World War II Training in the United States The unit was first activated on 26 January 1943 at
Geiger Field Washington as the
390th Bombardment Group, with the
568th 569th 570th and
571st Bombardment Squadrons assigned as its original squadrons. The group did not begin to fill its ranks until early the following month. The
group trained at Geiger until June 1943 when it moved to
Great Falls Army Air Base, Montana. The group received a
Distinguished Unit Citation for the mission. The group participated in the intensive Allied attacks on the German aircraft industry during
Big Week, from 20 to 25 February 1944, when it bombed aircraft factories, instrument plants and aircraft depots. Other strategic missions included attacks on
marshalling yards at
Frankfurt, bridges at
Cologne, petroleum facilities at
Zeitz, factories at
Mannheim, naval installations at
Bremen and synthetic oil refineries at
Merseburg. , Suffolk, England. The 390th was stationed at the
Parham Airfield in nearby
Parham. The group was sometimes diverted from the strategic mission to fly
interdiction and ground support missions. Thereafter, the group would frequently use pathfinder techniques when clouds obscured its assigned targets. The group bombed the coast near
Caen fifteen minutes before the
D-Day landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944. It attacked enemy artillery in support of ground forces during
Operation Cobra, the breakout at
Saint-Lô in late July 1944. The 390th cut German supply lines during the
Battle of the Bulge between December 1944 and January 1945. The group attacked
airfields of the
Luftwaffe to support
Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine, in March 1945. The 390th Bombardment Group flew its last combat mission on 20 April 1945. In over 300 missions, they dropped more than 19,000 tons of bombs. They lost 176 aircraft and 714 airmen were killed in action. The unit claimed the destruction of 342 enemy aircraft. The 1 January 1962 organization of the
390th Strategic Missile Wing marked the first stand up of a Titan II wing. Although the wing was built up from scratch some of its initial
cadre came from the
303d Bombardment Wing, a
Strategic Air Command (SAC)
Boeing B-47 Stratojet wing, also stationed at Davis–Monthan. The wing's initial task was to supervise the construction of launch silos and command and control facilities for its Titans. Competing in SAC's first missile competition, Project Curtain Raiser, in 1967, the 390th won the first "best crew" trophy. In October 1981, President
Ronald Reagan announced that as part of the modernization of strategic missiles the Titan II was to be retired by 1 October 1987. Site deactivation began at Davis–Monthan on 1 October 1982. During the operation, titled Rivet Cap, missiles were removed and shipped to
Norton Air Force Base, California, where they were refurbished and stored. Demolition began at missile complex 570-7 on 30 November 1983. In May the last Titan II at Davis–Monthan came off alert status, and at the end of July the Air Force inactivated the 390th Strategic Missile Wing. ==Lineage==