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Constituted as 4th Bombardment Wing on 19 Oct 1940. Activated on 18 Dec 1941. Inactivated on 1 Oct 1941.
Activated on 7 Jun 1942. Moved to England, Aug-Sep 1942. Assigned to Eight AF. Redesignated 4th Combat Bombardment Wing (Heavy) in Aug 1943. Had no groups assigned until the spring of 1943 and was not manned from 29 Sep 1942 to 19 Jan 1943. Began combat in May 1943 and received a DUC for a mission on 17 Aug 1943 when the wing attacked an aircraft factory at Regensburg. Brig Gen Frederick W Castle, wing commander, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for action on 24 Dec 1944 when he kept a burning B-17 from crashing until other members of the crew had parachuted to safety. The wing remained in combat until Apr 1945. Disbanded in England on 18 Jun 1945.
Reconstituted, redesignated 4th Bombardment Wing (Light), and allotted to the reserve. Activated in the US on 20 Dec 1946. Redesignated 4th Air Division (Bombardment) in Apr 1948. Inactivated on 27 Jun 1949.
Redesignated 4th Air Division. Organized on 10 Feb 1951. Assigned to Strategic Air Command.
Components. Groups. 34th: 1941. 43d: 1941. 94th: 1943-1945. 95th: 1943. 96th: 1943. 100th: 1943. 319th: 1946-1949. 320th: 1947-1949. 385th: 1943-1945. 388th: 1943. 390th: 1943. 447th: 1943-1945. 486th: 1945. 487th: 1945.
Wings. 91st Reconnaissance: 1951. 301st Bombardment: 1951-. 376th Bombardment: 1951-.
Stations. Mitchel Field, NY, 18 Dec 1940; Westover Field, Mass, 20 Mar-1 Oct 1941. Westover Field, Mass, 7 Jun 1942; Bolling Field, DC, c. 28 Jul-c. 28 Aug 1942; Camp Lynn, England, 12 Sep 1942; Marks Hall, England, 18 Jan 1943; Camp Blainey, England, Jun 1943; Bury St Edmunds, England, 13 Sep 1943-18 Jun 1945. Mitchel Field, NY, 20 Dec 1946-27 Jun 1949. Barksdale AFB, La, 10 Feb 1951-.
Commanders. Brig Gen John B Brooks, c. 18 Dec 1940-c. 31 Jul 1941. Brig Gen James H Doolittle, c. Jun 1942; Col Charles T Phillips, c. 1 Aug 1941-unkn; Lt Col Thomas L Dawson, c. 19 Jan 1943; Lt Col Charles C Bye Jr, c. 27 Jan 1943; Brig Gen Frederick L Anderson, 19 Apr 1943; Col Curtis E LeMay, 18 Jun 1943; Brig Gen Russell A Wilson, 14 Sep 1943; Brig Gen Frederick W Castle, c. 6 Mar 1944; Col Charles B Dougher, 25 Dec 1944; Col Robert W Burns, 29 Jan 1945-unkn. Col Thomas W Steed, 10 Feb 1951; Brig Gen Henry K Mooney, 22 May 1951; Brig Gen Fay R Upthegrove, 22 Oct 1952; Maj Gen Frederic E Glantzberg, 6 Jan 1953; Brig Gen Maurice A Preston, 14 Jan 1954-.
Campaigns. Air Offensive, Europe; Normandy; Northern France; Rhineland; Ardennes-Alsace; Central Europe.
Decorations. Distinguished Unit Citation: Germany, 17 Aug 1943.
Insigne. Shield: Per bend, or and azure a terrestrial globe sable, markings argent, winged proper, enfiled and interfretted with a chain of twelve links of the third; a hand bendwise, proper issuing from the sinister base grasping the chain. (Approved 18 Jun 1954.)
Data from Air Force Combat Units of World War II By Maurer, Maurer, Published 1986
Most of these documents have been transcribed from official unit documents without corrections. Some material was difficult to read and transcribe, sometimes this is noted in the transcription. Spelling was not corrected. Documents are not meant to be a complete record, they are only what has been reasonbly-readable. Only document formatting may have been altered to enable better viewing on a web page with multiple devices.
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