World War II Training in the United States The
group was first activated at
Alamogordo Army Air Field, New Mexico on 1 June 1943 as the
445th Bombardment Group, with the
740th,
741st,
742d and
743d Bombardment Squadrons assigned. The initial
cadre for the group was drawn from the
302d Bombardment Group. In July, a cadre was given advanced tactical training by the
Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics at
Orlando Army Air Base and
Pinecastle Army Air Field, Florida. After organizing at Alamogordo, the group moved to Utah, where the ground echelon was stationed at
Kearns Army Air Base, although flying operations were based at
Salt Lake City Army Air Base. After completing training at
Langley Field, Virginia, the group departed the United States for the
Mediterranean Theater of Operations in December 1943. The ground echelon of group
headquarters sailed on the
SS William T. Barry.
Combat operations The air echelon of the group was delayed in Tunisia and was not entirely lodged at the 455th's combat station of
San Giovanni Airfield, Italy until 1 February 1944, and the group flew its first mission on 16 February. On 26 June 1944, the group, which was leading the
304th Bombardment Wing on the raid, encountered
fighter opposition that was described as the strongest
Fifteenth Air Force had encountered to date, and which destroyed several Liberators of the 455th Group. One 740th Liberator was lost on the raid, while the squadron claimed eleven enemy aircraft destroyed (two shared claims). Enemy fighters were able to separate the 741st Squadron from its fighter escort and intensified their attacks on the squadron. One 741st bomber was lost when a
Luftwaffe fighter dove head-on into it. The Liberator continued on the bomb run and dropped its bombs on the target before crashing into the ground Other fighters continued their attacks to within 100 feet of the group's planes. On this mission, the 742d Squadron suffered its heaviest losses of the war, with six planes lost to enemy action. Only one of the squadron's Liberators that reached the target returned safely. The 743d Squadron put nine bombers over the target but was the only squadron of the group to bring all its planes home. The group pressed its attack on an oil refinery at
Moosbierbaum, Austria, for which it received a second DUC. The group provided
air support to ground forces in
Operation Shingle, the landings at
Anzio and the
Battle of Monte Cassino in the spring of 1944. It knocked out
coastal defenses to clear the way for
Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France in September. As
Axis forces were withdrawing from the Balkan peninsula in the fall of 1944, the squadron bombed marshalling yards, troop concentrations and airfields to slow their retreat. It flew
air interdiction missions to support
Operation Grapeshot, the Spring 1945 offensive in Northern Italy. Following the
surrender of German forces in Italy, it flew some supply missions and transported personnel to ports and airfields for shipment back to the United States. Most of the air echelon returned to the United States, ferrying their aircraft in June. The 740th Squadron's ground personnel moved to
Bari Airfield in July 1945, where they serviced the aircraft assigned to headquarters,
Fifteenth Air Force. Many of the group's remaining personnel were transferred to other units in the 304th Bombardment Wing for shipment back to the United States, while the group remained in Italy, serving as a replacement depot. The last of the air echelon departed Italy in July and the group was inactivated on 9 September 1945. The group lost 118 aircraft. It suffered 147 killed in action, 268 Missing in action, 179 prisoners of war, and 169 wounded in action. On the other hand, the group claimed the destruction of 119 enemy aircraft. In 1948
Continental Air Command (ConAC) assumed responsibility for managing reserve and
Air National Guard units from ADC. President
Truman's reduced 1949 defense budget required reductions in the number of units in the Air Force. ConAC also reorganized its reserve units under the
wing base organization system in June 1949. As a result, the group was inactivated and its personnel and equipment at Hensley Field were transferred to elements of the
443d Troop Carrier Wing, which was activated simultaneously. The 743d Squadron was also inactivated and reserve flying operations at Sheppard came to an end.
Tactical Air Command The group was redesignated the
455th Fighter-Day Group and activated at
Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, South Carolina in July 1956 as
Tactical Air Command planned to organize a second
North American F-100 Super Sabre wing there. Some personnel were assigned to the group and its squadrons, but it never became operational with aircraft. It was inactivated in July 1957 and its few personnel were reassigned to elements of the
354th Fighter-Day Wing. On 31 January 1984, the
455th Fighter-Day Group and the
455th Strategic Missile Wing were consolidated into a single unit under the wing's designation. 1 October 2008 through 30 September 2009, and 1 October 2010 through 30 September 2011. In 2018 the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron became a joint Army-Air Force unit. The squadron, which has been strictly U.S. Air Force personnel flying the HH-60, was to become a joint unit containing Air Force pararescuemen and combat rescue officers and U.S. Army CH-47 Chinooks helicopters and pilots. The last commander for the wing served up until mid-2021.
Units in the 2010s The wing consisted of five groups: : 455th Expeditionary Operations Group. The group is responsible for all expeditionary flying and aeromedical evacuation operations for the wing. It oversees operations of a
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon close air support squadron, a
Lockheed C-130 Hercules airlift squadron, a
Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk/Guardian Angel rescue squadron, a
Lockheed EC-130H Compass Call electronic combat squadron and an
aeromedical evacuation flight. It also oversees support functions such as air traffic control, intelligence, weather, radar monitoring and landing systems, airfield management and command and control equipment at forward-operating bases. ::
83d Expeditionary Rescue Squadron (
Boeing CH-47 Chinook) ::
774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron (Lockheed C-130 Hercules) ::
41st Expeditionary Electronic Combat Squadron (Lockheed EC-130H Compass Call) :: Rotational Expeditionary Fighter Squadron (General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon) :: 555th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron April–October 2015 :: 421st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron October 2015 – April 2016. :: 457th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron April–October 2016. :: 93d Expeditionary Fighter Squadron April–October 2016. :: 79th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron October 2016 – April 2017. :: 555th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron April–October 2017 :: 77th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron October 2017 – April 2018 : 455th Expeditionary Medical Group. The group was the Air Force component for Task Force Med, which provides combat medical and combat medical support services to U.S. and coalition forces throughout Afghanistan. Along with the U.S. Army, the group staffed
Craig Joint Theater Hospital at Bagram. :: 455th Expeditionary Medical Operations Squadron :: 455th Expeditionary Medical Support Squadron :
451st Air Expeditionary Group: The group operated the
Northrop Grumman E-11,
General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, and
General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper at
Kandahar and
Jalalabad Airfields. ==Lineage==