Patch with original 836th Air Division emblem[d][1]
Military unit
The 836th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Tactical Air Command (TAC) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, where it was inactivated on 1 May 1992. The division had been activated at Davis-Monthan in January 1981 to replace Tactical Training, Davis-Monthan. Its primary mission was training for Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt II and BGM-109G Gryphon crews. The 602d Tactical Control Wing moved to Davis-Monthan, and the division's training mission expanded to include Forward Air Controllers flying several aircraft. The BGM-109 mission ended with the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. In 1989, division elements participated in Operation Just Cause. The division was inactivated with the implementation of the Objective Wing reorganization, which established a single wing on each Air Force Base.
In July 1958, the 405th Wing at Langley was inactivated.[3] Although consideration had also been given in 1958 to inactivating the 345th Wing, international conditions delayed this action. In response to the Lebanon Crisis of 1958, Tactical Air Command deployed Composite Air Strike Force Bravo to Adana Air Base, Turkey. The 836th was tasked to provide one squadron of twelve B-57s to support this force. The B-57s, drawn from the 345th Wing's 498th Bombardment Squadron, were the first strike aircraft of the force to depart for Adana.[4] Although the bombers returned to Langley in the fall, the Taiwan Strait Crisis of 1958 called for a detachment of Canberras to deploy to Okinawa. Once these planes had returned to Langley, the 345th began to prepare for inactivation in June 1959, leaving the division with one wing and one group assigned.[2][5]
At nearly the same time the 405th Wing inactivated, TAC formed the 4505th Air Refueling Wing at Langley as a single headquarters for its air refueling squadrons, which were located on several bases. The wing's squadrons flew Boeing KB-50J and KB-50H Stratofortresses, which added two jet engines to the B-50's original four reciprocating engines, and were designed to refuel three tactical aircraft at the same time. The 4505th also had a secondary mission of conducting antisubmarine warfare.[6] Although initially assigned directly to TAC headquarters, the wing was attached to the division in September 1958, then assigned in November and the division once again commanded two wings at Langley. One month after the 4505th Wing was added to the division's strength, the 4440th Aircraft Delivery Group was added to the division. The 4440th supervised delivery of aircraft from manufacturers and modification centers to operational units after TAC took over the delivery mission from the 1708th Ferrying Wing of Military Air Transport Service.[7] Tankers from the 4505th provided air refueling support for the delivery missions of the 4440th.[8]
When the division inactivated in July 1961, the 4440th Aircraft Delivery Group reported directly to TAC, while the 4505th Air Refueling Wing was reassigned to Ninth Air Force.[1][9]
Initially, the 15th Wing provided logistical support and trained crews for both wings. However, it reorganized as a mission capable tactical fighter wing for the Cuban Missile Crisis in October.[12] Once the wings began to equip with the Phantom, the 15th Wing resumed the role of training crews on the new fighter.[12]
In October 1964 the division once again included the Super Sabre in its inventory, when the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida, was assigned. This assignment also marked the first time the division was responsible for a wing stationed at another base.[1][13] The division added the 33d Tactical Fighter Wing when that wing activated at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida in April 1965.[14] The 836th supervised tests for weapon systems, aircraft armament and munitions, and tactical procedures through the 33d Wing, which included a test support division until December 1967, when its test operations expanded to include a full squadron.[1][14]
The division's wings at MacDill began deployments of their Phantoms to the Pacific for combat operations, beginning in December 1964 with the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the 12th Wing. Continuing through most of 1965, either the 12th or 15th Wing had one of its squadrons detached for combat operations in Southeast Asia.[1][11][12] In November 1965, the entire 12th Wing moved to the new base at Cam Ranh Air Base, Vietnam. The wing's 557th and 559th Tactical Fighter Squadrons were briefly assigned directly to the division until they could join the wing at Cam Ranh.[15][16]
C130 Hercules as operated by the 4409th Support Squadron
In 1966 the 31st Wing became the second division wing to open operations at a new base in Vietnam when it left Homestead with its F-100s for Tuy Hoa Air Base.[13] Its personnel remaining at Homestead were reorganized into the 4531st Tactical Fighter Wing. The 4531st began equipping with the Phantom II to prepare for its new mission as an F-4 Replacement Training Unit, although its first replacement class did not start until June 1967 and it would be November 1967 before the wing was able to graduate its first class. The wing also operated Lockheed AT-33 T-Birds to conduct the air-to-air portion of replacement training and maintained Piasecki H-21 helicopters to support TAC's Sea Survival School, which moved to Homestead.[17][18][19][20]
The division again deployed subordinate units to Southeast Asia for combat operations starting in 1967.[i] Its 33d Wing trained entire combat ready squadrons, which deployed to the Pacific, where they were reflagged and returned to Eglin to form once again. Its 4th Tactical Fighter Squadron deployed in this manner once, while the 16th and 40th Tactical Fighter Squadrons each deployed two times between May 1967 and November 1968. In November 1969, the 40th deployed a third time, but did not return to reform.[1][14]
Martin B-57G of the 4424th Combat Crew Training Squadron.[j]
Later, in October 1968 the division began supervising B-57 bomber aircrew training, which moved from Clark Air Base, Philippines.[1][24] This now included training on the Tropic Moon B-57G, which was modified with sensors to increase its efficiency as a night attack aircraft. The 836th organized the first operational B-57G squadron, the 13th Bombardment Squadron.[25]
On 5 October 1969, a Cuban MiG-17 landed at one of the division's Florida bases, Homestead Air Force Base.[26] The aircraft was not detected on radar as it entered United States airspace, and its pilot parked it next to Air Force One, which was on the Homestead ramp at the time.[27] Although improvements to air defense in the southern United States were directed as a result of this incident, they had little impact on the division, which was almost entirely devoted to training crews for the war in Vietnam.[28]
On 1 October 1970, the 1st Tactical Fighter Wing absorbed the mission, personnel and equipment of the 15th Wing after moving on paper from Hamilton Air Force Base, California.[12] The division was inactivated in 1971 and its units reassigned to Ninth Air Force.[1][13][14][29]
In 1985, the 868th Tactical Missile Training Group was activated and assigned to the division as the headquarters for the 868th Tactical Missile Training Squadron. The 868th Group was inactivated in May 1990 as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was implemented and the Gryphon removed from the Air Force's inventory.[1][33] However, the training capability of the 868th proved useful during Operation Desert Storm. The Air Force had determined to use ground launched Northrop BQM-74 Chukar drones as decoys to degrade the Iraqi air defense system. Taking advantage of the 868th's experience in operating ground launched missiles, the 4468th Tactical Group was formed from its former members in September 1990 and deployed to Saudi Arabia in October to operate two launch sites near the Iraqi border. On 17 January 1991, these decoys, together with Navy air-launched decoys were sent against Iraqi air defenses in Operation Scathe Mean. Iraqi radars engaging the decoys were then attacked by anti-radar missiles, degrading the air defenses of Baghdad. After the end of the war the 4468th was inactivated in 1992.[34]
The division was inactivated in May 1992 as the Air Force implemented the Objective Wing reorganization, which established a single wing as the headquarters for each base.[1] The 355th Fighter Wing was reassigned directly to Twelfth Air Force and the mission and personnel of the 836th Combat Support Group were transferred to the 355th Support Group.[35]
Lineage
Established as the 836 Air Division on 26 September 1957
345th Bombardment Wing: 8 October 1957 – 25 June 1959[2][k]
355th Tactical Training Wing (later 355th Fighter Wing): 1 January 1981 – 1 May 1992
405th Fighter-Bomber Wing: 8 October 1957 – 1 July 1958
602d Tactical Air Control Wing: 1 September 1982 – 1 May 1992
4453d Combat Crew Training Wing (see 4453d Combat Crew Training Squadron)
4505th Air Refueling Wing: attached 1 September – 31 October 1958, assigned 1 November 1958 – 1 July 1961
4531st Tactical Fighter Wing: 1 November 1966 – 15 October 1970[36]
Groups
174th Tactical Fighter Group: 13 May – 1 June 1968
175th Tactical Fighter Group: 13 May – 1 June 1968
836th Air Base Group (later 836th Combat Support Group): 8 February 1957 – 22 March 1960, 1 July 1962 – 8 January 1969, 1 October 1981 – 1 May 1992[37]
868th Tactical Missile Training Group: 1 November 1985 – 31 May 1990
4440th Aircraft Delivery Group: attached 1 December 1958 – 31 January 1959, assigned 1 February 1959 – 31 March 1960
4440th Aircraft Delivery Group: 1 April 1960 – 1 July 1961 (different from above organization)
4453d Combat Crew Training Group (see 4453d Combat Crew Training Squadron)
4468th Tactical Group (later 4468th Tactical Reconnaissance Group; 4468th Reconnaissance Group): 27 September 1990 – 1 May 1992[36]
Squadrons
557th Tactical Fighter Squadron: 18 November – 1 December 1965
559th Tactical Fighter Squadron: 8 November – 27 December 1965
868th Tactical Missile Training Squadron: 1 July 1981 – 1 November 1985
4409th Support Squadron: 1 June 1965 – 1 February 1969
^Aircraft is Republic A-10A Thunderbolt II, serial 76-0515. This aircraft is on display at Osan Air Base. Baugher, Joe (6 November 2022). "1976 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher. Retrieved 16 August 2023. Note 836 AD marking on tail.
^Revised April 1982. Description: Per chevronceleste and gules issuing from base a sphere of the first [color mentioned] with axis palewise, rimmed and gridlined sable with land masses of the like [color] surmounted by two arced olive branches saltirewisevert with berries of the second [color mentioned] below in pale a sword with blade to base argent garnished of the third [color mentioned], hilt of the second [color mentioned] within four lightning flashes saltirewise or all within a diminished bordure of the last [color mentioned].
^Aircraft are North American F-100C-5-NA Super Sabre serial 54-1796 (crashed 10 Aug 1957, pilot ejected), and F-100C-25-NAs 54–2102 (later with USAFE Skyblazers demonstration team), 54–2105 and 54-2107. Baugher, Joe (24 July 2023). "1954 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher. Retrieved 16 August 2023..
^Aircraft is Boeing B-50D-105-BO, serial 48–123, converted to tanker configuration as a KB-50D, later modified as KB-50J, assigned to the 4505th wing's 622d Air Refueling Squadron. The three F-100 receivers were assigned to the 451st Fighter-Day Squadron. Sent to the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center (MASDC) on 16 January 1963 and reclaimed on 21 May 1963. Baugher, Joe (12 July 2023). "1946-1948 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher. Retrieved 16 August 2023. This was the first triple point refueling of operational aircraft.
^Aircraft are Republic F-84F Thunderstreaks, serials 52-6846 (F-84F-50-RE, crashed on 3 October 1970, airframe later was put on display at the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum) and serial 52-6365 (F-84F-30-RE, sent to MASDC on 22 December 1970, declared excess on 7 January 1972 and scrapped) Baugher, Joe (15 July 2023). "1952 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
^Aircraft is McDonnell F-4C-20-MC Phantom serial 63-7607. This aircraft was modified as an EF-4C Wild Weasel air defense suppression aircraft. The aircraft survived the Vietnam War, and was sent to the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center (AMARC) on 14 August 1991. It was salvaged on 1 June 1999. Baugher, Joe (26 July 2023). "1963 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher. Retrieved 16 August 2023. Photo taken in 1964.
^The AFHRA Factsheet for the division states deployments continued in 1972 and 1973. Although its former components continued to deploy, this statement is in error because the division was inactive. Factsheet, 836th Air Division.
^Aircraft is Martin B-57B-MA, serial 53-3877, photo taken at MacDill AFB after it was modified to B-57G Tropic Moon configuration. Sent to MASDC on 7 February 1974 and declared excess on 15 May. Baugher, Joe (5 August 2023). "1953 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
^The AFHRA Factsheet indicates this assignment terminated on 1 July 1958, but this appears to be a typographical error, repeating the dates for the 405th Wing. The 345th remained at Langley and was assigned to the 836th until inactivated in 1959. Ravenstein p. 182; Mueller, p. 316.
United States
United States Air Force
