The 31st Air Division (31st AD) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, assigned to Tenth Air Force, being stationed at Sioux City Municipal Airport, Iowa. It was inactivated on 31 December 1969.
History
Assigned to Air Defense Command (ADC) for most of its existence, the division equipped, administered, trained, and provided combat ready forces within an area covering North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, and other parts of the Midwest. The division participated in numerous live and simulated exercises such as Creek Chief, Pawnee Knife, and Mandan Hunt.
Later, beginning in 1966, the 31st assumed responsibility for the former Oklahoma City Air Defense Sector and covered an area including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Assumed additional designation of 31st NORAD Region after activation of the NORAD Combat Operations Center at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, Colorado and reporting was transferred to NORAD from ADC at Ent Air Force Base in April 1966.
Inactivated in December 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 North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
Lineage
Established as the 31st Air Division (Defense) on 7 September 1950
Activated on 8 October 1950
Inactivated on 1 February 1952
Organized on 1 February 1952
Inactivated on 1 January 1960
Redesignated 31st Air Division and activated on 20 January 1966 (not organized) Organized on 1 April 1966 Inactivated on 31 December 1969
Assignments
Air Defense Command
Eastern Air Defense Force, 8 October 1950 (attached 30th Air Division, 27 November 1950 – 1 February 1951 Central Air Defense Force, 20 May 1951 – 1 January 1960 Air Defense Command, 20 January 1966 (not organized) Fourteenth Air Force, 1 April 1966 – 1 July 1968 (ConAC) Tenth Air Force, 1 July 1968 – 31 December 1969
Stations
Selfridge Air Force Base, Michigan, 8 October 1950 – 1 February 1952
Fort Snelling (later Snelling Air Force Station), Minnesota, 1 February 1952 – 1 January 1960 Oklahoma City Air Force Station, Oklahoma, 1 April 1966 – 31 December 1969
Components
Sectors
Duluth Air Defense Sector: 20 December 1957 – 1 January 1959
Duluth Municipal Airport, Minnesota
Grand Forks Air Defense Sector: 8 December 1957 – 1 January 1959
Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota
Groups
53d Fighter Group: 18 August 1955 – 1 March 1956
Sioux City Municipal Airport, Iowa
343d Fighter Group: 18 August 1955 – 1 January 1959
Duluth Municipal Airport, Minnesota
475th Fighter Group: 18 August 1955 – 2 January 1958
Minneapolis-Saint Paul Municipal Airport, Minnesota
478th Fighter Group: 8 February 1957 – 1 January 1959
Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota
514th Air Defense Group: 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955
Minneapolis-Saint Paul Municipal Airport, Minnesota
515th Air Defense Group: 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955
Duluth Municipal Airport, Minnesota
521st Air Defense Group: 16 February 1953 – 18 August 1955. Sioux City Municipal Airport, Iowa