302d Air Division

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= 302 Air Division


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dates= 1943-1949
country= United States
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branch= United States Air Force
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role= Command and Control
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battle_honours=The 302 Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force Division. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, assigned to Fourteenth Air Force, being stationed at Marietta AAB, Georgia. It was inactivated on 27 Jun 1949.

History

Lineage

* Established as 302 Transport Wing (Special) on 2 Nov 1943: Activated on 5 Dec 1943: Inactivated on 15 Dec 1945
* Activated in the Reserve on 20 Dec 1946: Redesignated: 302 Troop Carrier Wing on 31 Dec 1946: Redesignated: 302 Air Division, Troop Carrier on 16 Apr 1948: Inactivated on 27 Jun 1949: Redesignated 302 Air Division on 1 Sep 1959.: (Not Activated)

Assignments

* Ninth Air Force: IX Air Service Command (later, IX Air Force Service Command), 5 Dec 1943
* Air Service Command, United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe, 1 Sep 1944: Continental Air Depot Area, United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe (later, Continental Air Depot Area, Air Technical Service Command), 9 Dec 1944
* Ninth Air Force, 1 Jun 1945
* United States Air Forces in Europe, 18 Jul 1945
* Army Service Forces, c. 8-15 Dec 1945
* Fourteenth Air Force, 20 Dec 1946
* Tactical Air Command: Ninth Air Force, 22 Dec 1948
* Air Defense Command: Fourteenth Air Force, 1 Feb-27 Jun 1949.

Stations

* RAF Sunninghill, England, 5 Dec 1943
* RAF Grove England, unkn-c. 8 Sep 1944
* RAF Cranford, England, c. 8 Sep 1944
* Paris, France, 15 Nov 1944
* RAF Grove, England, c. 1 Oct-9 Dec 1945
* Marietta AAB (later, AFB), Georgia, 20 Dec 1946-27 Jun 1949.

Components

Groups
* 27 Air Transport: 1 Sep 1944-5 Apr 1945; 18 Jul-15 Oct 1945
* 31 Air Transport: 1 Sep 1944-c. 4 Sep 1945
* 435 Troop Carrier: 15 Jul 1947-26 Jun 1949
* 514 Troop Carrier: 17 Oct 1947-26 Jun 1949
* 534 Troop Carrier: 29 May 1947-26 Jun 1949.

Squadrons
* 310 Ferrying: c. 1 May-c. 25 Aug 1945
* 311 Ferrying: c. 18 Jul-c. 15 Sep 1945
* 320 Transport: 18 Jul-8 Aug 1945.

Aircraft

* C-47, 1944-1945
* C-46, 1945
* C-64, 1945.

Operational History

Subordinate units of the 302d wing carried cargo and passengers within Great Britain and, later, to and from continental Europe, beginning in Dec 1943. Cargo included medical supplies and whole blood, and war materiel such as gasoline, helmets, bayonets, belly tanks, ammunition, clothing, Signal Corps equipment, and even telephone poles. Passengers included war correspondents, entertainers, general officers, enlisted personnel, pilots, German prisoners, Allied ex prisoners of war, and wounded personnel, both Allied and enemy.

In Feb 1945, the wing assumed the additional mission of ferrying aircraft. In fulfilling this mission, the wing ferried B-17s, B-24s, B-26s, A-20s, P-51s, C-109s, and numerous other models within the European theater of operations.

A Reserve wing Dec 1946-Jun 1949, it was redesignated later in inactive status as a division.

References

External links