96th Air Division

The 96th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the Tenth Air Force, based at Scott Field, Illinois. It was inactivated on 27 June 1949.

As the 96th Bombardment Wing, the unit was one of the primary B-24 Liberator heavy strategic bombardment wings of the Eighth Air Force 2d Bombardment Division in World War II.

Lineage

 * Established as 96th Combat Bombardment Wing (Heavy) on 8 November 1943
 * Activated on 11 January 1944
 * Redesignated: 96th Combat Bombardment Wing, Heavy on 7 August 1944
 * Redesignated: 96th Bombardment Wing, Heavy on 9 June 1945
 * Redesignated: 96th Bombardment Wing, Very Heavy on 17 August 1945
 * Inactivated on 17 October 1945


 * Activated in the Reserve on 12 June 1947
 * Redesignated: 96th Air Division, Bombardment on 16 April 1948
 * Inactivated on 27 June 1949

Assignments

 * Eighth Air Force, 11 January 1944
 * 2d Bombardment (later, 2 Air) Division, 22 February 1944
 * VIII Fighter Command, 16 July-6 August 1945
 * Army Service Forces, 6 August-c. 14 August 1945
 * Second Air Force, c. 14 August-17 October 1945; 2 June 1947
 * Tenth Air Force, 1 July 1948-27 June 1949.

Components

 * 44th Bombardment Group, 26 June-24 July 1945
 * 93d Bombardment Group, c. 6 June-24 July 1945
 * 351st Bombardment Group, 4 June 1948-27 June 1949
 * 381st Bombardment Group, 17 October 1947-4 June 1948
 * 392d Bombardment Group, c. 6 July 1944-c. 7 June 1945
 * 446th Bombardment Group, 1 June-c. 30 July 1945


 * 448th Bombardment Group, 6 July 1944-23 July 1945
 * 458th Bombardment Group, c. 8 February 1944-25 July 1945
 * 466th Bombardment Group, c. 14 March 1944-c. 2 October 1945
 * 467th Bombardment Group, c. 18 March 1944-c. 17 October 1945
 * 491st Bombardment Group, c. 5 May 1944-c. 16 June 1945.

Stations

 * RAF Horsham St Faith, England, 11 January 1944
 * Ketteringham Hall, England, c. 1 June-c. 5 August 1945
 * Sioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota, c. 14 August 1945
 * Peterson Field, Colorado, 16 August-17 October 1945
 * Scott Field, Illinois, 12 June 1947-27 June 1949.

Aircraft

 * B-24, 1944–1945
 * AT-6, 1948–1949
 * AT-11, 1948–1949.

Operations
The 96th Bombardment Wing's units entered combat in early 1944, bombing oil refineries, marshaling yards, steel plants, and tank factories plus numerous other assorted targets in the European theater. In September 1944, some of the units ceased bombardment missions and instead flew gasoline for Army units to airfields in France. Others air-dropped supplies to Allied troops during the airborne attack on Holland that same month. During the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944 through January 1945, subordinate units of the 97th aided Allied ground forces by bombing German transportation lines. Besides strategic bombardment, they also dropped supplies to Allied troops during the airborne assault across the Rhine River in March 1945.

Returned to the United States in summer, 1945. Programmed to become a B-29 Superfortress command wing, however inactivated at the end of the Pacific War.

Active in the Reserves from June 1947 to June 1949, the organization was redesignated as a division in April 1948.