32d Air Division

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32d Air Division

319th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron F-104As 1958.jpg

Active 1949–1958; 1958-1963; 1966-1969
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
Role Command and Control
Part of Air Defense Command
Insignia
32d Air Division emblem (approved 4 March 1953) [1] USAF 32d Air Division Crest.jpg

The 32d Air Division (32d AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was last active with Air Defense Command, assigned to First Air Force at Gunter Air Force Base, Alabama, where it was inactivated on 31 December 1969.

United States Air Force Air and space warfare branch of the United States Armed Forces

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerial and space warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the five branches of the United States Armed Forces, and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially formed as a part of the United States Army on 1 August 1907, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the U.S. Armed Forces on 18 September 1947 with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the youngest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and the fourth in order of precedence. The USAF is the largest and most technologically advanced air force in the world. The Air Force articulates its core missions as air and space superiority, global integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.

First Air Force Numbered air force of the United States Air Force responsible for the North American region

The First Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. Its primary mission is the air defense of the Contiguous United States (CONUS), United States Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Contents

The division was first activated by Continental Air Command in November 1949 at Stewart Air Force Base, New York. It controlled air defense units in the northeastern United States from Stewart, and later from Hancock Field, New York until being inactivated in August 1958.

Continental Air Command 1948-1968 United States Air Force major command

Continental Air Command (ConAC) (1948–1968) was a Major Command of the United States Air Force (USAF) responsible primarily for administering the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve.

Hancock Field Air National Guard Base

Hancock Field Air National Guard Base is a United States Air Force base, co-located with Syracuse Hancock International Airport. It is located 4.6 miles (7.4 km) north-northeast of Syracuse, New York, at 6001 East Molloy Road, Mattydale, NY 13211. The installation consists of approximately 350 acres (1.4 km2) of flight line, aircraft ramp and support facilities on the south side of the airport.

The division was activated again in November 1958 at Dobbins Air Force Base, Georgia to provide air defense of the southeastern United States, moving to Oklahoma City Air Force Station, Oklahoma in 1961. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, it was the primary air defense command for potential attacks from Cuba, acting through its Montgomery Air Defense Sector and a provisional organization at Key West Naval Air Station. The division was inactivated in September 1963.

Oklahoma City Air Force Station

Oklahoma City Air Force Station is a closed Cold War United States Air Force air defense and communications-electronics headquarters and radar station. It was located 10 miles (16 km) east-southeast of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, just to the southeast of Tinker Air Force Base. It ceased to be a separate Air Force installation on 1 October 1983, when it merged with Tinker.

Cuban Missile Crisis The conflict between the US and Cuba over nuclear missile threats from communist Cuba.

The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis of 1962, the Caribbean Crisis, or the Missile Scare, was a 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union initiated by American ballistic missile deployment in Italy and Turkey with consequent Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. The confrontation is often considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.

In April 1966, the 32d was again activated at Gunter, where it replaced the Montgomery Air Defense Sector. At Gunter, it also reported to North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) as the 32d NORAD Region. It was again responsible for air defense in the Southeast until 1969, when its mission, personnel and equipment were transferred to the 20th Air Division.

20th Air Division

The 20th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Tactical Air Command at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida where it was inactivated on 1 March 1983.

History

Air Defense of the Northeast

32d Air Division AOR 1952-1958 32dAD - Map - 1949-1963.jpg
32d Air Division AOR 1952-1958
27th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron F-94C at Griffiss AFB 1954 27th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron Lockheed F-94C-1-LO Starfire 51-13555.jpg
27th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron F-94C at Griffiss AFB 1954

Assigned to Air Defense Command (ADC) for most of its existence, the 32d organized, administered, equipped, trained, and prepared for operation, all of its assigned units. The division participated in exercises such as Creek Brave, Top Rung and Natchez Echo. Initially, it assumed responsibility for an area including Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and part of New York.

Cuban Missile Crisis

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, as the division responsible for defense of the area nearest Cuba, the division role expanded. In addition to defense of its area of responsibility, the division (acting largely through its Montgomery Air Defense Sector and Task Force 32, which was established for Continental Air Defense Command and included an operating location at Key West Naval Air Station, Florida) was responsible to defend staging bases and routes to possible drop zones in Cuba for troop carrier units. [3]

Continental Air Defense Command

Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) was a Unified Combatant Command of the United States Department of Defense, tasked with air defense for the Continental United States. It comprised Army, Air Force, and Navy components. It included Army Project Nike missiles anti-aircraft defenses and USAF interceptors. The primary purpose of continental air defense during the CONAD period was to provide sufficient attack warning of a Soviet bomber air raid to ensure Strategic Air Command could launch a counterattack without being destroyed. CONAD controlled nuclear air defense weapons such as the 10 kiloton W-40 nuclear warhead on the CIM-10B BOMARC. The command was disestablished in 1975, and Aerospace Defense Command became the major U.S. component of North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).

Radar warning capabilities were increased. Four destroyers in the Straits of Florida, whose primary mission was to provide navigation guidance to potential strike aircraft, began to provide low altitude radar coverage as a secondary mission on 23 October, and the USS Consult was added as a picket ship. The number of Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star airborne early warning and control aircraft at McCoy Air Force Base, Florida was increased from three to six. On 24 October VAW-14 deployed six Grumman WF-2s to Jacksonville Naval Air Station. These planes moved to Key West on 26 October. [4] [5]

At the same time additional interceptor aircraft were put under the division's control. Initially, the aircraft of the training wing at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida were put on alert at Tyndall and other Florida bases, as was a detachment of VF(AW)-3 at Key West. [6] The Tyndall forces included 17 McDonnell F-101 Voodoos, 18 Convair F-106 Delta Darts and 9 Convair F-102 Delta Daggers, and were the main element in increasing the ADC alert force in Florida from 4 to 74 planes in 48 hours. [7] TF-102 trainers were placed on alert at Homestead, Patrick, McCoy, and MacDill. [8] The Navy fighter detachment was also transferred to the division's control. [6]

Twelve McDonnell F-4 Phantom IIs of VF-41 moved to augment air defense forces on Key West, and additional crews were added to the VF(AW)-3 detachment to permit it to maintain aircraft on continuous alert. [4] The 331st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron deployed 18 Delta Daggers to Homestead Air Force Base bringing the number of Deuces there to 32. [8] However, the F-102s of the 331st were soon replaced with F-102s from 325th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron in order to have planes armed with Mighty Mouse rockets [9] to improve low altitude intercept capability [10] Patrick Air Force Base, Florida received a dozen Delta Darts from the 49th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron. [8]

To improve fighter-on-fighter capability draft mobilization orders were issued for the 122d, 151st, 157th and 159th Fighter-Interceptor Squadrons, but were never finalized and the Air National Guard did not take part in the crisis. [11] The alert status of the division's fighters included airborne alert against dawn raids early in crisis. [12] The "Strategic Orbit Points" for airborne fighters were manned by 10 planes (later reduced to 4 planes). [13] Alert planes were also placed in “sling shot” status (engines running). This was later reduced to alert crews in the planes' cockpit near the runway. [12]

Army air defense forces also came under the division's control. A battery of MIM-23 Hawk missiles from the 6th Battalion, 61st Artillery was transferred from Fort Meade to defend Key West. [6] [8] Homestead received a 40mm automatic weapons battery from the 1st Battalion, 59th Artillery and on 31 October. a Nike Hercules battery from the 2nd Battalion, 52nd Artillery at Fort Bliss as well as a Hawk batteries on 2 November. Hawks from the 8th Battalion, 15th Artillery at Fort Lewis were also deployed to MacDill Air Force Base and to Patrick. [8] [14]

As the crisis eased, most units were released on 29 November, and except for forces retained against possible future threats from Cuba, the remaining forces were returned to their normal status by 3 December. [15]

Air defense of the Southeast

32d Air Division AOR 1966-1969 32dAD - Map - 1966-1969.jpg
32d Air Division AOR 1966-1969

Later, beginning in 1966, the area expanded to include Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and parts of South Carolina, Louisiana and Florida when it assumed responsibility for the mission of the inactivated Montgomery Air Defense Sector. Assumed additional designation of 32d NORAD Region after activation of the NORAD Combat Operations Center at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, Colorado and reporting was transferred to NORAD from ADC at Ent Air Force Base in April 1966.

Inactivated in November 1969 as ADC phased down its interceptor mission as the chances of a Soviet bomber attack on the United States seemed remote, its mission being consolidated into the 23d Air Division.

Lineage

Activated on 8 December 1949
Inactivated on 1 February 1952
Inactivated on 15 August 1958
Activated on 15 November 1958
Discontinued and inactivated, on 4 September 1963
Organized on 1 April 1966
Inactivated on 31 December 1969 [1]

Assignments

Stations

Components

Sectors

Topsham Air Force Station, Maine
Gunter Air Force Station, Alabama
Oklahoma City Air Force Station, Oklahoma [1]
Syracuse Air Defense Sector
Syracuse Air Force Station, New York

Wings

Groups

Interceptor squadrons

Radar squadrons

See also

Related Research Articles

Southeast Air Defense Sector

The Southeast Air Defense Sector (SEADS), was a unit of the US Air Force located at Tyndall Air Force Base near Panama City, Florida. It provided air defense and surveillance of the southeastern region of the US. SEADS closed in winter 2005, giving up surveillance and control of their airspace to the Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS) and the former Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS).

9th Space Division

The 9th Space Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Force Space Command, being stationed at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. It was inactivated on 1 October 1991.

26th Air Division

The 26th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Tactical Air Command, assigned to First Air Force, being stationed at March Air Force Base, California. It was inactivated on 30 September 1990.

27th Air Division

The 27th Air Division was a United States Air Force 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.

327th Aircraft Sustainment Wing

The 327th Aircraft Sustainment Wing is an inactive wing of the United States Air Force last based at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. It was last assigned to Air Force Material Command's Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center.

319th Fighter Interceptor Training Squadron

The 319th Fighter Interceptor Training Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Aerospace Defense Command's Interceptor Weapons School at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, where it was inactivated on 30 November 1977.

75th Fighter Squadron

The 75th Fighter Squadron(75 FS) is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 23d Fighter Group and stationed at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia.

318th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

The 318th Fighter Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with 25th Air Division based at McChord AFB, Washington. The squadron was inactivated on 7 December 1989.

331st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

The 331st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command at Webb Air Force Base, Texas, where it was inactivated on 1 March 1967.

539th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

The 539th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the New York Air Defense Sector at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, where it was inactivated on 31 August 1967.

456th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

The 456th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the Air Defense Command San Francisco Air Defense Sector stationed at Oxnard AFB, California. It was inactivated on 18 July 1968.

15th Test Squadron

The 15th Test Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the Air Force Materiel Command at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, where it was inactivated.

98th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

The 98th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the New York Air Defense Sector of Air Defense Command stationed at Suffolk County Air Force Base, New York, where it was inactivated on 30 September 1968.

325th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

The 325th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit, last assigned to Air Defense Command at Truax Field, Wisconsin, where it was inactivated on 25 June 1966.

83d Fighter Weapons Squadron

The 83d Fighter Weapons Squadron is a United States Air Force unit, assigned to the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group. It is stationed at Tyndall AFB, Florida.

326th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron Former US Air Force unit

The 326th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 328th Fighter Wing at Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base, Missouri, where it was inactivated on 2 January 1967.

482d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

The 482d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Montgomery Air Defense Sector at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida in 1969. During World War II the squadron was a replacement training unit until disbanded in 1944 when the Army Air Forces converted training units to Army Air Force Base Units. It was reconstituted in 1955 and served as a fighter interceptor squadron until 1969.

438th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

The 438th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with 507th Fighter Wing at Griffiss Air Force Base, New York, where it was inactivated on 30 September 1968.

13th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

The 13th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the Minot Air Defense Sector, stationed at Glasgow Air Force Base, Montana where it was inactivated on 30 June 1968.

337th Aeronautical Systems Group

The 337th Aeronautical Systems Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the Aeronautical Systems Center of Air Force Materiel Command at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, where it was inactivated in 2008.

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Factsheet 32 Air Division". Air Force Historical Research Agency. October 5, 2007. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  2. Lockheed F-94C-1-LO Starfire 51-13555
  3. NORAD/CONAD Participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis, pp. 2, 15
  4. 1 2 NORAD/CONAD Participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis, p. 9
  5. NORAD/CONAD Participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis, pp. 9-10
  6. 1 2 3 NORAD/CONAD Participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis, p. 7
  7. McMullen, pp. 7-8
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 NORAD/CONAD Participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis, p. 10
  9. The planes of the 331st were armed only with AIM-4 Falcons only
  10. NORAD/CONAD Participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis, pp. 8-9
  11. McMullen. pp. 15-16
  12. 1 2 NORAD/CONAD Participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis, pp. 18-19
  13. NORAD/CONAD Participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis, p. 22
  14. NORAD/CONAD Participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis, p. 8
  15. NORAD/CONAD Participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis, p. 29
  16. The February 1952 inactivation and activation represented only a change from a table of organization unit to a table of distribution unit

Bibliography

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

Further reading