The 18th 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 Si ...

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 ...

Fairchild Air Force Base Fairchild Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base, located in the northwest United States in eastern Washington, approximately southwest of Spokane. The host unit at Fairchild is the 92nd Air Refueling Wing (92 ARW) assigned ...

, Washington, where it was inactivated on 2 July 1968.

History

The 18th Composite Wing served as part of the defense force for the Hawaiian Islands from 1 May 1931 – 29 January 1942. It inactivated after suffering disastrous losses in the Japanese

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

(7 December 1941). From June 1942 until 1944, it operated as the 18th Replacement Wing, processing personnel entering Second Air Force. Redesignated as the 18th Air Division on 1 July 1959, it assured that assigned wings were organized, manned, trained, and equipped to conduct long-range bombardment operations using either nuclear or conventional weapons. The division was redesignated as 18 Strategic Aerospace Division on 15 February 1962, and also developed and maintained a strategic missile operational capability. Between 1965 and 1968, subordinate units of the 18th loaned aircraft and aircrews to SAC organizations for combat during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. The division was inactivated on 2 July 1968 due to budget constraints.

Lineage

* Established as the 18th Composite Wing on 8 May 1929 : Activated on 1 May 1931 : Redesignated 18th Wing on 1 September 1937 : Redesignated 18th Bombardment Wing on 19 October 1940 : Inactivated on 29 January 1942 * Redesignated 18th Replacement Wing on 17 June 1942 : Activated on 23 June 1942 : Disestablished on 11 April 1944 * Reestablished and redesignated 18th Air Division on 20 May 1959 : Activated on 1 July 1959 : Redesignated 18th Strategic Aerospace Division on 15 February 1962 : Discontinued and inactivated on 2 July 1968

Assignments

* Hawaiian Department, 1 May 1931 *

Hawaiian Air Force The Seventh Air Force (Air Forces Korea) (7 AF) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Osan Air Base, South Korea. The command's mission is to plan and direct air component operations in ...

, 1 November 1940 – 29 January 1942 *

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 ...

, 23 June 1942 – 11 April 1944 *

, 1 July 1959 – 2 July 1968

Components

Wings * 6th Strategic Wing: 25 March 1967 – 2 July 1968 * 91st Bombardment Wing: 1 July 1963 – 1 September 1964 *

92d Bombardment Wing 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the Brahmi numerals, beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshat ...

(later 92 Strategic Aerospace Wing): 1 July 1959 – 2 July 1968 *

320th Bombardment Wing 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

: 1 July 1965 – 2 July 1966 * 341st Strategic Missile Wing: 2 July 1966 – 2 July 1968 *

462d Strategic Aerospace Wing 46 may refer to: * 46 (number) * ''46'' (album), a 1983 album by Kino * "Forty Six", a song by Karma to Burn from the album ''Appalachian Incantation'', 2010 * One of the years 46 BC, AD 46, 1946, 2046 In contemporary history, the third mil ...

: 1 February 1963 – 25 June 1966 * 4157th Strategic Wing: 1 July 1965 – 25 March 1967 * 4158th Strategic Wing: 1 July 1965 – 25 June 1966 * 4170th Strategic Wing: 1 July 1959 – 1 February 1963 Groups *

5th Composite Group ''005'' (pronounced "''double-o five''") is a 1981 arcade video game by Sega. They advertised it as the first of their RasterScan Convert-a-Game series, designed so that it could be changed into another game in minutes "at a substantial savings" ...

(later, 5 Bombardment Group): 1 May 1931 – 29 January 1942 *

11th Bombardment Group An international call prefix, international dial-out code or international direct dial code (IDD code) is a trunk prefix that indicates an international phone call. In the dialling sequence, the prefix precedes the country calling code (and, furt ...

: 1 February 1940 – 29 January 1942 *

18th Pursuit Group 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19. In mathematics * Eighteen is a composite number, its divisors being 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9. Three of these divisors (3, 6 and 9) add up to 18, hence 18 is a semiperfect number. ...

: 1 May 1931 – 1 November 1940

Stations

Fort Shafter Fort Shafter, in Honolulu CDP, Page 4/ref> City and County of Honolulu, Hawai‘i, is the headquarters of the United States Army Pacific, which commands most Army forces in the Asia-Pacific region with the exception of Korea. Geographically, Fo ...

, Hawaii, 1 May 1931 *

Hickam Field Hickam may refer to: ;Surname *Homer Hickam (born 1943), American author, Vietnam veteran, and a former NASA engineer ** October Sky: The Homer Hickam Story, 1999 American biographical film * Horace Meek Hickam (1885–1934), pioneer airpower advoc ...

, Hawaii Territory, 30 October 1937 – 29 January 1942 *

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, Utah, 23 June 1942 – 11 April 1944 *

, Washington, 1 July 1959 – 2 July 1968

Campaigns

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * {{USAAF 2d Air Force World War II

018 018 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 turb ...

Military units and formations established in 1929 1931 establishments in Hawaii 1944 disestablishments in Utah 1959 establishments in Washington (state) 1968 disestablishments in Washington (state)