The 326th Air Division was activated in the summer of 1957 at Wheeler Air Force Base, Hawaii and assigned to Pacific Air Forces. The division was responsible for the air defense of the Pacific Islands Air Defense Region.[1] After 24 July, the division was also known as the Hawaiian Air Defense Division.[2] Its only subordinate unit was the 12th Communications Squadron, Air Force, which was inactivated six months after the division activated.[1] Until April 1967, the commander of the 6486th Air Base Wing (Pacific Air Forces Base Command) also commanded the division.[3]
Its detection and control mission was carried out through another Guard unit, the 169th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, located at Koko Crater Air Force Station. The 169th was joined by the 150th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron at Kokee Air Force Station in October 1961. Earlier that year, the division had moved to Wheeler's Kunia Annex, a facility that was hardened against air attack. In 1965 a third radar squadron joined the network of warning and control stations when the 169th moved to Mount Kaala, while the 109th Aircraft Control and Warning Station took its place at Koko Crater.
In 1976, the division mission shifted. It returned to Wheeler, where the 6010th Air Defense Flight and the 6491st Air Defense Flight were activated to operate its defense systems. The Hawaiian Guard fighter unit converted from the F-102 to the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II and became the 199th Tactical Fighter Squadron, with a broader mission than air defense. The division partially converted its air defense systems into mobile tactical air control systems.[7] Working in conjunction with the Hawaii Air National Guard, it conducted and participated in numerous tactical air operations and training exercises. Four years later, the division expanded its tactical mission when the 22d Tactical Air Support Squadron was assigned.[1]
In 1983 the division's air defense responsibility was expanded to include the air defense of the Mariana Islands, including Guam.[8] The following year, the division's air defense system was upgraded from a manual to an automated system as its Regional Operational Control Center came online.[9]
In 1989 the division was inactivated and its air defense mission was transferred to the 6010th, which was expanded to become the 6010th Aerospace Defense Group,[10] and its tactical air operations mission and other resources were transferred to the 15th Air Base Wing, which was redesignated the 15th Composite Wing.[11][12]
Lineage
Constituted as the 326 Air Division on 22 June 1957
^Aircraft are North American OV-10A-25-NH Bronco aircraft (serial 67-14649 in front, this plane was later transferred to the Colombian Air Force). Photo taken 22 August 1984 while the aircraft were taking part in Exercise Opportune Journey 84.
^Approved 30 September 1958. Description: Azure, in saltire a lightning flash or and a Hawaiian spear proper triple barbed of the second [color mentioned]] and winged argent emerging from a cloud issuing from sinisterbase of the last [color mentioned], all within a diminished border of the like [color].
^Aircraft is North American F-86D-50-NA Sabre, serial 52-4270.
^Aircraft is Convair TF-102A-30-CO Delta Dagger serial 55-4041. Photo taken in 1964.
^Aircraft is McDonnell F-4C-21-MC Phantom II, serial 63-7705. Photo taken at Clark Air Base in 1979. The plane was later used as a damage repair trainer and salvaged. Baugher, Joe (26 July 2023). "1963 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
