32d Air Division
Emblem of the 32d Air Division
Active1949–1969
CountryUnited States
BranchUnited States Air Force
RoleCommand and Control
Part ofAir Defense Command
32d Air Division ADC AOR 1966-1969

The 32d Air Division (32d AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, assigned to First Air Force, being stationed at Gunter Air Force Base, Alabama. It was inactivated on 31 December 1969

History

Assigned to Air Defense Command (ADC) for most of its existence, the 32d organized, administered, equipped, trained, and prepared for operation, all of its assigned units. The division participated in exercises such as Creek Brave, Top Rung and Natchez Echo. Initially, it assumed responsibility for an area including Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and part of New York. During the Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962), the division controlled numerous deployments and aerial sorties.

Later, beginning in 1966, the area expanded to include Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and parts of South Carolina, Louisiana and Florida when it assumed responsibility for the mission of the inactivated Montgomery Air Defense Sector. Assumed additional designation of 32d NORAD Region after activation of the NORAD Combat Operations Center at Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado and reporting was transferred to NORAD from ADC at Ent AFB in April 1966.

Inactivated in November 1969 as ADC phased down its interceptor mission as the chances of a Soviet bomber attack on the United States seemed remote, its mission being consolidated into the 23d Air Division.

Lineage

Activated on 8 December 1949
Inactivated on 1 February 1952
Inactivated on 15 August 1958
Activated on 15 November 1958
Discontinued, and inactivated, on 4 September 1963
Organized on 1 April 1966, replacing Montgomery Air Defense Sector
Inactivated on 31 December 1969, assets transferred to 20th NORAD Region/Air Division.

Assignments

Stations

Components

Sectors

Topsham AFS, Maine
Gunter AFS, Alabama
Inactivated and redesignated: 4752d Air Defense Wing
Richards-Gebaur AFB, Missouri

Wings

Groups

Interceptor squadrons

Radar squadrons

See also

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency