World War II Constituted as 320th Bombardment Group (Medium) on 19 June 1942 and activated on 23 June at MacDill Field (now
MacDill Air Force Base), Florida. The operational squadrons of the group were the 441st, 442d, 443d and 444th Bomb Squadrons. The 320th was equipped with the
Martin B-26 Marauder aircraft. The group was subsequently relocated to nearby
Drane Field (now
Lakeland Linder International Airport), Florida. Most of the group moved to North Africa via England, August–December 1942; crews then flew their planes over the South Atlantic route and arrived in North Africa, December 1942 – January 1943. The 320th Bombardment Group received the
French Croix de Guerre with Palm for action in preparation for and in support of Allied offensive operations in central Italy, April–June 1944. It was the first such citation to be awarded to an American unit by the provisional French government in World War II. The unit also received a
Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for a mission on 12 May 1944 when, in the face of an intense antiaircraft barrage, the group bombed enemy troop concentrations near
Fondi in support of the
U.S. Fifth Army's advance toward Rome. From June to November 1944 operations included interdictory missions in the
Po Valley, support for the invasion of Southern France and attacks on enemy communications in northern Italy. The
320th Bombardment Wing, Medium (BW) was activated at
March Air Force Base, California on 1 December 1952. The 320th BW assumed the assets of the
106th Bombardment Wing, a federalized
New York Air National Guard unit which was brought onto active duty during the
Korean War. The 4134th was established by SAC on 1 May 1958 at Mather and assigned to the
14th Air Division as part of SAC's plan to disperse its
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress heavy bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for the
Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike. The wing was assigned only two maintenance squadrons until 1 July 1958 when the
72d Bombardment Squadron, consisting of 15 B-52Fs. moved to Mather from
Travis Air Force Base, California where it had been one of the three squadrons of the
5th Bombardment Wing. Starting in 1960, one third of the squadron's aircraft were maintained on fifteen-minute
alert, fully fueled and ready for combat to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet missile strike. This was increased to half the squadron's aircraft in 1962. The 4039th (and later the 416th) continued to maintain an alert commitment until 1965, and periodically thereafter when not supporting operations in
Southeast Asia. Additional maintenance squadrons and a squadron to provide security for special weapons were activated at the same time. On 1 January 1959 the 49th Aviation Depot Squadron was activated to oversee the wing's special weapons. The 4135th became fully organized on 1 July 1959 when the
904th Air Refueling Squadron, flying
Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers was activated and assigned to the wing. In the same way the
441st Bombardment Squadron, one of the unit's World War II historical bomb squadrons, replaced the 341st BS. The 49th Munitions Maintenance Squadron and the 904th Air Refueling Squadron were reassigned to the 320th. Component support units were replaced by units with numerical designation of the newly established wing. Under the Dual Deputate organization, all flying and maintenance squadrons were directly assigned to the wing, so no operational group element was activated. Each of the new units assumed the personnel, equipment, and mission of its predecessor. At Mather, the wing performed global bombardment training and air refueling operations to meet SAC commitments, February 1963 – 1965 and later. In 1964 and 1965, the wing's B-52Fs were selected for modification under programs South Bay and Sun Bath. These modifications enabled the wing's bombers to double their bomb load from 24 to 48 750 lb bombs by the installation of external bomb racks. With these modifications, the wing's planes, along with those of the
7th Bombardment Wing were the first to deploy to
Andersen Air Force Base, Guam and the first to fly
Arc Light bombing missions. The modified B-52Fs were the only SAC bombers to deploy for Arc Light missions until 1966, when the B-52Fs were replaced by B-52Ds with the Big Belly modification than enabled them to carry a larger and more varied bomb load. The entire wing was drastically reduced from February to July 1965, from December 1965 to March 1966, and from June 1972 to October 1973, when all aircraft, crews, and most support personnel were loaned to other SAC units based at Andersen AFB Guam,
U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield, Thailand and
Kadena AB, Okinawa for operations in Southeast Asia. The 3542d Operations Squadron was inactivated the following year, in late 1973, concurrent with the retirement of the T-29 from UNT in late 1973 and early 1974 and its replacement with the
Boeing 737-200 based
T-43 Bobcat. In the early 1980s, the 320th and the 441 BS were equipped to carry, and trained in the employment of, the US Navy's
AGM-84 Harpoon missile and various types of anti-ship mines as part of a joint USN-USAF initiative to employ USAF bomber aircraft in maritime operations. The 904th Air Refueling Squadron was inactivated 1 October 1986 and its older KC-135As modified to
KC-135E standard and redistributed to other SAC units or sent to AMARC at
Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona for storage. From this point forward, the 441 BS would rely on the
Air Force Reserve's tenant
940th Air Refueling Group at Mather for local KC-135 support, or KC-135 and KC-10 support from other units in the western United States. As a result of the
START I treaty with the Soviet Union and the associated mandated reductions in strategic bombers on both sides, the 441 BS with its B-52Gs was inactivated at Mather AFB on 30 September 1989. It was the first B-52G squadron to inactivate under the gradual drawdown of the B-52G fleet pursuant to
START reductions of the entire USAF strategic bomber force. Along with the 441 BS, the 320th Bombardment Wing was also inactivated on 30 September 1989 as the first B-52 wing to be inactivated in conjunction with the phased retirement of the B-52G fleet and was also made in conjunction with the pending closure of Mather AFB in 1993 due to a 1989
Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) decision.
320th Air Expeditionary Group (Air Combat Command) In 1998, the 320th was reactivated as the 320th Air Expeditionary Group (320 AEG) at
Eskan Village, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As an element of
U.S. Central Command Air Forces (USCENTAF) /
9th Air Force (9 AF), the 320 AEG was a ground-based non-flying organization, replacing the earlier 4409th Air Base Group (Provisional). The 4409th Operational Support Wing (Provisional) had originally been established after the
Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The primary mission of the 320 AEG at Eskan was to provide liaison with Saudi Arabian
Ministry of Defense and Aviation (MODA) for Eskan Village and to provide host base support to the staff of
Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) and the
9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force (9 ASETF), including its associated
Coalition Air Operations Center (CAOC) commanding all U.S. and Coalition combat flying units The CAOC conducted
Operation Southern Watch, which enforcing the "No Fly Zone" over Southern Iraq during the 1990s, until 2003. The 320 AEG also supported the
United States Military Training Mission - Saudi Arabia, the U.S.
Office of the Program Manager, Saudi Arabian National Guard Modernization Program (OPM-SANG), as well as the
Royal Air Force and
French Air Force headquarters elements also located at Eskan Village. Colonel George L. Bondar was commander, 320th Expeditionary Medical Group, 320th Air Expeditionary Wing, at Seeb North Air Base, in Oman, from May 2003 - June 2003. Seeb is what is now
Muscat International Airport. "The 320th AEW moved American military power closer to ..Afghanistan and Iraq by transporting eight divisions [
sic - roughly eight divisions worth of troops at 10,000 personnel a division - around 80,000 troops] hauling some 47,000 tons of cargo, flying 17,000 sorties and logging 40,000 flying hours all while simultaneously supporting operations in 12 countries." In 2005 the 320th Air Expeditionary Group was replaced by the
64th Air Expeditionary Group, a component of the
379th Air Expeditionary Wing.
320th Air Expeditionary Wing (AF District of Washington) The 320th was then renamed as the 320th Air Expeditionary Wing and was reassigned to the
Air Force District of Washington at
Bolling Air Force Base, District of Columbia. The Air Force District of Washington serves as the Air Force service component for coordination purposes to
Joint Forces Headquarters National Capital Region. When the Joint Forces Headquarters transitions to become
Joint Task Force National Capital Region, the 320th Air Expeditionary Wing activates and becomes the Air Force service component of the task force. Normally, the commander of the district serves as the commander of the wing. Examples of National Capital Region support duties have included supporting the
inauguration of Barack Obama. ==Lineage==