| 313th Air Division | |
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Emblem of the 313th Air Division |
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| Active | 1944–1991 |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | United States Air Force |
| Engagements |
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| Decorations | Air Force Outstanding Unit Award 5 Oak Leaf Clusters |
The 313th Air Division (313th AD) is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Pacific Air Forces, based at Kadena AB, Okinawa. It was deactivated on 1 October 1991.
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The unit's origins begin with its predecessor, the World War II 313th Bombardment Wing (313th BW) was part of Twentieth Air Force. The 313th BW engaged in very heavy bombardment B-29 Superfortress operations against Japan.
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Wings
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The 313th Bombardment Wing was organized at Peterson Field, Colorado in the spring of 1944 as a Very Heavy (VH) bombardment wing, to be equipped with the Boeing B-29 Superfortresses. Operational groups assigned to the wing were the 6th and 9th Bombardment Groups, both were existing units with the 6th being reassigned from the Sixth Air Force in the Caribbean, where it was performing antisubmarine missions and protecting the Panama Canal from airfields in Panama. The 9th was assigned to Army Air Force Training Command in South Florida as part of its school of applied tactics. Both groups were reassigned to bases in Nebraska – to (Grand Island AAF and McCook AAF) respectfully where they trained initially on B-17 Flying Fortresses until their B-29 aircraft could be manufactured and made available to them. Two other groups, the 504th and 505th were formed as new units (504th at Fairmont AAF, the 505th at Harvard AAF), also being assigned to bases in Nebraska for training. After dealing with various training issues and also problems with the B-29s they received, the combat groups were ready to deploy to the Pacific Theater and departed for North Field, Tinian, in the Northern Mariana Islands arriving during late December, 1944.
On Tinian, the wing was assigned to the XXIst Bomber Command of Twentieth Air Force. Once in place, the groups of the 313th began flying missions, initially against Iwo Jima, the Truk Islands, and other Japanese held areas. Later, they flew low-level night incendiary raids on area targets in Japan; participated in mining operations in the Shimonoseki Strait, and contributed to the blockade of the Japanese Empire by mining harbors in Japan and Korea. In April 1945 the 313th assisted the invasion of Okinawa by bombing Japanese airfields used by kamikaze pilots.
A fifth group, the 509th Composite Group, was assigned to the wing in May, 1945 from Wendover AAF, Utah. The 509th, although assigned to the 313th Bomb Wing, was operationally controlled by Headquarters, Twentieth Air Force. The 509th was given a base area near the airfield on the north tip of Tinian, several miles from the main installations in the center part of the island where the other groups were assigned. Also unlike the other groups in the wing, the 509th used a wide variety of tail codes from various XXI Air Force groups, instead of using its own, so that the group's planes could not be identified by the Japanese. The 509th was also self contained, and drew little in resources from the 313th Wing or its other groups.
In early August, the mission of the 509th was revealed when the group flew the Atomic Bomb missions to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In November, the 509th was relieved from assignment to the 313th Bomb Wing and was reassigned to Roswell AAF, New Mexico.
After the Japanese surrender in August, 313th Bomb Wing units dropped food and supplies to Allied prisoners and participated in show-of-force flights over Japan. As part of the postwar drawdown of forces, two of the Wing's groups, the 504h and 505th were inactivated in late 1945 and early 1946.
Another group, the 383d, was reassigned to the 313th Bomb Wing from Eighth Air Force in September 1945 after the Eighth was drawn down on Okinawa. The Eighth Air Force was planned to be a second strategic Air Force to be used during the Invasion of Japan which never materialized. The 383d was inactivated in December with its aircraft and personnel returning to the United States.
In March 1946, the 313th was reassigned to Thirteenth Air Force in the Philippine Islands. In the Philippines, the wing was assigned the 5th Bomb Group from Seventh Air Force where it conducted Bombardment training, aerial reconnaissance and mapping and construction projects. The 5th Reconnaissance Group conducted many clandestine mapping missions over non-friendly areas of Asia during the postwar era. The wing itself began phasing down for inactivation in late 1947, with the 6th and 9th bomb groups being inactivated in June 1947, and finally the 5th bomb group in January 1948. The 313th Bombardment Wing was itself inactivated in June, 1948.
In March 1955, the organization was redesignated as the United States Air Force 313th Air Division (313th AD) as part of Far East Air Forces Fifth Air Force, being assigned to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. Throughout the years of the Cold War, the 313th AD assumed responsibility for air defense of the Ryukyu Islands and tactical operations in the Far East, maintaining assigned forces at the highest possible degree of combat readiness. In addition, it supported Fifth Air Force in the development, planning, and coordination of requirements for future Air Force operations in the Ryukyu Islands. The division also supported numerous PACAF exercises such as Cope Thunder, Cope Diamond, Team Spirit, and Cope North.
The 313th was inactivated on 1 October 1991 as part of a general drawdown of USAF forces in the Pacific after the end of the Cold War.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
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