The division was first activated at RAF Horsham St Faith, England in January 1944 as the 96th Combat Bombardment Wing. In February, it was assigned to the 2d Bombardment Division, which controlled all of Eighth Air Force's operational Consolidated B-24 Liberator units.[1][2] Its first assigned group was the 458th Bombardment Group, which had arrived at Horsham St Faith the previous month. The wing's first action took place on 24 February, when the 458th flew a diversionary action to draw German fighters away from the main attacking force.[3]
The 457th was joined the following month by the 466th and 467th Bombardment Groups when they arrived in England.[2][4][5] The three groups flew their first combat missions March and April.[3][4][5] Later in the year, three more bombardment groups joined the wing.[2]
The wing's units entered the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, bombing oil refineries, marshaling yards, steel plants, and tank factories plus numerous other assorted targets in the European Theater. In September 1944, some of the groups flew gasoline for Army units to airfields in France. Others air-dropped supplies to Allied troops during Operation Market Garden, the airborne attack on the Netherlands that same month. During the Battle of the Bulge, from December 1944 through January 1945, subordinate units of the wing aided Allied ground forces by bombing German lines of communication. Besides strategic bombardment, they also dropped supplies to Allied troops during Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine River in March 1945.[2]
Following V-E Day, the squadron was redesignated the 96th Bombardment Wing[a] and moved to Ketteringham Hall, where it remained until August, with various groups being assigned for short periods as units in England began to draw down. By late July, all combat groups had been reassigned, and in August, the wing returned to the United States and Sioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota, but within two days relocated without personnel or equipment to Peterson Field, Colorado, the headquarters of Second Air Force, where it was redesignated as a "Very Heavy" wing, apparently in anticipation of receiving Boeing B-29 Superfortress components, but was not equipped.[6] It remained at Peterson with no combat units assigned until inactivating on 17 October 1945.[2]
In April 1948, as the regular Air Force implemented the wing base organization system, the wing, along with other multi-base reserve wings was redesignated as an air division.[2] In July Continental Air Command assumed responsibility for managing reserve and Air National Guard units from ADC.[8] The 96th participated in routine reserve training under the supervision of the 139th AAF Base Unit (later the 2469th Air Force Reserve Training Center) with its assigned trainer aircraft and supervised the training of its assigned group until it was inactivated in June 1949 when the reserves adopted the wing base organization system. Most of its equipment and personnel, along with that of the 351st Group, were used to form the 419th Troop Carrier Wing, which was simultaneously activated at Scott.[2][9][10]
Lineage
Established as the 96th Combat Bombardment Wing (Heavy) on 8 November 1943
Activated on 11 January 1944
Redesignated 96th Combat Bombardment Wing, Heavy on 7 August 1944
Redesignated 96th Bombardment Wing, Heavy on 9 June 1945
Redesignated 96th Bombardment Wing, Very Heavy on 17 August 1945
Inactivated on 17 October 1945
Activated in the reserve on 12 June 1947
Redesignated 96th Air Division, Bombardment on 16 April 1948
Freeman, Roger A. (1970). The Mighty Eighth: Units, Men and Machines (A History of the US 8th Army Air Force). London, England, UK: Macdonald and Company. ISBN978-0-87938-638-2.
