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The 17th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Pacific Air Forces, stationed at U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield, Thailand, where it was inactivated on 1 January 1976.
The air division was first activated as the 17th Bombardment Wing on 18 December 1940, and assigned to the Southeast Air District. It was assigned the 3d and 27th Bombardment Groups as its operational units, and the 22d Pursuit Wing was attached from January to June 1942.[1] In September 1941, the wing was inactivated and its personnel used to form the 3d Air Support Command.[2]
Reactivated as part of Second Air Force in June 1942 as the 17th Bombardment Training Wing. Was the primary training command organization for USAAF heavy bombardment (Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B-24 Liberator) groups during World War II from June 1942 until May 1944. Initially, it controlled the third phase of training, in which each bombardment group split into tactical components and operated from squadron sized airfields under simulated combat conditions. Later, the 17th supervised the first and second phases of heavy bombardment group and crew training.[1]
In 1943 assumed mission for training Boeing B-29 Superfortress Very Heavy bombardment groups prior to their deployment to Twentieth Air Force in the Pacific Theater until April 1946 when it ceased all activity. It also exercised limited supervision over the training of the XXI and XXII Bomber Commands during 1944.[1]
The disbanded wing was reconstituted and redesignated the 17th Air Division and activated on 15 July 1959. It gained control of the 340th and the 305th Bombardment Wings at Bunker Hill Air Force Base, Indiana, and the 4040th Air Base Squadron at Richard I. Bong Air Force Base, Wisconsin in 1959. The two bombardment wings flew normal Strategic Air Command alert patrols and participated in special exercises as required. The division lost its bombardment wings and gained missile wings in 1963, assuming responsibility for Titan and Minuteman missiles in Missouri, Kansas, and later Arkansas. When joined by the 70th Bombardment Wing, on 1 July 1965 with Boeing B-52 Stratofortress and Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft, the division reverted to an earlier designation – 17th Strategic Aerospace Division. From 1965 to 1971, the division's units frequently deployed bomber and tanker resources. Operation Arc Light operations in Southeast Asia, consisting of military operations against enemy forces in Vietnam, drew most of the deployments.[1]
From 1 July 1975 to 1 January 1976 as part of Pacific Air Forces, it supervised training for United States Air Force tactical units in Thailand. It was inactivated as part of the USAF withdrawal from Thailand after the end of the Vietnam War.
This article incorporates public domain material from theAir Force Historical Research Agency