The 85th Air 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

Eastern Air Defense Force The Eastern Air Defense Force (EADF) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command being stationed at Stewart Air Force Base, New York. It was inactivated on July 1, 1960. History EADF was ...

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was est ...

Andrews Air Force Base Andrews Air Force Base (Andrews AFB, AAFB) is the airfield portion of Joint Base Andrews, which is under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force. In 2009, Andrews Air Force Base merged with Naval Air Facility Washington to form Joint B ...

, Maryland. It was inactivated on 1 September 1958.

History

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the 85th Fighter Wing was a command and control organization of

Fifth Air Force The Fifth Air Force (5 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Yokota Air Base, Japan. It is the U.S. Air Force's oldest continuously serving Numbered Air Force. The organiza ...

, operating primarily in the Southwest Pacific Theater. It had no units assigned before departing overseas from California. In the

Southwest Pacific Area South West Pacific Area (SWPA) was the name given to the Allied supreme military command in the South West Pacific Theatre of World War II. It was one of four major Allied commands in the Pacific War. SWPA included the Philippines, Borneo, the D ...

its units fought in "

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

and the

Philippine Islands The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

(February 1944 – August 1945)

lying A lie is an assertion that is believed to be false, typically used with the purpose of deception, deceiving or Deception, misleading someone. The practice of communicating lies is called lying. A person who communicates a lie may be termed a l ...

cover missions for convoys, patrols, escorted bombers, attacked enemy airfields, and support ngground forces." "After the war's end, the organization provided fighter protection for the Philippine Islands and conducted an intensive training program in aerial combat, gunnery, and instrument flying, until he units inactivation inJune 1948." 95th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron North American F-86D-55-NA Sabre 53-600 1955 Andrews AFB

95th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron North American F-86D-55-NA Sabre 53-600 1955 Andrews AFB

During the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

the unit was reactivated as an Air Division by

. "It was assigned to the

in September 1955 with a mission to intercept unidentified aircraft over the Washington, D.C. area. It participated in numerous training exercises. It also took part in gunnery and air-launched training and readiness tests." Inactivated in September 1958.

Lineage

* Established as the 85th Fighter Wing on 4 November 1943 : Activated on 10 November 1943 : Inactivated on 30 June 1948 * Redesignated 85 Air Division (Defense) on 3 May 1955 : Activated on 8 September 1955 : Inactivated on 1 September 1958

Assignments

Fourth Air Force The Fourth Air Force (4 AF) is a numbered air force of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC). It is headquartered at March Air Reserve Base, California. 4 AF directs the activities and supervises the training of more than 30,000 Air Force Reser ...

, 10 November 1943 *

IV Fighter Command The IV Fighter Command is a disbanded United States Air Force unit. It was activated under Fourth Air Force at March Field, California in June 1941, when it replaced a provisional organization. It was responsible for training fighter units and ...

, 28 November 1943 – 10 January 1944 *

Army Service Forces The Army Service Forces was one of the three autonomous components of the United States Army during World War II, the others being the Army Air Forces and Army Ground Forces, created on 9 March 1942. By dividing the Army into three large comman ...

, Port of Embarkation, 10 January – 17 February 1944 *

, 18 February 1944 *

Far East Air Forces Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) is a Major Command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force and is also the air component command of the United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM). PACAF is headquartered at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam (fo ...

, 11 May 1945 *

Thirteenth Air Force The Thirteenth Air Force (Air Forces Pacific) (13 AF) was a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It was last headquartered at Hickam Air Force Base on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. 13 AF has never been stat ...

, 1 September 1945 * Fifth Air Force, 1 June 1947 – 30 June 1948 *

, 8 September 1955 – 1 September 1958

Stations

* Hamilton Field, California, 10 November 1943 *

San Francisco Airport San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middle E ...

, California, 10 November 1943 – 10 January 1944 *

Gusap Airfield Gusap Airport is a general aviation airport in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. located at the base of the Finisterre Range. It has no scheduled commercial airline service. It is currently in use, and maintained by Ramu Agri Industries Ltd. ( ...

, New Guinea, 25 February 1944 *

Hollandia Airfield Complex Dortheys Hiyo Eluay International Airport, also known as Sentani International Airport ( id, Bandar Udara Internasional Sentani) is an airport serving Jayapura,

, New Guinea, 24 July 1944 *

Bayug Airfield Bayug Airfield is a World War II airfield located in the east of Burauen, Leyte, Philippines, and to the west of San Pablo Airfield, to the north of the Marabong River in the province of Leyte, Philippines. It was closed after the war. History B ...

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

, Philippines, 24 October 1944 *

Fort William McKinley Fort Andres Bonifacio (formerly named Fort William McKinley) is the site of the national headquarters of the Philippine Army (Headquarters Philippine Army or HPA) located in Metro Manila, Philippines. It is located near the national headquarter ...

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

, Philippines, c. 15 June 1945 *

Basa Air Base Cesar Basa Air Base, or simply Basa Air Base (formerly known as Floridablanca Airfield), is an airbase currently operated by the Philippine Air Force. It is located at Floridablanca, Pampanga about northwest of Metro Manila in the Philippines. ...

, Luzon, Philippines, c. 15 July 1946 *

Nagoya Airfield , also known as Komaki Airport or Nagoya Airport, is an airport which lies within the local government areas of Toyoyama, Komaki, Kasugai and Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. It was once an international airport, but is now a domestic sec ...

, Japan, 1 June 1947 – 30 June 1948 *

, Maryland, 8 September 1955 – 1 September 1958

Components

Wing * 4625th Air Defense Wing (later Washington Air Defense Sector): 1 December 1956 – 1 September 1958 Groups *

18th Fighter Group 018 may refer to *Air Canada Flight 018, an airline flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver, Canada, illegally boarded by a Chinese man wearing a disguise in 2010 *Area code 018, a telephone area code in Uppsala, Sweden *BMW 018, an experimental turboje ...

: 15 March 1946 – 1 May 1947 *

49th Fighter Group The 49th Fighter Group was a fighter aircraft unit of the Fifth Air Force that was located in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater during World War II. Activation and training The group was constituted as 49th Pursuit Group (Interceptor) on 20 November 194 ...

: 19 April – 5 June 1944 *

348th Fighter Group The 108th Operations Group is a unit of the 108th Wing (108 WG) of the New Jersey Air National Guard, one of the many units stationed at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. If activated to federal service with the U.S. Air Force, the ...

: 7 November 1944 – 8 February 1945 *

414th Fighter Group The 414th Fighter Group is an Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the United States Air Force. It is assigned to the 944th Fighter Wing of Tenth Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. The g ...

: c. 15 December 1945-c. 30 September 1946 *

475th Fighter Group 475th may refer to: *475th Air Base Wing, inactive United States Air Force unit * 475th Bombardment Squadron, inactive United States Air Force unit * 475th Fighter Group, World War II predecessor of 53d Weapons Evaluation Group * 475th Test Squadro ...

: 16 June 1944 – 18 May 1945 Squadrons *

17th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron 17 (seventeen) is the natural number following 16 and preceding 18. It is a prime number. Seventeen is the sum of the first four prime numbers. In mathematics 17 is the seventh prime number, which makes seventeen the fourth super-prime, as ...

: 1 February – 22 March 1946 *

48th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron The 48th Flying Training Squadron is part of the 14th Flying Training Wing based at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi. It operates T-1 Jayhawk aircraft conducting flight training. The squadron is one of the oldest in the Air Force, being for ...

: 1 March 1956 – 1 September 1958 *

95th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron The 95th Fighter Squadron (95 FS) is a disbanded F-22 Raptor squadron of the United States Air Force. Last activated on 11 October 2013 and stationed at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, the squadron's aircraft and personnel were distributed acros ...

: 1 March 1956 – 1 September 1958 *

419th Night Fighter Squadron The 419th Night Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Thirteenth Air Force, being inactivated at Floridablanca, Luzon on 20 February 1947. The unit was formed in 1943. After training, it was ...

: 10 January 1946 – 20 February 1947 *

482d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron The 482d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Montgomery Air Defense Sector at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida in 1969. During World War II the squadron was a replacement train ...

: 8 April 1956 – 1 September 1958 *

550th Night Fighter Squadron 55 may refer to: *55 (number) *55 BC *AD 55 *1955 * 2055 Science *Caesium, by the element's atomic number Astronomy *Messier object M55, a magnitude 7.0 globular cluster in the constellation Sagittarius *The New General Catalogue object NGC 55, ...

: 7 April-c. 30 June 1945

References

Notes

; Explanatory notes ; Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{USAAF 5th Air Force World War II 085 Aerospace Defense Command units 1943 establishments in California 1958 disestablishments in Maryland