The 819th Strategic Aerospace Division is an inactive United States Air Force formation. Its last assignment was with Second Air Force of Strategic Air Command (SAC) at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, where it was inactivated on 2 July 1966.
The division was activated as the 819th Air Division in 1956 to command two Boeing B-47 Stratojet wings that SAC was organizing at Dyess. "The division emphasized flying operations, flying training, and aircraft maintenance. In fulfilling its duties, the 819th participated in numerous tactical training exercises throughout its existence." Until April 1961, the division also provided supporting services at Dyess through its 819th Air Base Group.
After 1961, the wing became an operational headquarters for wings located at bases in the southwestern United States. It added SM-65 Atlas ICBMs, Boeing B-52 Stratofortresss and Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers in 1962, and its B-47s were phased out by the middle of the following year. The missile mission brought with it a new name, 819th Strategic Aerospace Division.
The division was inactivated in 1966 and its component wings were assigned to other SAC divisions.
History
B-47 era
The 819th Air Division was activated By Strategic Air Command (SAC) at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas in January 1956 as the command headquarters for Dyess in anticipation of the movement of a second Boeing B-47 Stratojet wing to Dyess. In June, its 819th Air Base Group became the host organization for Dyess, taking over from the 341st Air Base Group, which had acted in that capacity since the fall of 1956.
The division assumed command of the 341st Bombardment Wing, flying B-47s and Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighters from Fifteenth Air Force upon the division's activation. In September 1957, the 96th Bombardment Wing moved to Dyess from Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma, where it had equipped with B-47s and KC-97s and became part of the division.
Each of the division's two wings deployed as units to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. The 96th Wing in early 1957, and the 341st wing for the first four months of 1958. Although its wings did not deploy as units after this time, they did deploy aircrews and aircraft to such locations as RAF Bruntingthorpe, RAF Greenham Common in the United Kingdom, Zaragoza Air Base, Spain and Elmendorf and Eielson Air Force Bases, Alaska in Operation Reflex.
The 4th Strategic Support Squadron, flying Douglas C-124 Globemaster IIs to support special weapons movements, and which had moved to Dyess from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota in June 1957, was reassigned to the division's 96th Wing in 1959. In March 1961, the squadron's mission was transferred to Air Materiel Command and the squadron was inactivated.
In June 1960 the division was assigned a unit stationed elsewhere, when the 310th Bombardment Wing at Schilling Air Force Base, Kansas, another Stratojet wing, was assigned to the 819th. This transfer occurred because the 310th's parent 802d Air Division was inactivated as Shilling became a single wing base.
Beginning in April 1961, the 341st wing began to phase down in anticipation of its inactivation, which occurred on 25 June 1961. At the same time, the division added the SM-65 Atlas missile to its strategic forces, when the 550th Strategic Missile Squadron stood up under the 310th wing in April, while the 578th Strategic Missile Squadron was activated under the 96th wing in July. The first intercontinental ballistic missiles at Dyess did not go on alert until April 1962, however. In June, the division was transformed into an operational headquarters only, when its 819th Combat Support Group was inactivated and its mission transferred to the 96th Combat Support Group, which was part of the 96th Wing. The 819th Medical Group was reassigned to the 96th Wing at the same time.