3d Air Division The 3d 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 deactivated on 1 April 1992 . The 3d Air Division was created in England during World War II as the 3d 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 . History . Components . Wings . Temporary attached Air Mail / Reflex units not listed . Check AFHRA link for details . Operational history . World War II . The 3d 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 B - 17 Flying Fortress bomb groups . The addition of the 92nd and 93d 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 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 were engaged in strategic bombardment combat operations against Axis targets in the European Theater of Operations ( ETO ) . During the weeks immediately preceding D - Day ( 6 June 1944 ) , division aircraft bombed tactical targets such as German communications centers and lines of support , and on D - Day hit targets on the Cherbourg Peninsula immediately behind the landing beaches . After V - E Day , the 3d 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 As former Eighth Air Force units were withdrawn from Europe and returned to the United States during the summer and fall of 1945 , the Division was assigned to VIII Fighter Command and controlled a mixture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 . Postwar era . In August 1948 , in response to the Berlin blockade , the U . S . deployed long - range B - 29 Superfortress strategic bombers to four English East Anglian bases . The 3d Air Division was activated as part of United States Air Forces in Europe to receive , support and operationally control the B - 29 units deployed for training . It also provided aircraft maintenance support at RAF Burtonwood for C - 54 Skymaster aircraft used in the Berlin Airlift . 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 . However With the advent of the Korean War and the growing Cold War threat of the Soviet Union , the U . S . and UK agreed to an even greater U . S . military presence in the United Kingdom . The resulting growing size and complexity of the American military presence required a larger command and organizational structure that could meet the needs of the increased operations . The 3d Air Division was discontinued on 1 May 1951 , and in its place the USAFE Third Air Force was activated . Fifteenth Air Force . 3d Air Division was reassigned to Andersen AFB , Guam and gained most of the resources of the former Far East Air Forces Bomber Command ( Provisional ) in June 1954 which had carried out B - 29 Superfortress bombing missions during the Korean War . In addition to the strategic bomber force , the division exercised operational control over numerous deployed tactical components , and all Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) operations in the region came under its jurisdiction . It also supported air refueling needs of all United States military agencies operating in or transiting the region . In mid - 1958 , the deployment of entire SAC wings to Guam was replaced by an " Air Mail " alert program , whereby several B - 47 Stratojet wings in the U . S . maintained a specific number of B - 47s and KC - 97s at Andersen AFB to meet both routine and alert requirements . In April 1964 , the division switched from " Air Mail " B - 47 / KC - 97 to " Reflex " B - 52 / KC - 135 alert forces , again with aircraft and crews furnished in deployed status from U . S . based SAC wings . In 1965 , it became heavily involved in Arc Light and Young Tiger operations in the Far East and SE Asia ( SEA ) . Strategic Air Command wings in the U . S . furnished the aircrews and aircraft for these operations . The first elements of the 3d Air Division to enter combat in SEA were the tanker forces under Young Tiger . In June 1965 , Arc Light B - 52s struck suspected Viet Cong targets in South Vietnam , commencing the first SAC combat missions . B - 52s began striking targets in North Vietnam on 11 April 1966 ; the initial attack against the Mu Gia Pass marked the largest single bomber raid since World War II . By late 1969 , most Arc Light operations staged from U - Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield , Thailand , while others were mounted from Kadena AB , Okinawa and Andersen . Andersen AFB remained the primary base for SAC deployed forces from the U . S . , however , and aircraft and crews were sent from Guam to Kadena and U Tapao for combat missions . Eighth Air Force . On 1 April 1970 the 3d Air Division ' s resources passed to the Eighth Air Force . Effective 1 January 1975 , 3d Air Division again controlled all SAC operations in the Western Pacific , Far East , and Southeast Asia . Additionally , it assumed responsibility for air refueling support of all U . S . military forces in these areas . During Persian Gulf operations in late 1990 through early 1991 , it tasked and supported numerous sorties supporting the deployment in the Pacific Area of Responsibility ( AOR ) .