306th Strategic Wing

The 306th Strategic Wing, previously the 306th Bombardment Wing, is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the Strategic Air Command at RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk and was inactivated on 1 February 1992. The wing's mission was to coordinate all SAC air refueling and reconnaissance resources in the European Theater with the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE). It assumed the mission of the 98th Strategic Wing when that unit was inactivated in 1976.

During the Cold War, Strategic Air Command (SAC) initially established the 306th Bombardment Wing as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress medium bombardment wing at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida in 1950. It later flew Boeing B-50 Superfortress, Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter and Boeing B-47 Stratojet aircraft at MacDill.

The wing moved to McCoy Air Force Base, Florida in 1963, where it was a redesignated as a heavy bombardment wing flying Boeing B-52 Stratofortress and Boeing KC-135A and KC-135Q Stratotanker aircraft. The 306th forward deployed to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s. As a result of post-Vietnam reductions in force, the wing was inactivated in late 1974 with the closure of McCoy.

the 306th was activated once again as the 306th Strategic Wing at Ramstein Air Base, West Germany, assuming operational control for SAC air refueling and reconnaissance resources in the European Theater. In 1978, the 306th moved to RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom. For most of this period the 306th controlled KC-135, McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender, Boeing RC-135 Rivet Joint, Lockheed SR-71 and Lockheed U-2 aircraft deployed from the United States to the United Kingdom. In 1992 it was inactivated and its mission transferred to the 100th Air Refueling Wing under United States Air Forces in Europe.