27th Air Division

The 27th Air Division was a USAF numbered air division and the geographic Air Defense Command region controlled by the 27th AD. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command (ADC)'s Tenth Air Force, at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. It was inactivated on 19 November 1969.



Norton AFB
Activated as the 27 Air Division (Defense) on September 7, 1950, the unit was assigned to ADC for most of its existence, the division's initial air defense area was southern California and later southern Nevada (and a small portion of Arizona by 1953).


 * 4705th Defense Wing: The 4705th Defense Wing was a placeholder military organization that absorbed the 1st Fighter-Interceptor Wing personnel and equipment 5 days after the 4705th Defense Wing was organized at Norton AFB  (e.g., the 94th Fighter-Interceptor Squadronat George AFB).   The wing was discontinued and 94th FIS reassigned directly to 27th Air Division, which had reorganized at Norton AFB in February, one month later.

In May 1958, the 27th AD directed a hostile intercept of a "declared unknown" aircraft (without proper IFF), but the "inter­ceptor pilot remembered...that opening bomb bay doors was to be considered a hostile act only after declaration of an Air Defense Emergency or Warning Yellow or Red" (the SAC B-47 was on an RBS bomb run near the Los Angeles Bomb Plot.) The 27th AD was designated 1 of 23 NORAD divisions effective June 10, 1958, by NORAD General Order 6.



Rocky Mountain Division
The "27th Air Division (Rocky Mountain)" was to transfer to the midwest with command of 2 NORAD sectors (Reno and Denver Air Defense Sectors) during deployment of SAGE. In addition to a hardened Air Defense Direction Center at Stead Air Force Base for the Reno sector; NORAD's July 25, 1958, SAGE Geographic Reorganization Plan identified the Super Combat Center/Direction Center (SCC/DC) nuclear bunker for the division was to be at Denver, Colorado (cf. the bunkers later planned for Cheyenne Mountain and in a Cripple Creek mine). The division's general area was west-to-east from the western Nevada state meridian (near the Sierra Escarpment) to the Great Plains near Oakley, Kansas; and north-south from mid-Wyoming to just south of the Four Corners latitude. Existing Permanent System radar stations in the planned Rocky Mountain Division included the Fallon, Tonopah, and Winnemucca AFSs (the atomic-powered "SAGE feeder station" in the Black Hills NF became operational in 1962); and facilities and cities to be protected by the division included the Salt Lake City military installations west of the Rockies and planned Titan missile launch complexes and assembly plant at the Colorado Front Range. The Reno sector was activated February 15, 1959, and the AN/FSQ-7 at Stead AFB was replaced by Backup Interceptor Control at Fallon Naval Air Station by 1970.

In February 1959, the Los Angeles Air Defense Sector was activated during deployment of SAGE as a subordinate unit of the 27th AD. However, the Denver SCC/CC was cancelled on March tbd, 1959; so instead of moving from the Southwest United States to the Zone of Interior (and the 28th Air Division then taking over as the Southwestern Air Division), the 27th Air Division was inactivated on October 1, 1959 (command transferred to the subordinate Los Angeles Air Defense Sector).

Luke AFB
Reactivated in January 1966 at Luke AFB, the 27th AD consolidation the Los Angeles and Phoenix Air Defense Sectors, and the division assumed the additional designation of 27th NORAD Region after activation of the NORAD Combat Operations Center at Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado. The Norton AFB SAGE Direction Center closed in June 1966 (the Luke AFB DC was 1 of 6 still open in 1970). When the 27th AD was inactivated in 1969, command of its components transferred to the 26th Air Division (March AFB CA), and a 1987 reorganization placed sites "under the Southwest Air Defense Sector of the 25th Air Division."

Lineage

 * Constituted as the 27 Air Division (Defense)
 * Activated on 20 September 1950
 * Inactivated on 1 February 1952


 * Organized on 1 February 1952
 * Inactivated on 1 October 1959


 * Redesignated as the 27th Air Division and activated on 20 January 1966
 * Organized on 1 April 1966
 * Inactivated on 19 November 1969.

Assignments
 * Western Air Defense Force (WADF), 20 September 1950 – 1 October 1959
 * Air Defense Command, 20 January 1966
 * Fourth Air Force, 1 April 1966
 * Tenth Air Force, 15 September 1969 – 19 November 1969.

Stations
 * Norton AFB, CA, 20 September 1950 – 1 October 1959
 * Luke AFB, AZ, 1 April 1966 – 19 November 1969.

Components
Sector
 * Los Angeles Air Defense Sector
 * Norton AFB, CA, 15 February 1959 – 1 October 1959

Wings
 * 1st Fighter-Interceptor Wing (attached)
 * March AFB, CA 20 September 1950 – 1 February 1952


 * 78th Fighter Wing (Air Defense)
 * Hamilton AFB, CA, 15 September 1969 – 19 November 1969


 * 4705th Defense Wing
 * Norton AFB, CA, 1 February 1952 – 1 March 1952

Groups


 * 414th Fighter Group
 * Oxnard AFB, CA, 18 August 1955 – 1 October 1959; 1 April 1966 – 19 November 1966


 * 533d Air Defense Group
 * Oxnard AFB, CA, 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955


 * 544th Aircraft Control and Warning Group
 * Norton AFB, CA, 1 March 1951 – 6 February 1952


 * 4722d Defense Group
 * George AFB, CA, 1 December 1956 – 1 July 1958

Defense Systems Evaluation Squadron
 * 4758th Defense Systems Evaluation Squadron
 * Holloman AFB, New Mexico, 15 November 1969 – 19 November 1959

Fighter Squadrons


 * 94th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
 * George AFB, CA, 1 March 1952 – 18 August 1955


 * 188th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
 * Federalized New Mexico Air National Guard
 * Long Beach Municipal Airport, CA, 1 March 1952 – 1 November 1952


 * 327th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
 * George AFB, CA, 18 August 1955 – 1 December 1956


 * 329th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
 * George AFB, California, 18 August 1955 – 1 December 1956; 1 September 1958 – 1 October 1959; 1 April 1966 – 31 July 1967


 * 354th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
 * Oxnard AFB, CA, 15 December 1952 – 16 February 1953


 * 456th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron (attached)
 * Castle AFB, CA, 18 July 1968


 * 518th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
 * George AFB, CA, 8 January-18 August 1955

Radar squadrons


 * 659th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron
 * Kingman AFS, AZ, 20 June 1953 – 15 August 1958


 * 666th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron
 * Mill Valley AFS, CA, 15 September 1969 – 19 November 1969


 * 669th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron
 * Santa Rosa Island AFS, CA, 6 February 1952 – 1 October 1959
 * Lompoc AFS, CA, 1 April 1966 – 18 June 1968


 * 670th Radar Squadron
 * San Pedro Hill AFS, CA, 6 February 1952 – 1 October 1959; 1 April 1966 – 1 April 1976


 * 682d Radar Squadron
 * Almaden AFS, CA, 15 September 1969 – 19 November 1969


 * 684th Radar Squadron
 * Mount Lemmon AFS, AZ, 1 April 1966 – 31 December 1969


 * 750th Radar Squadron
 * Boron AFS, CA, 6 February 1952 – 1 October 1959; 19 November 1969 – 30 June 1975


 * 751st Radar Squadron
 * Mount Laguna AFS, CA, 6 February 1952 – 1 October 1959; 1 April 1966 – 19 November 1969


 * 775th Radar Squadron
 * Cambria AFS, CA, 1 October 1954 – 1 October 1959; 1 April 1966 – 19 November 1969


 * 776th Radar Squadron
 * Point Arena AFS, CA, 15 September-19 November 1969


 * 827th Radar Squadron
 * Keno AFS, OR, 15 September-19 November 1969


 * 858th Radar Squadron
 * Fallon AFS, NV, 15 September-19 November 1969


 * 859th Radar Squadron
 * Red Bluff AFS, CA, 15 September-19 November 1969


 * 864th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron
 * Vincent AFB, AZ, 8 August 1955 – 1 October 1959


 * 865th Radar Squadron
 * Las Vegas AFS, NV, 1 April 1956 – 1 October 1959; 1 April 1966 – 31 December 1969


 * 866th Radar Squadron
 * Tonopah AFS, NV, 15 September-19 November 1969