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13 Strategic Missile Division
13thad-emblem
Emblem of the 13 Strategic Missile Division
Active 1940–1966
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
Role Strategic Missile Command and Control

The 13 Strategic Missile Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Fifteenth Air Force, based at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming. It was inactivated on 2 July 1966.

History[]

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. (Approved 4 January 1961.)

Lineage[]

  • Established as 13 Composite Wing on 2 October 1940
Activated on 10 October 1940
Inactivated on 25 October 1941
  • Redesignated: 13 Bombardment Wing on 23 August 1942
Activated on 1 October 1942
Redesignated: 13 Bombardment Wing (Heavy) on 1 February 1943
Redesignated: 13 Combat Bombardment Wing (Heavy) on 30 August 1943
Redesignated: 13 Combat Bombardment Wing, Heavy on 24 August 1944
Redesignated: 13 Bombardment Wing, Heavy on 18 June 1945
Redesignated: 13 Bombardment Wing, Very Heavy on 17 August 1945
Inactivated on 17 October 1945
  • Redesignated: 13 Air Division on 20 May 1959
Activated on 1 July 1959
Redesignated: 13 Strategic Missile Division on 1 January 1963
Discontinued, and inactivated, on 2 July 1966.

Assignments[]

Components[]

Wings

Squadron

  • 34 Air Refueling: 1 July 1965 – 25 June 1966.

Groups

Stations[]

  • Langley Field, Virginia, 10–26 October 1940
  • Borinquen Field, Puerto Rico, 1 November 1940
  • San Juan, Puerto Rico, 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

Aircraft and Missiles[]

Operations[]

Activated in the United States in October 1940, the wing moved to Puerto Rico where it remained until inactivated in October 1941.

Following second activation, it moved in May 1943 to England for duty with the Eighth Air Force. Groups assigned in September 1943 began 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 and Bremen.

During the 1960s, the division organized, manned, trained, and equipped several strategic missile wings in Wyoming.

References[]

PD-icon This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at 13 Strategic Missile Division and the edit history here.
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