page_title: 306th Strategic Wing
section_title: 306th Strategic Wing
hierarchical_section_title: 306th Strategic Wing / History / 306th Strategic Wing
caption_attribution_description: English: An air-to-air front view of an RC-135 Stratolifter aircraft from the 306th Strategic Wing during a refueling mission over the North Sea.
context_page_description: The 306th Strategic Wing, previously the 306th Bombardment Wing, is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the Strategic Air Command at RAF Mildenhall, England and was inactivated on 1 February 1992. Its heritage as both the 306th Bombardment Wing and its predecessor organization, the 306th Bombardment Group of World War II, was assumed by the 306th Flying Training Group, an Air Education and Training Command organization at the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado.
  The mission of the 306th SW was to coordinate all SAC air refueling and reconnaissance resources in the European Theater with the United States Air Forces in Europe. It assumed the mission of the 98th Strategic Wing when that unit was inactivated in 1976. The 306th SW was inactivated as part of the inactivation of SAC in 1992.
  The wing's World War II predecessor unit, the 306th Bombardment Group, was the first operational bombardment group in VIII Bomber Command. It was stationed at RAF Thurleigh, England from 6 September 1942 until 25 December 1945, the longest tenure at one station for any one Eighth Air Force group.
context_section_description: On 15 August 1976, the 306th was activated once again as the 306th Strategic Wing at Ramstein AB, West Germany. but did not become operational until October.  When the 98th Strategic Wing at Torrejon Air Base, Spain inactivated at the end of the year the 306th assumed as the focal point for all operations in Europe and acted as the SAC liaison with United States Air Forces Europe (USAFE) and European Command.
  On 1 July 1978, the 306th moved to RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom and became subordinate to 7th Air Division, which was activated at Ramstein to assume the SAC liaison mission. The wing was assigned the 922d Strategic Squadron at Hellenikon AB, Greece and a month later, the 34th Strategic Squadron at Zaragoza AB, Spain. For most of this period the 306 SW operated KC-135s and RC-135s from Mildenhall, Zaragoza, and Hellenikon. In 1985, KC-10A Extender aircraft were assigned to Zaragoza.
  The 306th supported air refueling requirements for a variety of aircraft in or transiting the European Theater including USAF EC-135s, RC-135s, USAF & NATO E-3As, USAF F-111s, F-4s, C-141s, C-5s, KC-10s, MC-130s, B-52s, B-1s, SR-71s, and RAF Lightning F6 aircraft. The 306 SW operated at Mildenhall until 31 March 1992 when it was inactivated in anticipation of SAC's disestablishment and the transfer of SAC's European assets. The wing's tanker mission transferred to USAFE's 100th Air Refueling Wing, while its air reconnaissance mission and 922d squadron transferred to Air Combat Command's 55th Wing.
caption: 306th Strategic Wing RC-135 refueling over the North Sea
exif: {"Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image ExifOffset": "78", "Thumbnail Compression": "0", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "214", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4716", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated"}