| 414th Fighter Group | |
|---|---|
 414th Fighter GroupMcDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle 88-1674 | |
| Active | 1944–1946; 1955–1969; 2010–present |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Air Force |
| Role | Fighter/Attack |
| Size | 250 full and part time reservists[1] |
| Part of |  Air Force Reserve Command |
| Garrison/HQ | Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina |
| Engagements | Pacific Ocean theater of World War II |
| Decorations | Air Force Outstanding Unit Award |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander | Col Chad Shenk |
| Insignia | |
| 414th Fighter Group emblem(Approved 28 July 1956)[2] |  |
| Aircraft flown | |
| Fighter | F-15E Strike Eagle |
The414th Fighter Group is an Air Reserve Component (ARC) of theUnited States Air Force. It is assigned to the944th Fighter Wing ofTenth Air Force,Air Force Reserve Command, stationed atSeymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina.
Thegroup was first activated in the fall of 1944 as a long-range fighter unit. It moved to thePacific Ocean Theater, where it saw limited combat as an element ofTwentieth Air Force. After thesurrender of Japan, it moved toClark Field in the Philippines, where it was part ofThirteenth Air Force until its planes were transferred to another group and it was inactivated in September 1946.
The 414th was activated again in the summer of 1955 atOxnard Air Force Base, California as part of theair defenses of the Pacific coast. It was theUnited States Air Force host organization at Oxnard and provided logistical support toAir Defense Command radar stations nearby. It flew variousinterceptor aircraft at Oxnard through 1969 when it was inactivated in a reduction of manned interceptors as the United States faced a reduced threat from Soviet bombers.
The group was activated in its current role as an associate unit in 2010, flying and maintaining the same aircraft as the regular Air Force4th Fighter Wing.
The414th Fighter Group was activated as anAir Force Reserve Command associate unit in July 2010.[3] Thegroup is an associate unit of the4th Fighter Wing ofAir Combat Command (ACC) and if mobilized the wing is gained by ACC. The role of the new group is to helpSeymour Johnson Air Force Base produce more qualifiedMcDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle aircrew and provide skilled maintainers to assist in the maintenance of the F-15E aircraft.[1]
The414th Fighter Group as activated on 15 October 1944 atSeymour Johnson Field and equipped withRepublic P-47 Thunderbolts.[2] Most of the pilots had been flyingCurtiss P-40s atHarris Neck Army Air Field, Georgia.[4] The group consisted of three squadrons, the413th,[5]437th[6] and456th Fighter Squadrons.[2][7]
In November 1944 the group relocated toSelfridge Field, Michigan[2] where they transitioned into long-range P-47N Thunderbolts.[4] On 19 March 1945, the Group moved toBluethenthal Field, North Carolina[2] in preparation for their departure to the Pacific war zone.
An advance echelon left in May 1945 and the remainder of the group left for the Pacific on converted aircraft carriers. The first element left from the Pacific Coast in June[8] onUSS Cape Esperance, with 49 planes forIwo Jima, arriving on 7 July.[9]USS Casablanca, with 60 planes departed on 7 July 1945 and arrived atGuam on 22 July 1945.[4] On arrival in the Pacific, the 414th Group was assigned to the301st Fighter Wing[3] ofVII Fighter Command, part ofTwentieth Air Force. The air echelon that was based temporarily on Guam flew two missions fromHarmon Field toTruk, one of theCaroline Islands,[2] beginning on 13 July[9] intending to attack Japanese planes, but found none. The group suffered its first combat loss on these missions.[4]
The portion of the group on Iwo Jima began operations with an attack against aradar station onChichi Jima with guns and rockets on 29 July.[9] Operations during August were directed primarily against enemyairfields in Japan but the group also strafedhangars,barracks,ammunition dumps, trains,marshalling yards and shipping.[2] A raid onOkazaki was diverted due to visibility and the secondary target,Nagoya Airfield, had no planes, so the group's fighters strafed buildings on the field.[4]
Boeing B-29 Superfortress navigation "pathfinders" led the Thunderbolts to and from Japan. If the rendezvous with the pathfinder for the return journey was missed, it was a daunting prospect to find the way back to Iwo Jima 600 miles away. On return from one of the group's first operations supporting B-29s overKyūshū on 8 August, the fuel supplies of several Thunderbolts were exhausted and pilots bailed out nearNavy ships patrolling the route. Lt. Robert Dunnavant, of the 437th Fighter Squadron, spent 8 hours and 45 minutes in the air in his Thunderbolt. Rather than trying to land atNorth Field he landed at a small Navy airstrip on the island's coast because of his lack of fuel.[4]
On 12 August 1945, the portion of the group at Guam attempted to join the rest of the unit on Iwo Jima, but severe weather forced them to divert toTinian andSaipan. Two pilots, Roy Abbott, and George W. Caka, were lost on this flight due to the weather. On 16 August, they again departed from Guam, where they had re-gathered, and flew the 720 miles to Iwo.[4] No attack missions to Japan were flown by the group after 14 August.[10] In total, the group flew five missions to Japan from Iwo Jima.[4]
The group's final mission was in a show of force on 30 August 1945, three days beforeV-J Day. Their fighters and B-29s flew overTokyo as the instrument of surrender was being finalized by GeneralDouglas MacArthur onUSS Missouri.[4]
The group was reassigned to13th Air Force atClark Field in the Philippines in late December 1945.[2] The Group flew a mix of P-47Ns,North American P-51 Mustangs, and then a fewLockheed P-80 Shooting Stars. Most of the group's aircraft were moved toFloridablanca Airfield in 1946, where they were used to equip the18th Fighter Group.[4] The 414th was inactivated at the end of September.[2]
The414th Fighter Group (Air Defense) was activated in 1955 atOxnard Air Force Base, California[2] as part of Project Arrow, which was designed to bring back on the active list the fighter units which had compiled memorable records in the two world wars.[11] The group assumed theair defense mission, personnel, and equipment of the533d Air Defense Group, which was simultaneously inactivated.[12] Because Project Arrow was also designed to reuniteWorld War II groups and their historic components, the437th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron moved on paper fromOtis Air Force Base, Massachusetts to Oxnard and took over theLockheed F-94C Starfires[6] of the 533d's354th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which left Oxnard forMcGhee-Tyson Airport, Tennessee.[13]
The 414th became the USAF host organization for Oxnard and was assigned several support organizations to carry out this mission.[14][15][16][17][18] The 414th also provided logistical support forAir Defense Command Air Force Stations (radar sites) in the vicinity of Oxnard.[19] The group mission was "to provide [the] southern California area with combat ready aircraft and crews to repel an enemy force attempting to strike against the United States."[20]
By April 1956, the group traded in its F-94s forNorthrop F-89D Scorpions.[21] Like the F-94 it replaced, the F-89D was armed withMighty Mouse rockets. Within a month, the squadron began to receive F-89H aircraft alongside its D models.[21] The H model was capable of carryingAIM-4 Falcon guided missiles in addition to its unguided rockets. In the spring of 1958 the squadron converted to the most recent Scorpion, the F-89J,[21] which was capable of carrying the nuclear capableAIR-2 Genie as its armament.
In December 1957, the66th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron moved from Alaska to Oxnard and was assigned to the group.[22] However, the squadron was inactivated the following month without being assigned personnel or aircraft.[23] In January 1960 the group began to receive its first supersonic "Century Series" fighter, theMcDonnell F-101B Voodoo. It continued to fly the Voodoo until September 1968 when the 437th squadron was inactivated and replaced by the460th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which was equipped with theConvair F-106 Delta Dart. The F-106s for this conversion came from the inactivating456th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron atCastle Air Force Base, California.[24] The group operated this interceptor until the end of 1969 when it was inactivated as ADC reduced its manned interceptor force in view of the reduced threat to the United States from Soviet bomber aircraft.[12] All its components were inactivated as well, except for the 460th, which moved toKingsley Field, Oregon,[25] where it replaced the59th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, aConvair F-102 Delta Dagger unit.[26]
The 414th was activated in 2010[3] as an associate fighter group with the4th Fighter Wing ofAir Combat Command, once again at Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina, where it had first been activated in 1944. This time its mission was to train aircrew and assist in maintaining the F-15E.[1] It was assigned the307th Fighter Squadron and the414th Maintenance Squadron to carry out this mission.[3]
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| Award streamer | Award | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Air Force Outstanding Unit Award | 1 July 1966-30 June 1968 | 414th Fighter Group (Air Defense)[31] |
| Campaign Streamer | Campaign | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Air Offensive, Japan | 7 July 1945 – 2 September 1945 | 414th Fighter Group, Single Engine[2] |
| Eastern Mandates | 7 July 1945 – 2 September 1945 | 414th Fighter Group, Single Engine[2] |
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
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