The division was first activated at Foggia, Italy in late December 1943 as the 305th Bombardment Wing, but does not appear to have been manned until early January.

[2] Instead, its personnel was used to man Fifteenth Air Force headquarters, and a provisional fighter wing which was formed in the fall of 1944.

[7] After March 1945, the wing moved to Lesina Airfield[8] and its groups focused on interdiction missions against German forces in Italy, Southern Germany, Austria and Yugoslavia.

[2] The wing was reactivated as a reserve unit under Air Defense Command (ADC) on 12 July 1947 at McChord Field, Washington.

[2] The 305th participated in routine reserve training and supervised the training of its three assigned groups until all were inactivated, in part due to President Truman’s 1949 defense budget, which required reductions in the number of units in the Air Force,[16] Most of their equipment and personnel were used to form the 302d Troop Carrier Wing, which was simultaneously activated at McChord.

[2][17] This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency