313th Air Division

313th Air Division
F-15 Eagle of the division's 18th Tactical Fighter Wing, 1984
Active	1944–1948; 1955-1991
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Command of tactical forces
Part of	Pacific Air Forces
Engagements	Pacific Theater of Operations
Decorations	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award 5 Oak Leaf Clusters
Insignia
313th Air Division emblem (Approved 15 July 1957)

The 313th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Pacific Air Forces at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. It was inactivated on 1 October 1991.

The unit's origins begin with the World War II 313th Bombardment Wing, part of Twentieth Air Force. The 313th Wing engaged in very heavy bombardment Boeing B-29 Superfortress operations against Japan.

The 313th Bombardment Wing was organized at Peterson Field, Colorado in the spring of 1944 as a very heavy 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 Army Air Field and McCook Army Air Field) respectively, where they trained initially on Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses until their B-29 aircraft could be manufactured and made available to them. Two other bombardment groups, the 504th and 505th were formed as new units (504th at Fairmont Army Air Field, the 505th at Harvard Army Air Field), 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.