Air Defense Command

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ADC History

The War Department established an Air Defense Command on February 26, 1940.  This command, operating under the control of the First Army Commander from March 2, 1940, to September 9, 1941, engaged in planning for air defense.  Before the United States entered World War II, air defense was divided among the four air districts later, First, Second, Third, and Fourth Air Forces based in the United States.  In mid-1944, when the threat of air attack seemed negligible, this air defense organization was disbanded. Subsequently, no real air defense organization existed until the second Air (later Aerospace) Defense Command was established in 1946 as a major command of the Army Air Forces (AAF).  The Aerospace Defense Command declined after the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve gradually assumed more and more of the air defense mission.  In 1980 Air Defense Command resources were divided between Tactical Air Command and Strategic Air Command.  Some functions of the command passed to the Aerospace Defense Center, a direct reporting unit that inactivated on October 1, 1986.

Lineage

Established as Air Defense Command on March 21, 1946
Activated as a major command on March 27, 1946
Became a subordinate operational command of Continental Air Command on December 1, 1948
Discontinued on July 1, 1950
Reestablished as a major command, and organized, on January 1, 1951
Re-designated Aerospace Defense Command on January 15, 1968
Inactivated on March 31, 1980

Numbered Air Division Histories

20 Air Division

23 Air Division

24 Air Division

25 Air Division

26 Air Division

28 Air Division