World War II Marine Aircraft Group 14 was formed under the command of Lieutenant colonel
Albert D. Cooley at then
Camp Kearny, California on 1 March 1942. The nucleus for the new aircraft group came from
Marine Aircraft Group 11 which had just arrived from
Marine Corps Air Station Quantico following the 7 December 1941
attack on Pearl Harbor. They remained there training until they deployed for the
Pacific Theater in October 1942. The Group soon arrived at
Guadalcanal relieving
Marine Aircraft Group 23 on 16 October 1942 to become part of the
Cactus Air Force. The group would take part in the
Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands just 10 days later. In November 1942 they took part in the
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal and continued to fight in the skies over the island until 4 April 1943 when they were sent to
Seagrove Aerodrome,
Auckland, New Zealand to rest and refit. MAG-14 returned to the
Solomon Islands in August 1943 and set up the Fighter Command at
Munda. The next month part of the group was moved to Ondonga and later on more units were sent to
Vella Lavella. From these locations they supported the Marines and American and Allied soldiers during the
Battle of New Georgia and the
Battle of Bougainville. On 15 February 1944, New Zealand troops captured the
Green Islands in Papua New Guinea. Less than two weeks later aircraft from MAG-14 were operating from the airstrip here known as
Lagoon Field. From here, MAG-14 units would continue to keep pressure on the isolated
Japanese garrisons of
Rabaul and
Kavieng. By 24 January 1945, four fighter squadrons from MAG-14 were operating from
Guiuan in the northern
Philippines province of
Eastern Samar. During
fighting in the Philippines the Group was responsible for covering
convoys and supporting
Army and Filipino guerillas on the islands of
Negros,
Mindanao,
Cebu and
Leyte. Following the war, the Group returned to the United States in February 1946 and settling at
Marine Corps Outlying Field Oak Grove in March 1946. The group moved to MCAS Cherry Point in July 1946 only to be sent back to Oak Grove for a six-month stint beginning in December 1946. During the group's time at Oak Grove it supported combined Caribbean maneuvers during February and March 1947. MAG-14 returned to MCAS Cherry Point on June 6, 1947.
The Gulf War & the 1990s During
Operation Desert Storm, MAG-14 flew night combat missions deep into
Iraq and
Kuwait and provided artillery destruction of the Iraqi Republican Guard.
VMA-231 and
VMA-542 provided more than 2,000 offensives in conjunction with delivering close to 4.5 million pounds of ordnance during January and February 1991. In November 1999,
Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron-2 (VMU-2) was reassigned from MAG-14 to
Marine Air Control Group 28 (MACG-28) at the decision of the USMC Force Structure Planning Group. On 13 May 2013 VMU-2 was officially reassigned from Marine Air Control Group 28 back to Marine Aircraft Group 14.
Global War on Terror On 14 May 2012, MWSS-271 was transferred to MAG-14 after
Marine Wing Support Group 27 (MWSG-27) was deactivated, but was transferred back on 22 May 2018, when MWSG-27 was reactivated at MCAS Cherry Point. ==See also==