Creation The
303rd Bombardment Group was activated in February 1942 as a
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber group at
Pendleton Field, Oregon, and assigned the
358th,
359th, and
360th Bombardment Squadrons and the 31st Reconnaissance Squadron. It moved to
Gowen Field, Idaho, where its 31st Reconnaissance Squadron was replaced by the
38th Reconnaissance Squadron, which had lost most of its B-17s in the
attack on Pearl Harbor. The group deployed to
Southern California to fly
antisubmarine patrols over the Pacific. The group completed training in the southwest by August 1942. The ground echelon departed
Biggs Field, Texas in August 1942, arriving at
Fort Dix on August 24. It sailed aboard the
RMS Queen Mary and arrived in Great Britain on 10 September. The air echelon flew through
Kellogg Field, Michigan, and
Dow Field, Maine before ferrying its planes across the Atlantic.
Air war in Europe Due to the haste to move heavy bombers to Europe, the group was insufficiently trained for combat and it continued to train in England until its first combat mission on November 17, 1942 in a strike against German submarines at
Saint-Nazaire. The 303rd returned having been unable to locate its target. It attacked Saint-Nazaire the following day, although its intended target was
La Pallice. Its initial raids were on
airfields, railroads and
submarine pens in France. As one of only four Flying Fortress groups in
VIII Bomber Command during late 1942 and early 1943, the 303rd participated in the development of the
tactics that would be used throughout the air campaign against Germany. In 1943, the group began flying missions to Germany, participating in the first attack by American heavy bombers on a target in Germany, a raid on the submarine yards at
Wilhelmshaven on 27 January 1943. From that time, it concentrated primarily on strategic bombardment of German industry,
marshalling yards, and other strategic targets, including the
ball bearing plants at
Schweinfurt,
shipyards at
Bremen and an aircraft engine factory at
Hamburg. Luftwaffe personnel transported the plane to the
Leeuwarden Airfield in the Netherlands, where repairs were made and the B-17 put in flyable condition. The damaged ball turret was never repaired. It was painted with German
Balkenkreuz and assigned
Stammkennzeichen alphabetic code DL+XC with yellow paint on the undersurfaces. It was carefully examined and tested at the Luftwaffe Test and Evaluation Center at
Rechlin-Lärz Airfield. The B-17 was first flown by the Germans on 17 March 1943, followed by more testing and development of fighter tactics against B-17s. The plane was then transferred to
Kampfgeschwader 200 special operations wing at
Rangsdorf, Germany, on 11 September 1943. It then took part in training and highly secretive clandestine missions between May and June 1944. On 20 April 1945, the aircraft was caught in an American air-raid on
Oranienburg Airfield and was partially destroyed. and its squadrons were managed by its parent
303rd Bombardment Wing. In June 1952 its squadrons were assigned directly to the wing and the group was inactivated.
Air Force Materiel Command Prior to 2005, Program Executive Officers (PEO)s managing Air Force systems were generally located in Washington. Program managers in field units reported to the PEO for each program. As a result of a study begun in 2003 the Air Force decided to consolidate PEOs and locate them at the
Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) centers. The reorganization was known as the Air Force Materiel Command Transformation. In conjunction with the new organization, the traditional center directorates were replaced by
wings and groups. The
Global Hawk Systems Group was formed as one of the new groups at
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio in January 2005. During the summer of 2006 the 303rd was consolidated with this group and the consolidated unit was shortly renamed the
303rd Aeronautical Systems Group. After analyzing the results of that reorganization, the Air Force decided PEOs that were even closer to the persons managing programs on a day-to-day basis would improve the system. It announced the Air Force Acquisition Improvement Plan in May 2009 and four months later announced the initiative would include a return to the Directorate organizational model. In June 2010, the group was inactivated.
Expeditionary unit In March 2011, the group was converted to provisional status as the
303rd Air Expeditionary Group and assigned to
United States Air Forces Europe, which may activate or inactivate it when needed for contingency operations. ==Lineage==