The 17th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Pacific Air Forces, stationed at U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield, Thailand, where it was inactivated on 1 January 1976.
History
The air division was first activated as the 17th Bombardment Wing on 18 December 1940, and assigned to the Southeast Air District. It was assigned the 3d and 27th Bombardment Groups as its operational units, and the 22d Pursuit Wing was attached from January to June 1942. In September 1941, the wing was inactivated and its personnel used to form the 3d Air Support Command.
Reactivated as part of Second Air Force in June 1942 as the 17th Bombardment Training Wing. Was the primary training command organization for USAAF heavy bombardment (Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B-24 Liberator) groups during World War II from June 1942 until May 1944. 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.
In 1943 assumed mission for training Boeing B-29 Superfortress Very Heavy bombardment groups prior to their deployment to Twentieth Air Force in the Pacific Theater until April 1946 when it ceased all activity. It also exercised limited supervision over the training of the XXI and XXII Bomber Commands during 1944.
Strategic Air Command
The disbanded wing was reconstituted and redesignated the 17th Air Division and activated on 15 July 1959. It gained control of the 340th and the 305th Bombardment Wings at Bunker Hill Air Force Base, Indiana, and the 4040th Air Base Squadron at Richard I. Bong Air Force Base, Wisconsin in 1959. The two bombardment wings flew normal Strategic Air Command alert patrols and participated in special exercises as required. The division lost its bombardment wings and gained missile wings in 1963, assuming responsibility for Titan and Minuteman missiles in Missouri, Kansas, and later Arkansas. When joined by the 70th Bombardment Wing, on 1 July 1965 with Boeing B-52 Stratofortress and Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft, the division reverted to an earlier designation – 17th Strategic Aerospace Division. From 1965 to 1971, the division's units frequently deployed bomber and tanker resources. Operation Arc Light operations in Southeast Asia, consisting of military operations against enemy forces in Vietnam, drew most of the deployments.
Pacific Air Forces
From 1 July 1975 to 1 January 1976 as part of Pacific Air Forces, it supervised training for United States Air Force tactical units in Thailand. It was inactivated as part of the USAF withdrawal from Thailand after the end of the Vietnam War.
Lineage
- Constituted as the 17th Bombardment Wing on 3 October 1940
- Activated on 18 December 1940
- Inactivated on 1 September 1941
- Activated on 23 June 1942
- Redesignated 17th Bombardment Training Wing in January 1943
- Redesignated 17th Bombardment Operational Training Wing in April 1943
- Inactivated on 15 November 1943
- Redesignated 17th Bombardment Operational Training Wing (Very Heavy)
- Activated on 11 March 1944
- Inactivated on 9 April 1946
- Disbanded on 8 October 1948
- Reconstituted and redesignated 17th Air Division, on 1 July 1959
- Activated on 15 July 1959
- Redesignated 17th Strategic Aerospace Division on 15 February 1962
- Redesignated 17th Strategic Missile Division on 1 September 1963
- Redesignated 17th Strategic Aerospace Division on 1 July 1965
- Inactivated on 30 June 1971
- Redesignated 17th Air Division on 24 January 1975
- Activated on 1 July 1975
- Inactivated on 1 January 1976
Assignments
Components
Commands
- XXI Bomber Command: attached c. 15 April – 20 October 1944
- XXII Bomber Command: attached 14 August 1944 – 13 February 1945
Wings
Groups
Stations
See also
- List of United States Air Force air divisions
References
Notes
- Explanatory notes
- Citations
Bibliography
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
- Futrell, Robert F. (September 1956). "Command of Observation Aviation: A Study in Control of Tactical Airpower, USAF Historical Study No. 24" (PDF). Research Studies Institute, USAF Historical Division, Air University. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
- Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2016.
- Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947–1977. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9.
