19th Air Division The 19th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit . Its last assignment was with Eighth Air Force , based at Carswell Air Force Base , Texas . It was inactivated on 30 September 1988 . During World War II , the unit was designated as IX Bomber Command and was the command and control organization for Ninth Air Force in the Western Desert Campaign . Using predominantly B - 24 Liberator heavy and B - 25 Mitchell medium bombers , it supported the British Eighth Army against the German Afrika Korps from airfields ranging from Palestine in 1942 across North Africa to the final defeat of German forces in the Tunisia Campaign in May 1943 . Later , during the 1944 Battle of Normandy and the 1945 Western Allied invasion of Germany , as the 9th Bombardment Division , the unit directed B - 26 Marauder medium bombers in tactical roles supporting Allied ground forces from D - Day to V - E Day . Heraldry . Azure , surmounting a lightning flash gules , a globe argent with latitude and longitude lines dark blue and encircled with a planetary ring of the last strewn with stars of the third and fimbriated of the like all bandwise , in chief an olive branch fesswise or , all within a diminished border of the third . ( Approved 11 March 1959 . ) History . Canal Zone . The 19th Air Division was first organized on 30 June 1929 as the 19th Composite Wing at France Field , Canal Zone . It was a consolidation of Air Corps units in the Canal Zone , and was activated on 1 April 1931 . It consisted of the following units : During the 1930s the 19th Wing participated in maneuvers , flew patrol missions , made good will flights to Central American and South American countries , and flew mercy missions in South America . In January 1939 , it flew missions to aid earthquake victims in Santiago , Chile . It was redesignated as the 19th Bombardment Wing on 19 October 1940 as the United States prepared for a possible war . By late August 1941 , a total of 71 aircraft , consisting of B - 18 Bolo s ; B - 17B Flying Fortress es ; A - 20 Havoc s , and A - 17A Nomads were assigned to various groups under its control . It was replaced by the 13th Bombardment Wing in an administrative reorganization of the Panama Canal Air Force on 25 October 1941 . World War II . North Africa . Reactivated as IX Bomber Command , the unit was assigned to Ninth Air Force in Egypt on 17 November 1942 . Its component groups were : IX Bomber Command was quickly put together in late 1942 to aid the British Eighth Army ' s drive west from Egypt into Libya against Rommel ' s Afrika Corps during the Western Desert Campaign . It consisted of units and aircraft put together for an attack on Japan which was canceled after the Burma Road was captured by Japanese forces , making its planned base in China unable to support the attack ( HALPRO Mission ) ; by Pearl Harbor Attack and Philippines survivor early model B - 17 Flying Fortresses that had been sent from Australia , and by some early B - 24 Liberator and B - 25 Mitchells which were sent across the South Atlantic Transport route from Morrison Field , Florida via Brazil and across Central Africa via Sudan . Reinforced during early 1943 , its subordinate units attacked enemy storage areas , motor transports , troop concentrations , airdromes , bridges , shipping , and other targets in Libya , Tunisia , and other areas . In May 1943 after the Tunisian Campaign ended , Tunisia became available for launching attacks on Pantelleria ( Operation Corkscrew ) , Sicily ( Operation Husky ) , and mainland Italy . IX Bomber groups attacked airfields and rail facilities in Sicily and took part in Operation Husky , carried paratroopers , and flew reinforcements to ground units on the island . Heavy bomb units of the Ninth also participated in the famed low - level assault on oil refineries at Ploesti ( Operation Tidal Wave ) Romania on 1 August 1943 . Later in August 1943 , it was decided to reassign Ninth Air Force to England to be the tactical air force in the planned invasion of France scheduled for May 1944 . The IX Bomber Command reassigned its groups to Twelfth Air Force , and eventually its heavy bombardment groups became the core of the newly activated Fifteenth Air Force , while its B - 25 Mitchell medium bomber groups remained with Twelfth Air Force . The command ' s headquarters at Soluch Airfield , Libya , was inactivated on 1 October 1943 . Normandy Campaign . The IX Bomber Command was reassigned to Marks Hall , England on 16 October 1943 . It took over the 3rd Bombardment Wing of the Eighth Air Force VIII Air Support Command . It was expanded and consisted of three Wings of medium bomber groups : In England , and later on the continent after D - Day , IX Bomber Command became the medium bomber component of Ninth Air Force . Its initial mission was attack to German Atlantic Wall defenses along the English Channel coast of France . After D - Day , its primary mission was changed to fly tactical bombardment missions supporting Allied ground forces as they advanced from the Normandy Beaches across France into Germany . In addition , it attacked enemy airfields in Nazi - occupied areas in support of Eighth Air Force strategic bombing missions as well as operations against German V - weapon sites . Additional missions involved attacks on rail marshaling yards , railroads , airfields , industrial plants , military installations , and other enemy targets in France , Belgium , and the Netherlands . It was redesignated as the 9th Bombardment Division , Medium on 30 August 1944 . The last combat missions was flown on 3 May 1945 by the 386th , 391st , 409th & 410th Bomb Groups . Strategic Air Command . Redesignated as the 19th Bombardment Wing , it served another brief period with the Reserve from 1946 – 1949 , carrying out routine training activities . It was redesignated again in February 1951 , as the 19th Air Division as part of Strategic Air Command , and some of its subordinate units trained in , and flew B - 36 Peacemaker aircraft . These same units were later equipped with B - 52 Stratofortress and KC - 135 Stratotanker aircraft and trained in global strategic bombardment and air refueling operations . In early 1960 , several of its assigned units evaluated various models of the B - 58 Hustler aircraft , while at the same time operating a combat crew training school to train Strategic Air Command aircrews in the B - 58 weapons system . Following evaluation of the B - 58 , these units utilized the aircraft in the strategic bombardment role . In January 1967 , the division began deploying B - 52 aircraft and aircrews to Southeast Asia for combat operations , continuing until 1973 . In 1975 , the 19th provided air refueling support for the evacuation of Vietnamese and Americans from South Vietnam . After 1975 , the division insured its subordinate units were manned , trained , equipped , and operationally ready to conduct bombing and air refueling missions , and if necessary , to launch intercontinental ballistic missile s . Wings Groups Squadrons