21st Air Division The 21st Air Division ( 21st AD ) is an inactive United States Air Force organization . Its last assignment was with Tactical Air Command , being stationed at Griffiss Air Force Base , New York . It was inactivated on 23 September 1983 . History . World War II . Initially established in 1942 as the 21st Bombardment Wing , the organization functioned as a staging wing for Second Air Force , and later as a command , processing heavy bombardment crews and aircraft for overseas movement , and then processing men returning from overseas , from 1942 – 1946 . From December 1946 , it performed routine training duties in the Air Force Reserve through 27 June 1949 when it was inactivated due to budget reductions . Strategic Air Command . Reactivated as an intermediate command echelon of Strategic Air Command in February 1951 at Forbes AFB , Kansas . The 21st Air Division controlled B - 47 Stratojet medium bombardment wings at Forbes AFB , Kansas and Lake Charles AFB , Louisiana . It was responsible for aircrew training , bomber replacement crews , and replacements for strategic reconnaissance slots until September 1964 when the B - 47 was phased out of the inventory . Air Defense Command . The command was reactivated by Air Defense Command ( ADC ) in January 1966 at McGuire AFB , New Jersey as one of ten new Air Divisions organized by the command to replace inactivating Air Defense Sectors in an organizational realignment . Assumed additional designation of 21st NORAD Region after activation of the NORAD Combat Operations Center at Cheyenne Mountain , Colorado and reporting was transferred to NORAD from ADC at Ent AFB in April 1966 . Under ADC the 21st AD was placed under First Air Force and assumed the jurisdiction of the former New York Air Defense Sector , controlling interceptor and radar units over eastern Pennsylvania , New Jersey , the New York City / Long Island area and the coast of Connecticut , Rhode Island and Massachusetts , including Cape Cod . This included operations of the Semi Automatic Ground Environment ( SAGE ) blockhouse DC - 01 . During this time , it participated in air defense training exercises , accomplished live and simulated intercepts , and directed numerous flying sorties until inactivation in December 1967 as part of an ADC consolidation of intermediate level command and control organizations , driven by budget reductions required to fund USAF operations in Southeast Asia . The 21st AD was re - activated in November 1969 under Aerospace Defense Command ( ADCOM ) at Hancock Field , New York . The command provided air defense over most of Pennsylvania , New Jersey , New York and the New England area , commanding interceptor and radar stations . Also included were ADCOM radar stations located in Newfoundland , Canada . In addition command of the SAGE DC - 03 / CC - 01 blockhouse was assumed by the 21st AD , as well as CIM - 10 Bomarc surface - to - air anti - aircraft missile squadrons near Otis AFB , Massachusetts , Niagara Falls , New York and McGuire AFB , New Jersey . In 1975 , a new JCS Unified Command Plan designated Air Defense Command as a specified command and changed its name to the Aerospace Defense Command ( ADCOM ) on 1 July 1975 . Air Defense ADCOM was reorganized on 1 October 1979 . The atmospheric defense resources ( interceptors and warning radars ) of ADCOM . including the 21st AD were reassigned to Tactical Air Command ( ADTAC ) . It moved to Griffiss AFB , New York in 1983 when Hancock Field was closed . In 1983 , when the air defense mission of CONUS was reassigned to the Air National Guard , the 21st Air Division ( ADTAC ) was inactivated . Emblem . The Division ' s emblem consists of a Shield divided by a diagonal line from the upper right to middle left , light blue and white , a sword slanting from upper left to lower right , the point to lower right base , the hilt and pommel yellow encircled with five stars , yellow , the lower blade of the sword over a branch of olive in base green . ( Approved 17 July 1952 )