The Second Air Division evolved out of the reorganization of the VIII Bomber Command into the Eighth Air Force. Starting as the Second Bomb Wing, it become the Second Bomb Division. In September 1944 a fighter wing was assigned, and in January 1945 it was redesignated the Second Air Division.
The Second Air Division’s first bombing mission was flown on November 7, 1942; the last on April 25, 1945. A total of 95,948 sorties were flown in 429 operational missions by the division’s B-24’s, which dropped a total of 199,983 tons of bombs.
Bomber crews accounted for 1,079 German aircraft destroyed in the air, and P47’s and P-51’s of the fighter wing destroyed another 3,670 enemy aircraft in the air and on the ground. A total of 1,458 bombers and 649 fighters were lost in operations against the enemy.