field, Florida. It was inactivated on 8 April 1946. History Background GHQ Air Force (GHQ,AF) had been established with two major combat ...

, 6 – 15 August 1943 *

Second Air Force The Second Air Force (2 AF; ''2d Air Force'' in 1942) is a USAF numbered air force responsible for conducting basic military and technical training for Air Force enlisted members and non-flying officers. In World War II the CONUS unit defended ...

, 15 July 1959 *

, 9 September 1960 – 1 July 1965

Components

Wings *

6th Strategic Aerospace Wing 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

: 1 July 1963 – 1 July 1965 *

310th Strategic Aerospace Wing 31 may refer to: * 31 (number) Years * 31 BC * AD 31 * 1931 CE ('31) * 2031 CE ('31) Music * ''Thirty One'' (Jana Kramer album), 2015 * ''Thirty One'' (Jarryd James album), 2015 * "Thirty One", a song by Karma to Burn from the album ''Wild, ...

: 1 July 1962 – 25 June 1965 * 341st Strategic Missile Wing: 15 July 1961 – 1 July 1962 * 461st Bombardment Wing: 1 February 1963 – 30 June 1964 * 4045th Air Refueling Wing: 15 July 1959 – 9 September 1960 * 4062nd Strategic Wing: 1 December 1960 – 20 February 1962 * 4090th Air Refueling Wing: 15 July 1959 1 July 1960 * 4128th Strategic Wing: 1 July 1962 – 1 February 1963 Groups * 84th Bombardment Group: 5 December 1942 – 15 August 1943 * 311th Bombardment Group: 5 December 1942 – c. July 1943 * 312th Bombardment Group: 5 December 1942 – c. March 1943 * 339th Bombardment Group: 5 December 1942 – 15 August 1943 * 405th Bombardment Group: 1 March – 15 August 1943 *

407th Bombardment Group 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

: 7 April – 15 August 1943

Stations

Hunter Field Hunter Army Airfield , located in Savannah, Georgia, United States, is a military airfield and subordinate installation to Fort Stewart located in Hinesville, Georgia. Hunter features a runway that is 11,375 feet (3,468 m) long and an Airpor ...

, Georgia, 5 December 1942 *

Drew Field Tampa International Airport is an international airport west of Downtown Tampa, in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. The airport is publicly owned by Hillsborough County Aviation Authority (HCAA)., effective December 30, 2021. The ...

, Florida, 12 February – 15 August 1943 *

Clinton County Air Force Base Wilmington Air Park, effective 2009-08-27. is a public-use airport located two nautical miles (3.7 km) southeast of the central business district of Wilmington, a city in Clinton County, Ohio, United States. While DHL had privately owned ...

, Ohio, 15 July 1959 *

Malmstrom Air Force Base Malmstrom Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place (CDP) in Cascade County, Montana, United States, adjacent to the city of Great Falls. It was named in honor of World War II POW Colonel Einar Axel Malmstrom. ...

, Montana, 9 September 1960 *

Schilling Air Force Base Salina Regional Airport , formerly Salina Municipal Airport, is three miles southwest of Salina, Kansas, United States. The airport is owned by the Salina Airport Authority. It is used for general aviation, with service by one passenger airline, ...

, Kansas, 1 July 1962 *

, New Mexico, 1 July 1963 – 1 July 1965

Notes

References

* * {{USAAF 3rd Air Force World War II 022 022 Military units and formations established in 1942