3rd Air Division

The 3rd Air Division (3d AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Strategic Air Command, assigned to Fifteenth Air Force, being stationed at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. It was inactivated on 1 April 1992.

The 3rd Air Division was created in England during World War II as the 3rd Bombardment Division, an upper command echelon of the Eighth Air Force. With five combat bomb wings and 14 heavy bomber groups assigned, it was one of the two largest U.S. air combat organizations during World War II.

The 3rd Air Division was activated in September 1943 as an intermediate command and control organization between command and wing levels. It was assigned to VIII Bomber Command, Eighth Air Force. The Division commanded three combat bombardment wings (4th, 13th and 45th), consisting of seven Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomb groups. The addition of the 92nd and 93rd Combat Bomb Wings in 1944 and additional bomb groups to the other wings increased the number of combat groups to fourteen. Between May 1944 and September 1944 the division operated both B-17 Flying Fortress (nine groups) and Consolidated B-24 Liberator (five groups) aircraft, before converting to an all-B-17 organization for the remainder of the war. In September 1944 the 66th Fighter Wing was assigned directly to the division for fighter support.

The bomb groups bombed Axis targets in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). During the weeks immediately preceding the invasion of France, division aircraft bombed tactical targets such as German communications centers and lines of support, and on 6 June 1944 hit targets on the Cherbourg Peninsula immediately behind the landing beaches.

After V-E Day, the 3rd Air Division briefly became part of the United States Air Forces in Europe. As former Eighth Air Force units were withdrawn from Europe and returned to the United States during the summer and fall of 1945, the Division was assigned to VIII Fighter Command and controlled a mixture of bombardment and fighter groups before itself being inactivated on 21 November 1945.

In August 1948, in response to the Berlin Blockade, the U.S. deployed long-range Boeing B-29 Superfortress strategic bombers to four English East Anglian bases. The 3rd Air Division (Provisional) was activated as part of United States Air Forces in Europe to receive, support and operationally control the B-29 units deployed for training. At this time these units were only expected to take part in 30- to 60-day temporary duty cycles. It was formed at RAF Marham in Norfolk, and on 23 August 1948, the provisional title was dropped, and on 8 September the headquarters moved into quarters at Bushy Park in London and remained there until April 1949 when it moved to the Victoria Park Estate, South Ruislip.

It also provided aircraft maintenance support at RAF Burtonwood (Cheshire) for Douglas C-54 Skymaster aircraft used in the Berlin Airlift.

It was briefly elevated to the Major Command level from 3 January 1949 – 21 January 1951. When the Berlin Airlift ended in 1949, the division participated in the Military Assistance Program in England and began an extensive air base construction program through May 1951 and a large number of USAF organizations based in the United Kingdom.