The 13th Strategic Missile 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 Si ...

unit. Its last assignment was with

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 ...

, based at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming. It was inactivated on 2 July 1966. Initially formed in 1940 as an air defense formation in the Caribbean, it later commanded

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Thea ...

groups of

Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forc ...

in the United Kingdom. Its units carried out strategic bombardment missions over Occupied Europe and Nazi Germany. 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 t ...

, the division controlling early ICBM wings of Strategic Air Command in the Midwest.

History

The unit was initially organized at

Langley Field Langley may refer to: People * Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name * Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer * Elizabeth Langley (born 1933), Canadian perfo ...

, Virginia, as the 13th Composite Wing in October 1940.Maurer, ''Combat Units'', pp. 382–383 It was assigned to the new

Caribbean Air Force The United States Air Forces Southern Command is an inactive Major Command of the United States Air Force. It was headquartered at Albrook Air Force Base, Canal Zone, being inactivated on 1 January 1976. Initially designated Panama Canal Air Forc ...

as a command organization for units in the Caribbean.Hagedorn, Assigned to

Borinquen Field Ramey Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. It was named after United States Army Air Forces Brigadier General Howard Knox Ramey. Following its closure, it was redeveloped into Rafael Hernandez Airpor ...

, Puerto Rico, its mission was to provide an air strike force for the defense of

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

and the U.S. Virgin Islands. During the period 1940 to 1942, the wing controlled 21 Douglas B-18 Bolo medium bombers and 92 assorted fighters in about a dozen groups and squadrons. On 17 April 1942, the wing was inactivated, and its mission was taken over by the

VI Interceptor Command The Trinidad Wing, Antilles Air Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Antilles Air Command at Waller Field, Trinidad. It was disbanded on 15 March 1944. History Engaged in antisubmarine operation ...

, Antilles Air Task Force. The organization was reactivated as the 13th Bombardment Wing in October 1942 at MacDill Field, Florida under

Third Air Force The Third Air Force (Air Forces Europe) (3 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA). Its headquarters is Ramstein Air Base, Germany. It is responsible for all U.S. air forces in ...

. It was one of three bombardment wing headquarters ( 12th, 13th, 14th) which were formed at MacDill for deployment to

in England. The 13th deployed in June 1943. There, it controlled the 95th, 100th and 390th Bombardment Groups under the

3d Bombardment Division 3-D, 3D, or 3d may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Relating to three-dimensionality * Three-dimensional space ** 3D computer graphics, computer graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data ** 3D film, a ...

, flying

es. Controlling the combat operations of the groups, it carried out strategic bombing of enemy aircraft, petroleum, and ball bearing industries as well as German airfields. Later, organizational units took part in the famous raid against the ball bearing industry at Schweinfurt in October 1943 and followed with missions against shipyards and shipbuilding installations at

Wilhelmshaven Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsh ...

and

Bremen Bremen ( Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state cons ...

. With the end of the war in Europe, it returned to the United States and was inactivated on 17 October 1945. The wing was redesignated as the 13th Air Division and then activated under

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...

(SAC) in July 1959. The 13th was one of SAC's first strategic missile command organizations, initially being assigned the 703d and

706th Strategic Missile Wing 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, ...

s at Lowry AFB, Colorado with the new

SM-68 Titan I The SM-68 Titan (individual variants later designated HGM-25 Titan I and LGM-25 Titan II) was the designation of two intercontinental ballistic missiles developed for the United States Air Force. The Titan I and Titan II missiles were operational b ...

ICBM. However, these wings never became operational; instead the division became an

SM-65 Atlas The SM-65 Atlas was the first operational intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by the United States and the first member of the Atlas rocket family. It was built for the U.S. Air Force by the Convair Division of General Dy ...

organization, controlling the 389th and

451st Strategic Missile Wing 451st may refer to: *451st Air Expeditionary Wing, a provisional United States Air Force Air Combat Command unit, currently in Afghanistan *451st Expeditionary Sustainment Command (ESC) is a subordinate command of 79th Sustainment Support Command * ...

s. In 1963, it assumed command of the

90th Strategic Missile Wing 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

with the new

LGM-30A Minuteman I The LGM-30 Minuteman is an American land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in service with the Air Force Global Strike Command. , the LGM-30G Minuteman III version is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States and r ...

. In 1965, the first-generation Atlas

intercontinental ballistic missile 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 weapo ...

was taken off alert and its subordinate wings were inactivated.Walker & Powell, It was briefly assigned some KC-135A Tankers and EC-135 electronic intelligence aircraft after the 98th Bombardment Wing was inactivated at

Lincoln Air Force Base Lincoln Airport (formerly Lincoln Municipal Airport) is a public/military airport northwest of downtown Lincoln, the state capital, in Lancaster County, Nebraska, United States. It is owned by the Lincoln Airport Authority and is the second ...

, Nebraska afterwards, however the 13th Strategic Missile Division was itself inactivated in July 1966, its mission being taken over by the

821st Strategic Aerospace Division The 821st Strategic Aerospace Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Fifteenth Air Force at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, where it was inactivated on 30 June 1971. The division was ...

in a SAC reorganization.

Lineage

* Established as the 13th Composite Wing on 2 October 1940 : Activated on 10 October 1940 : Inactivated on 17 April 1942 * Redesignated: 13th Bombardment Wing on 23 August 1942 : Activated on 1 October 1942 : Redesignated 13th Bombardment Wing (Heavy) on 1 February 1943 : Redesignated 13th Combat Bombardment Wing (Heavy) on 30 August 1943 : Redesignated 13th Combat Bombardment Wing, Heavy on 24 August 1944 : Redesignated 13th Bombardment Wing, Heavy on 18 June 1945 : Redesignated 13th Bombardment Wing, Very Heavy on 17 August 1945 : Inactivated on 17 October 1945 * Redesignated 13th Air Division on 20 May 1959 : Activated on 1 July 1959 : Redesignated 13th Strategic Missile Division on 1 January 1963 : Discontinued and inactivated, on 2 July 1966

Assignments

* Unknown, 10 October 1940 * Panama Canal Air Force (later Caribbean Air Force), c. 1 November 1940 – 25 October 1941 *

, 1 October 1942 * Eighth Air Force, c. 1 June 1943 *

VIII Bomber Command 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of ...

, 4 June 1943 * 3d Air Division, 16 July 1945 *

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 defende ...

, c. 15 August 1945 – 17 October 1945 *

, 1 July 1959 * Eighth Air Force, 1 July 1963 *

, 1 July 1965 – 2 July 1966

Components

Wings ;; HGM-25A Titan I ICBM * 703d Strategic Missile Wing: 1 July 1959 – 1 July 1961 * 706th Strategic Missile Wing: 1 July 1959 – 1 July 1961 ;; SM-65A Atlas ICBM * 389th Strategic Missile Wing: 1 July 1961 – 25 March 1965 * 451st Strategic Missile Wing: 1 July 1961 – 25 June 1965 ;; LGM-30A Minuteman I ICBM * 90th Strategic Missile Wing: 1 July 1963 – 2 July 1966 Squadron * 34th Air Refueling Squadron: 1 July 1965 – 25 June 1966. Groups *

25th Bombardment Group Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash tha ...

: 1 November 1940 – c. 6 January 1941 * 36th Pursuit Group: January-3 June 1941 *

40th 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 ...

: 1 May – 25 October 1941 * 95th Bombardment Group: September 1943 – c. 19 June 1945 * 100th Bombardment Group: c. September 1943 – c. December 1945 * 390th Bombardment Group: 13 September 1943 – c. 4 August 1945 *

490th Bombardment Group The 490th Bombardment Group is a former United States Army Air Forces unit. The group was activated in October 1943 . After training in the United States, it deployed to the European Theater of Operations and participated in the strategic bom ...

: c. March – August 1945 *

493d Bombardment Group The 493d Bombardment Group is a former United States Army Air Forces unit that was assigned to the 92d Bombardment Wing during World War II. It the last bombardment group to be assigned to Eighth Air Force. It flew combat missions in the str ...

: c. March – August 1945

Stations

* Langley Field, Virginia, 10 – 26 October 1940 * Borinquen Field, Puerto Rico, 1 November 1940 *

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the ...

, c. 6 January 1941 * Borinquen Field, Puerto Rico, c. 1 May – 25 October 1941 * MacDill Field, Florida, 1 October 1942 – c. 10 May 1943 * Marks Hall, England, c. 2 June 1943 * Camp Blainey, England, c. 13 June 1943 *

RAF Horham Horham (pronounced 'Hohrum') is a village in the county of Suffolk, in the East Anglia region of eastern England, United Kingdom. The village contains a church, St. Mary of Horham. Horham is on the B1117 road, approximately halfway between Eye ...

, England, 13 September 1943 – c. 6 August 1945 *

Sioux Falls Army Air Field Sioux Falls Regional Airport , also known as Joe Foss Field, is a public and military use airport three miles northwest of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States. It is named in honor of aviator and Sioux Falls native Joe Foss, who later served a ...

, South Dakota, c. 15 August 1945 *

Peterson Field Peterson Space Force Base, previously Peterson Air Force Base, Peterson Field, and Army Air Base, Colorado Springs, is a U.S. Space Force Base that shares an airfield with the adjacent Colorado Springs Municipal Airport and is home to the N ...

, Colorado, 17 August – 17 October 1945 * Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, 1 July 1959 – 2 July 1966

Aircraft and missiles

* Douglas B-18 Bolo, 1940–1941 * Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1941, 1943–1945 *

Martin B-26 Marauder The Martin B-26 Marauder is an American twin-engined medium bomber that saw extensive service during World War II. The B-26 was built at two locations: Baltimore, Maryland, and Omaha, Nebraska, by the Glenn L. Martin Company. First used in t ...

, 1941 *

Bell P-39 Airacobra The Bell P-39 Airacobra is a fighter produced by Bell Aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It was one of the principal American fighters in service when the United States entered combat. The P-39 was used by t ...

, 1941 *

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time an ...

, 1941 * SM-65 Atlas, 1960–1965 * SM-68A Titan I, 1962–1965 * LGM-30 Minuteman I, 1964–1966 *

Boeing EC-135 The Boeing EC-135 is a retired family of command and control aircraft derived from the Boeing C-135 Stratolifter. During the Cold War, the EC-135 was best known for being modified to perform the Looking Glass mission where one EC-135 was always ...

, 1965–1966 *

Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It is the predominant variant of the C-135 Stratolifter family of trans ...

, 1965–1966

Heraldry

Light blue, issuant from base a sphere light green with land areas vert, grid lined azure, the sinister quarter of the last with grid lines of the field, above the sphere in chief an olive branch arched fesswise or, overall an aircraft and a missile bendwise each trailing speedlines of the like and all within a diminished border of the last.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * Hagedorn, Dan (1995). ''Alae Supra Canalem: Wings Over the Canal''. New York, NY: Turner Publishing Co. . * * * Walker, Chuck & Powell, Joel (2005). ''Atlas The Ultimate Weapon''. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Apogee Books. . {{USAAF 6th Air Force World War II Military units and formations established in 1940 013th 1940 establishments in Virginia 1966 disestablishments in Wyoming