315th Air Division

315th Air Division
Division C-130 Hercules deployed to Cam Ranh AB, Vietnam
Active	1944–1950, 1951-1969
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Command of airlift forces
Part of	Pacific Air Forces
Engagements	Pacific Theater of Operations Korean War
Decorations	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation
Insignia
315th Air Division emblem (Approved 11 October 1954)
315th Bombardment Wing emblem (Approved 25 April 1947)

The 315th Air Division (315th AD) is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Pacific Air Forces, based at Tachikawa Air Base, Japan. It was inactivated in April 1969.

The 315th Bombardment Wing was activated in July 1944 at Peterson Field, Colorado as a command and control organization for four very heavy B-29 Superfortress bombardment groups. Organization trained in Colorado while subordinate groups were trained in Kansas by Second Air Force.

When training was completed moved to Guam in the Mariana Islands of the Central Pacific Area in late March 1945 The 315th was the fifth and last B-29 Wing assigned to XXI Bomber Command. The Groups and Squadrons of the 315th Bomb Wing for the most part, flew the B-29B aircraft. The limited-production B-29B was designed to was to save weight by removing all of the guns and sighting equipment used on other B-29s, except the tail gun. The weight savings allowed the B-29B to fly a little higher and a little further. The B-29B aircraft also had two new radar units installed. One was the AN/APQ-7 Eagle Radar for bombing and navigation and the other was the AN/APG-15 used for aiming the tail gun. These two radar units gave the B-29B a distinctive shape as the APQ-7 antenna appeared as a small wing under the fuselage, between the two bomb bay doors and the APG-15 added a ball shaped antenna to the tail of the aircraft below the tail guns.

In the Marianas, the Wing provided command and control to the 16th, 331st, 501st 502d Bombardment Groups. The 16th and the 501st were the first to arrive in Mid April; the 331st and 502d arrived in mid-May 1945.

Its groups flew "shakedown" missions against Japanese targets on Moen Island, Truk, and other points in the Carolines and Marianas. The 16th and 501st began combat missions over Japan on 26 June with attacks on the Utsube Oil Refinery in Yokkaichi. The 315th and 502d did not engage in combat until 1 August with attacks on the Mitsubishi Havana Oil Refinery in Kawasaki. For all four groups, oil industry targets in Japan were its primary targets.