2d Air Division The 2d Air Division ( 2d AD ) is an inactive United States Air Force organization . Its last assignment was with Military Airlift Command , assigned to Twenty - Third Air Force , being stationed at Hurlburt Field , Florida . It was inactivated on 1 February 1987 . History . Components . Wings : Groups : Operational history . Conducted strategic bombardment of Axis targets in Europe , but between 29 August 1944 and 2 October 1944 division aircraft dropped food to the French population in liberated areas . It also airdropped food , equipment , and supplies to Allied forces engaged in the airborne attack on Holland ( September 1944 ) , as well as troops engaged in the assault across the Rhine River ( March 1945 ) . From January 1949 to May 1951 , in West Germany it participated in numerous training exercises . Activated in April 1953 , it remained unmanned and existed in name until moving in March 1954 to Dhahran Airfield , Saudi Arabia where it remained until the Saudi government terminated US rights to the field in 1962 . Organized at Tan Son Nhut Air Base , South Vietnam in October 1962 to control USAF operations there . From December 1962 , it controlled all activities and units in Southeast Asia , initially , USAF tactical forces FARM GATE C / H - 47 , B / RB - 26 , T - 28 , and U - 10 counterinsurgency forces , and MULE TRAIN C - 123 assault airlift forces . Forces assigned and attached to the 2d Air Division trained Vietnamese Air Force ( VNAF ) and Royal Thai Air Force personnel , flew reconnaissance , airlift , and defoliation missions , and operated a tactical control system . Escalation of fighting in South Vietnam in early 1965 brought new offensive assignments . On 8 February 1965 USAF and VNAF aircraft assaulted targets north of the demilitarized zone in the first of a series of continuing strikes . On 19 February 1965 , USAF F - 100 Super Sabre s and B - 57 Canberra s attacked the Viet Cong inside South Vietnam the first use of jets for such offensive actions . In July 1965 , a major reorganization of the division saw tactical fighter wings established at Bien Hoa Air Base and Danang Air Base , and five separate combat support groups at other South Vietnamese bases . The rapid expansion of the division ' s personnel and facilities continued well into 1966 , with a matching expansion in both the volume and variety of air operations . On 1 April 1966 , the division ' s resources were absorbed by the newly activated Seventh Air Force . From March 1983 - February 1987 , 2d Air Division forces , with worldwide responsibilities and assignments , engaged in deployment , exercise and training programs . Subordinate units flew drug interdiction missions under Operation BAT . World War Two . The 2d Air Division came into being following the reorganisation of the 8th USAAF Bomber Command as the Eighth Air Force . Existing as a separate entity the 2d Bomb Wing started operations on 7 November 1942 , was reorganized as the 2nd Bomb Division on 13 September 1943 , and redesignated the 2nd Air Division in January 1945 . The division continued operations until the end of the war , flying the last combat sortie on 25 April 1945 . The group completed 493 operational missions in Europe during World War Two consisting of 95 , 948 individual aircraft sorties . The 2d Air Division operated the Consolidated B - 24 Liberator aircraft from airfields in Norfolk , England . Within the 2d Air Division , six groups received presidential citations for outstanding actions . Five airmen received the highest US award for bravery , the Medal of Honor , four of them posthumously . A total of 1 , 458 B - 24 aircraft were lost in action and 6 , 700 men lost their lives . Vietnam War . The 2d Air Division was organized in Saigon in October 1962 under the authority of the Military Assistance Command , Vietnam . Until the build - up of American forces in 1965 , the 2d Air Division provided air support to the forces of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . Originally , the unit consisted of propeller - driven aircraft , but the build - up in US forces saw the arrival of jet aircraft and , by the end of 1965 , the US had deployed nearly 500 US combat aircraft in South Vietnam . By the time the unit was transformed into the Seventh Air Force on 1 April 1966 , it consisted of nearly 1 , 000 aircraft and approximately 30 , 000 personnel . Special Operations . 2d Air Division aircrews received an important role in the vice president ' s South Florida Drug Task Force . Aircrews from the 20th SOS helped curb the flow of illegal drugs into the United States through the Bahamas in Operation BAT ( Bahamas and Turks ) by transporting Bahamian authorities and American drug enforcement agents to sites of drug action . In almost two and a half years , the squadron flew more than 1 , 100 sorties which supported the capture or destruction of more than $ 1 . 5 billion in drugs , vessels , aircraft , equipment and weapons . During the operation , one 20th SOS UH - 1N helicopter crashed at sea resulting in the death of three squadron members . In late October 1983 , the 2d AD provided three AC - 130H Spectre gunships and five MC - 130E Combat Talons to support Operation Urgent Fury on the island of Grenada , off the coast of Venezuela . The U . S . government considered Americans , primarily medical students studying in Grenada , in imminent danger from anti - American elements . The U . S . organized a joint task force of Air Force , Army , Navy and Marine elements to expedite their rescue with the 1st SOW aircraft leading the air assault .