Air Division ( United States ) In the United States Air Force , a Division was an intermediate level of command , subordinate to a Numbered Air Force , controlling one or more Wings . It also controlled squadrons without associated same - function wings , i . e . , 17th Defense Systems Evaluation Squadron had no associated wing , but its function was part of the 24th Air Division . It is now considered obsolete . History . On 16 September 1947 , the United States Army Air Forces became the United States Air Force as a separate and equal element of the United States armed forces . Earlier , on 21 March 1946 , General Carl A . Spaatz had undertaken a major reorganization of the Army Air Forces that had included the establishment of the Major Command echelon as the first level of command below Headquarters , USAAF . The World War II commands , which had been subordinate to the Numbered Air Force s , were eliminated in the reorganization of 1946 , and the Numbered Air Forces were made components of the major commands at home and overseas . The new organizational hierarchy thus contained the following levels : squadron , group , wing , air force , command . In 1948 , and afterward , the World War II wings were redesignated Divisions , and placed immediately below the numbered air forces in the organizational pyramid . The " Wing " was redefined to be the USAF basic organizational unit which exercised command and control over a " Base " , the physical facility that included the airfield and the support units ( groups , squadrons ) to support the operation of a wing . In the years after 1948 , the Air Force " Division " carried several designations of the name " Strategic Aerospace Division " ; " Strategic Missile Division " ; " Space Division " , however the most common designation was " Air Division " . Usage . Air Divisions were found in all Major Commands between 1948 and 1992 , when the last Air Division was inactivated . Official policy dictated the use of Arabic numerals for numbered air and aerospace divisions . Examples : 2nd Air Division , 7th Air Division , and 1st Strategic Aerospace Division . Following the initiation of Major Command - controlled ( MAJCON ) four - digit Table of Distribution ( T / D ) organizations in 1948 , the major commands were briefly authorized to organize air divisions , provided they secured USAF approval . Two four - digit air divisions ( 4310th Air Division and 7217th Air Division ) were subsequently organized . Besides numbered Air Divisions , a Named Air Division was an organization within a large support command that was assigned a major or important segment of that command ' s mission — e . g . , the Electronic Systems Division handled a large part of the Air Force Systems Command ' s work - load in electronic systems . Because they were usually technical or highly specialized in nature , named divisions generally had a large number of personnel . One named division of an operational command was the USAF Southern Air Division which absorbed resources of the United States Air Forces Southern Command in 1976 , and was part of Tactical Air Command . An Air Division ' s numerical identification was usually unique to a Major Command , however when inactivated , the numerical identification could and was used by a different Major Command if it was reactivated . During the Cuban Missile Crisis three Air Divisions , Provisional , were organized . Air Force record cards contain the following information : During the Vietnam War Air Divisions were commonly used as ' placeholder ' organizations when the Operational Wing at an Air Force Base was deployed to Southeast Asia and commanded the remaining groups and squadrons at a single or multiple Air Force bases . Air Divisions were gradually phased out of the Air Force command structure after the end of the Vietnam War , with the Numbered Air Force assuming direct command of its subordinate Wings . The last existed into the early 1990s and their usage ended with the 1992 major reorganization of the USAF Major Commands . Vietnam War . In Vietnam the USAF ' s 834th Air Division also had small Divisional lateral units called an " Elements . " The 834th Air Division Airlift Command Center ( ALCC commonly called " mother " ) operated eight Airlift Command Elements ( ALCE ' s ) throughout South Vietnam . The ALCE ' s were commanded by Lieutenant Colonels , usually had several supervising Majors , a supervising senior NCO ( usually an E - 7 ) over AFSC 27150 ( Mission Monitors or Mission Controllers ) E - 3s to E - 6s . Two famous ALCE ' s in South Vietnam were Rocket Alley ALCE ( pronounce Al - See ) at Bien Hoa AB and Sandbox ALCE at Cam Rahn Bay AB . Rocket Alley ALCE was a hard - luck combat assignment while Sandbox ALCE was only occasionally attacked . Branched off of the ALCE were TDY assignments with Mobile ALCE Units into the Central Highlands and other locations in country . These usually consisted of a Lt . Col or Major , E - 6 or E - 7 , and one or two E - 4 or E - 5 AFSC 271XX to coordinate C - 130 , C - 7A , and occasional C - 123 traffic on unimproved airfields . These Mobile ALCE units were testing facilities for newly developed fold - up aluminum honeycomb sleeping quarters , radio rooms , and toilet facilities , all collapsible and moveable aboard a C - 130 .