:
For additional post-WW II history and lineage, see 306th Strategic Wing World War II The group was activated 1 March 1942 at
Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah. Personnel moved to
Wendover Army Air Field, Utah on 6 April 1942 and began flying training, where it trained for bombardment operations using 40
B-17E aircraft. Group left Wendover 1 August 1942 to begin movement to the United Kingdom. The Ground unit first moved to Richmond AAB, Virginia and remained a week before leaving for
Fort Dix, New Jersey. On 13 August 1942, the Group's personnel sailed on the on 30 August 1942 and arrived 5 September 1942 at Greenock, Scotland. The aircraft flew from Wendover to
Westover Field, Massachusetts on 2 August 1942. The remainder of the Group departed for the United Kingdom on 1 September 1942 via Gander-Prestwick ferry route. Based at
RAF Thurleigh, Bedfordshire, in south-central England, as part of the
Eighth Air Force, the 306th was the longest continuously-serving bomb group of the Eighth Air Force during World War II, and led the first mission against a target in Germany. The novel and film ''
Twelve O'Clock High'' were based in large part on incidents occurring in the group in 1942 and 1943. Between October 1942 and April 1945, the Group bombed a variety of enemy targets in Europe, including railroad facilities and submarine pens in France and ball-bearing works, oil plants, marshaling yards, chemical plants, aircraft factories, and foundries in Germany. Took part in the first penetration into Germany by heavy bombers of the Eighth Air Force on 27 January 1943 by attacking the
U-boat yards at
Wilhelmshaven. Sergeant
Maynard Harrison Smith received the
Medal of Honor for his actions on 1 May 1943. When the aircraft on which he was a gunner was hit by the enemy and set on fire, the sergeant threw explosive ammunition overboard, manned a gun until the German fighters were driven off, administered first aid to the wounded tail gunner, and extinguished the fire. The 306th was the center of media attention on 6 July 1944, when Thurleigh was visited by the British
Royal Family. As cameras rolled,
King George VI, his wife Queen Elizabeth, and their daughter Heiress Presumptive Princess Elizabeth (the future
Queen Elizabeth II) were led to a new B-17G of the 367th Bomb Squadron. The new replacement aircraft had been named
Rose of York in honor of the 18-year-old Princess, who ceremonially christened the bomber. On her 50th mission on 3 February 1945,
Rose of York was hit by flak over Berlin; she disappeared over the English Channel or North Sea while returning home. Without fighter escort and in the face of powerful opposition, the group completed an assault against aircraft factories in central Germany on 11 January 1944, earning a
Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for the mission. The group participated in the
Big Week intensive campaign against the German aircraft industry, 20–25 February 1944. The group earned another DUC for effectively bombing an aircraft assembly plant at Bernberg,
Gummersbach, Germany on 22 February, even though
escort fighters had abandoned the mission because of weather. Often supported ground forces and attacked interdictory targets in addition to its strategic operations. Hit airfields and marshaling yards in France,
Belgium, and Germany in preparation for
Normandy. On
D-Day, 6 June 1944, the unit raided railroad bridges and coastal guns in support of the assault. Assisted ground forces during the
Saint-Lô breakthrough in July, then participated in the airborne portion of
Operation Market Garden, the invasion of the
Netherlands in September. During the
Battle of the Bulge, December 1944 – January 1945, the 306th attacked airfields and marshaling yards to help stop the German advance. Bombed enemy positions in support of the airborne assault across the
Rhine River in March 1945, the
Operation Varsity portion of the
Western Allied invasion of Germany. Selected for duty with occupational air forces in Germany. The unit engaged in the "Casey Jones" mapping photography project. Group then moved to Giebelstadt, Germany on 1 December 1945, and on 28 February 1946 to Istres, France, where it absorbed the remnants of the 92nd and 384th Bomb Groups. In August 1946 the unit was re-established in Germany at Furstenfeldbruck, and in September 1946 located at Lechfeld. The unit was inactivated on 25 December 1946, although the group had virtually ceased to exist as a flying unit in the late summer of that year. Inactivated December 1946, the group received the
Distinguished Unit Citation with one
Oak Leaf Cluster and six
campaign stars.
Cold War The group was reactivated as a
Strategic Air Command (SAC)
Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bombardment group but was redesignated in 1948 as a medium bombardment group when the B-29 was reclassified as a medium bomber. The group trained in the United States for strategic bombardment operations. Deliveries of the new
Boeing B-47 Stratojet to the USAF began in December 1950, and the aircraft entered service in May 1951 with the group at
MacDill Air Fordce Base, Florida. The 306th was intended to act as a training organization in to prepare future B-47 crews and the 306th's B-47As were primarily training aircraft and not considered as being combat ready; none of the B-47As ever saw any operational duty. On 19 November 1951, the 306th received its first operational Boeing B-47B and christened it
The Real McCoyin honor of
Colonel Michael N. W. McCoy, the 306th's wing commander, who flew it from the Boeing Wichita plant to MacDill AFB. In 1950 the group added the
air refueling mission when the
306th Air Refueling Squadron was activated and assigned to the group. The first
Boeing KC-97E Stratofreighter tanker aircraft assigned to Strategic Air Command was delivered to this squadron in 1951. In February 1951, the group became non-operational and its squadrons were attached to the
306th Bombardment Wing at
MacDill AFB, Florida. The 306th was inactivated as a group on 16 June 1952 and its operational squadrons were reassigned to the
306th Bombardment Wing as SAC converted its bomb groups to the dual deputy organization. to Southeast Asia for combat operations over Vietnam. This B-52D is now preserved on display at
Maxwell AFB, Alabama.
Modern era The 306th was redesignated the
306th Flying Training Group and activated in October 2004 as part of
Air Education and Training Command's (AETC)
Nineteenth Air Force at the
United States Air Force Academy. In addition to operating the USAF Academy Airfield and the associated aviation training activities for USAFA Cadets at that facility, the 306 FTG also has oversight of the Initial Flight Screening (IFS) program for USAF commissioned officer aviation candidates, including pilots and combat systems officers commissioned through
Air Force ROTC and
Officer Training School as well as the USAF Academy. IFS is performed under a civilian contract program at
Pueblo Memorial Airport, Colorado and the 306 FTG provides a contingent of Air Force personnel to oversee the students and provide military training, supervision, and rigor to the course. With the inactivation of 19 AF in July 2012, the 306th reported to
headquarters, AETC. With the reactivation of 19 AF, the group is now a geographically separated unit of the
12th Flying Training Wing at
Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. ==Lineage==