Editing Strategic Air Command (section)

== Run-up to Korea and start of the Cold War ==
[[File:Kee Bird The Day It Crashed - 19 Feb 1947.png|thumb|right|The RB-29 "[[Kee Bird]]" made an emergency landing in Greenland after a secret 1947 mission.]]
[[File:11th Bombardment Wing Convair B-36J-5-CF Peacemaker 52-2225.jpg|thumb|[[11th Wing|11th Bombardment Wing]] [[Convair B-36|Convair B-36J-5-CF Peacemaker]], AF Ser. No. 52-2225, circa 1955, showing "Six turnin', four burnin'".]]
[[File:B-52-castleafb-1957.jpg|thumb|[[93d Bombardment Wing|93 BW]] B-52Bs at [[Castle AFB]] after the 1957 fastest round-the-world flight.]]

SAC transferred to the United States Air Force on 26 September 1947, concurrent with the latter's establishment as a separate military service.  Units directly under SAC HQ included the 8AF and 15AF, as well as the [[311th Air Division]], [[4th Fighter Wing]]<!--15 August 1947-->, [[82nd Fighter Wing]]<!--15 August 1947-->, [[307th Bomb Wing]]<!--15 August 1947-->, and two reconnaissance units, the [[311th Reconnaissance Wing]]<!--31 March 1947--> and the [[46th Reconnaissance Squadron]]<!--1 May 1946-->.<ref>{{citation |type=organizational chart |date=Fall 1947<!--[[56th Fighter Wing]] in SAC 1 October 1947 – 1 December 1948--> |title=Strategic Air Command |id= Accessed 2013-08-14}} (published in {{cite book |last=Mixer |first=Ronald E |title=The Genealogy of the Strategic Air Command |year=1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MaXQnAEACAAJ |publisher=Battermix}})</ref> The [[56th Fighter Wing]] was subsequently assigned to SAC on 1 October 1947.

Following the establishment of the U.S. Air Force, most SAC installations on U.S. territory were renamed as "Air Force Base" during late 1947 and into 1948, while non-U.S. installations were renamed as "Air Base".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rameyafb.net/the-history-pages/borinquen-field-renamed-in-1948/ |title=Borinquen Field Renamed in 1948 - Ramey Air Force Base Historical Association |access-date=2 November 2014 |archive-date=2 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141102104947/http://www.rameyafb.net/the-history-pages/borinquen-field-renamed-in-1948/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.airforcebase.net/usaf/joeslist.html|title=Joe McCusker's Air Force Base List|work=airforcebase.net|access-date=15 May 2016|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303200104/http://www.airforcebase.net/usaf/joeslist.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In May 1948, in an exercise versus [[Air Defense Command]]'s "Blue" force, a SAC "Red" strike force simulated attacks on [[Eastern Seaboard of the United States|Eastern Seaboard]] targets as far south as Virginia.<ref name=Schaffel>{{cite book |last=Schaffel |first=Kenneth |title=The Emerging Shield: The Air Force and the Evolution of Continental Air Defense, 1945–1960 |publisher=Office of Air Force History |year=1991 |location=Washington, DC |url=http://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/Publications/Annotations/schaffelemerging.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051113175706/https://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/Publications/Annotations/schaffelemerging.htm |archive-date=13 November 2005 }}</ref>{{rp|77}} After a "scathing" 1948 [[Charles A. Lindbergh|Lindbergh]] review of SAC operations in the air and at six SAC bases,{{r|Worden}} General Kenney was removed as Commanding General on 15 October 1948{{r|Alexander}} and replaced on 19 October 1948 by 8AF's commander, Lieutenant General [[Curtis LeMay]].  Upon LeMay's assumption of command, SAC had only 60 nuclear-capable aircraft, none of which possessed a realistic long range capability against the Soviet Union.{{r|Tillman}}

LeMay proposed that SAC should be able to deliver 80% of its weapons in one mission.{{r|rhodes19950611}} The B-29D, which had become the [[B-50 Superfortress|B-50]] in December 1945,<ref>{{cite report |last=Knaack |first=Marcelle Size |year=1988 |chapter=Appendix II: Experimental and Prototype Bombers, North American XB-70A |title=Encyclopedia of U.S. Air Force Aircraft and Missile Systems |volume=II: Post-World War II Bombers 1945–1973 |publisher=Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force |location=Washington DC |isbn=0-912799-59-5 }}</ref> was first delivered to SAC in June 1948.{{r|Baugher}} This was followed by SAC's first Convair [[B-36 Peacemaker]] bomber arriving at [[Kirtland AFB]], New Mexico in September 1948.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kirtland AFB, New Mexico |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/kirtland.htm |work=Military Facilities: Air Force Bases |access-date=2013-08-31}}</ref>

In November 1948, LeMay had SAC's headquarters and its command post moved from [[Andrews AFB]], Maryland to [[Offutt AFB]], Nebraska.  At Offutt, the command moved into the "A Building", a three-story facility that had previously been used by the [[Glenn L. Martin Company]] during World War II.  Concurrent with the establishment of this new headquarters facility, Lemay also increased SAC [[Radar Bomb Scoring]] (RBS) runs the same year to 12,084.<ref name=Summary/> SAC also enhanced its organic fighter escort capability by initiating replacement of its World War II vintage piston-engine [[North American P-51 Mustang|F-51D Mustang]] and [[F-82E Twin Mustang]] fighter aircraft with [[F-84G Thunderjet]]s.

In January 1949, SAC conducted simulated raids on [[Wright-Patterson AFB]], Ohio.  Assessments of these simulated raids by "...LeMay's entire command...were appalling",<ref name="rhodes19950611">{{Cite magazine |last=Rhodes |first=Richard |date=1995-06-11 |title=The General and World War III |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1995/06/19/the-general-and-world-war-iii |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X |access-date=2023-11-30}}</ref><ref name=Alexander>{{cite news |last=Alexander |first=Sigmund |date=July 2005 |volume=22 |title=Radar Bomb Scoring: RBS Operations |url=http://b-47.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Newsletter-22-Jul-2005.pdf |newspaper=[[The Stratojet Newsletter]] |publisher=[[B-47 Stratojet]] Association |access-date=2012-07-09 }}</ref> despite the SAC deputy commander, Major General McMullen, having instructed all bomber units to improve their effectiveness.  To motivate crews and improve operational effectiveness command-wide, SAC established [[Fairchild Trophy|a competition, the first so-called "Bomb Comp"]] in 1948.  Winners of this inaugural event were the [[43rd Bombardment Group]] (unit) and, for aircrew award, a B-29 team from the [[509th Bombardment Group]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Stives |first=Brian |date= 2010-11-05 |title=Global Strike Challenge – A legacy of excellence |url=https://www.afgsc.af.mil/News/story/id/123227907/ |publisher=[[Eighth Air Force]] Public Affairs |access-date=2013-09-15 }}</ref>

Given its global operating environment, SAC also opened its own survival school at [[Camp Carson]], Colorado in 1949, later moving this school to [[Reno Stead Airport|Stead AFB]], Nevada in 1952 before transferring the school to the [[Air Training Command]] in 1954.{{r|AETChistory}}<!--{{rp|97,146}}-->

SAC also created [[United States war plans (1945–1950)|Emergency War Plan]] 1–49 (EWP 1–49), which outlined the means for delivering 133 atomic bombs, "...the entire stockpile...in a single massive attack..." on 70 Soviet cities over a 30-day period.<ref>{{cite book |last=Englehardt |first=Tom |year=2007 |title=The End of Victory Culture: Cold War America... |publisher=Univ of Massachusetts Press |isbn=9781558495869 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SGtlrotHe2AC&pg=PA155 |access-date=2012-08-14}}</ref>

The first Soviet atomic bomb test occurred on 29 August 1949 and the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] (JCS) subsequently identified SAC's primary objective was to damage or destroy the Soviet Union's ability to deliver nuclear weapons.  The JCS further defined SAC's secondary objective was to stop any Soviet advances into Western Europe, and its tertiary objective was the previous EWP 1–49 industrial mission.