Strategic Air Command The Continental Air Forces, created in December 1944, coordinated the activities of the four numbered air forces (First, Second, Third, and Fourth) in the United States. Strategic bombardment operations during World War II, however, had shown the need for a major command devoted exclusively to strategic, long-range air combat operations, and that became the command's assigned mission in 1946. During 1992, as a result of the diminishing danger of massive nuclear warfare and the disappearance of a meaningful distinction between strategic and tactical missions, HQ USAF inactivated the Strategic Air Command and divided its assets between the newly created Air Combat Command and Air Mobility Command. Lineage Established as Continental Air Forces on December 13, 1944. Activated on December 15, 1944. Redesignated Strategic Air Command on March 21, 1946. Inactivated on June 1, 1992.