The 802d Air Division is a discontinued United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Strategic Air Command, assigned to Fifteenth Air Force at Schilling Air Force Base, where it was inactivated on 20 June 1960. Through most of its existence the division controlled bombardment wings flying Boeing B-47 Stratojets and based at Schilling. When its second wing was moved to another base as the B-47 was withdrawn from the United States Air Force inventory, only one SAC wing remained at Schilling and the division was inactivated.
History
The 802d Air Division was activated at Smoky Hill Air Force Base, Kansas in 1952 when Strategic Air Command departed from the wing base organization system and created air divisions as the headquarters on bases with two operational wings. The division's components, the 40th Bombardment Wing, 310th Bombardment Wing, and 802d Air Base Group, were all activated the same day as the division. The 310th wing was activated at Forbes Air Force Base, Kansas, where it trained with the Boeing B-29 Superfortress under the supervision of the 90th Bombardment Wing. It moved to Smoky Hill in September. The 40th wing was not manned until early February 1953, when it began receiving personnel from the Tactical and Maintenance Squadron, Provisional, 40th at Davis Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. This squadron had been formed as a holding organization for personnel surplus to the needs of the 43d Bombardment Wing. Once its personnel arrived at Smoky Hill, they began training with the 310th wing. The division monitored and coordinated the manning, equipping, and training of its assigned wings for global strategic air warfare, including bombardment and air refueling operations and participated in exercises. In 1954, both of the division's wings transitioned into the Boeing B-47 Stratojet. Once the wings became combat ready in the B-47, they periodically deployed to advanced bases in England. During these deployments the wings came under the operational control of the 7th Air Division. In March 1957 Smoky Hill was renamed Schilling Air Force Base in honor of Col. David C. Schilling, who had died in an automobile accident the previous year. In June 1960 the 40th wing moved on paper to Forbes Air Force Base, where it assumed the personnel and B-47s of the 90th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, which was inactivated. With only a single wing remaining at Schilling, the 802d was inactivated and the 310th wing became the base host organization.
