449th Air Expeditionary Group | |
|---|---|
 Airmen from the 449th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron prepare an HC-130 for a Combined Task Force-Horn of Africa mission. | |
| Active | 1943–1946; 1963–1977; 2005-present |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Air Force |
| Part of | United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa |
| Garrison/HQ | Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti |
| Nickname | Flying HorsemenWorld War II |
| Motto | Nunquam non Paratus (Never Unprepared) |
| Engagements | Mediterranean Theater of Operations Globalwar on terrorism |
| Decorations | Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander | Col. Andrew Crabtree |
| Notable commanders | Darr H. Alkire |
| Insignia | |
| 449th Air Expeditionary Group Emblem |  |
| World War II Tail Marking[1] | Upward-pointing black triangle outline within a white circle |
The449th Air Expeditionary Group (449 AEG) is a provisionalUnited States Air Force unit assigned to theThird Air Force supportingUnited States Africa Command. It is stationed atCamp Lemonnier, Djibouti. It flies missions forAfrica Command andCombined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa, supporting varied U.S. objectives in the area.
The group began as theWorld War II 449th Bombardment Group (Heavy) in the spring of 1943. The group prepared for combat withConsolidated B-24 Liberator strategic heavybombers. It moved to Italy by January 1944, and was assigned to the47th Bombardment Wing ofFifteenth Air Force. It bombed oil refineries, communications centers, aircraft factories, and industrial areas in Italy, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Albania, and Greece, and earned twoDistinguished Unit Citations in combat. After returning to the United States at the end of May 1945, the unit was assigned toSecond Air Force, transitioned toB-29 Superfortresses, and was redesignated a Very Heavy bomb group.
In the postwar era, the 449th Bombardment Group was one of the original tenbombardment groups assigned toStrategic Air Command (SAC). The unit was inactivated on 4 August 1946 atGrand Island Army Air Field, Nebraska and its mission, aircraft, and personnel were transferred to the28th Bombardment Group which was simultaneously activated.
The 449th Bombardment Wing, Heavy was activated in 1963 atKincheloe AFB, Michigan, assuming the mission, aircraft and equipment of the 4239th Strategic Wing and trained for strategic operations flyingBoeing B-52 Stratofortresses andBoeing KC-135 Stratotankers as part ofStrategic Air Command. The wing inactivated in 1977 with the closure of Kincheloe AFB.
In 1985 thegroup and thewing were consolidated, but remained inactive. In 2003 the unit was redesignated as the 449th Air Expeditionary Group and was assigned toUnited States Air Forces Europe (USAFE) to activate or inactivate as needed. Since 2008, the unit has controlled USAF activities in the Horn of Africa.
The 449th AEG is currently made up of:[2]
The group was constituted as 449th Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 6 April 1943 and activated on 1 May atDavis–Monthan Field, Arizona.[3] its original components were the716th,[4]717th,[5]718th,[6] and719th Bombardment Squadrons.[7]
It was assigned toII Bomber Command for combat training withB-24 Liberators. The first morning report was issued on 27 May 1943and listed as 52 officers and 33 enlisted men available for duty. Over the next seven months the Group steadily increased to full strength as the training program progressed.[citation needed] In July 1943 the group moved toAlamogordo Army Airfield, New Mexico[3] where second phase training was performed.[citation needed] In September the group again relocated, this time toBruning Army Air Field, Nebraska.[3] The move to Bruning was completed on 18 September 1943. At that time the 449th consisted of a total complement of 184 officers and 1,203 enlisted men. At Bruning the group received its new operationalConsolidated B-24 Liberators.[citation needed]
By December 1943, training was complete and the 449th was ordered overseas to theMediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO). Each crew flew its aircraft overseas by the South Atlantic Transport Route which took them to Morrison Field, Florida, then to Puerto Rico and Brazil. The Atlantic crossing was made from Brazil toDakar, French West Africa. From Dakar the planes flew north toTunis by way ofMarrakech. From Tunis they flew to their forward operating base atGrottaglie Airfield nearTaranto, Italy.[citation needed] The 449th was assigned to the47th Bombardment Wing of theFifteenth Air Force.[8]
The group was a strategic bombardment organization, and bombed oil refineries, communications centers, aircraft factories, and industrial areas in Italy, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and Greece.[3]
The group received aDistinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for a mission on 4 April 1944 when the group, flying without escort, raided marshalling yards inBucharest. Although heavily outnumbered by Germanfighters, the group succeeded not only in bombing the target but also in destroying many of the enemy interceptors. Received another DUC for action on 9 July 1944 when the group flew through heavy smoke and intense enemy fire to attack anoil refinery atPloiești. Other operations of the group included bombing gun emplacements in southern France in preparation for the invasion in August 1944, and attacking troop concentrations, bridges, and viaducts in April 1945 to assist Allied forces in northern Italy.[3]
The group was ordered back to the United States during May after the German capitulation. The 449th was redesignated a Very Heavy bombardment group and was programmed for very long range strategic bombardment operations against theJapanese Home Islands usingBoeing B-29 Superfortresses. Many personnel were demobilized upon arrival at the port of embarkation; a smallcadre of key personnel was formed and the group was then established atSioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota in late May where the group was reformed with new personnel.[citation needed]
After a period of organization, the group moved toDalhart Army Air Field, Texas, where initial training was conducted with formerII Bomber CommandB-17 Flying Fortress;B-25 Mitchells and some B-29s.[3] As the group was so far along in training, it moved toGrand Island Army Air Field, Nebraska in September where it became a regular unit ofContinental Air Forces, receiving some of the last new B-29 aircraft manufactured by Boeing.[citation needed] In November, its 719th squadron was converted to areconnaissance unit and redesignated the 46th Reconnaissance Squadron, Very Long Range (Photographic-Weather).[7]
On 21 March 1946, the 449th Bombardment Group became one of the initial ten B-29 groups assigned toStrategic Air Command (SAC). The group was inactivated on 4 August 1946[3] and its personnel, mission, and equipment were reassigned to the28th Bombardment Group.[9]
The origins of the 449th Bombardment Wing began on 1 July 1959 when SAC established the 4239th Strategic Wing (SW) atKincheloe AFB, Michigan, anAir Defense Command (ADC)base, whose host was the507th Fighter Group (Air Defense) and assigned it to the40th Air Division[10] as part of SAC's plan to disperse itsBoeing B-52 Stratofortress heavy bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for theSoviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike.[11] The wing remained aheadquarters only until 1 June 1961 when the 70th Munitions Maintenance Squadron was activated to oversee the wing's special weapons.
The93d Bombardment Squadron (BS), consisting of 15Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses, moved to Kincheloe fromHomestead AFB, Florida where it had been one of the three squadrons of the19th Bombardment Wing in August 1961.[12] At the same time three maintenance squadrons and a squadron to provide security for special weapons were activated and assigned to the wing. Starting in 1960, one third of the squadron's aircraft were maintained on fifteen-minutealert, 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.[13] The 4239th (and later the 449th) continued to maintain an alert commitment until the 449th was inactivated in 1977. In 1962, the wing'sbombers began to be equipped with theGAM-77 Hound Dog and theGAM-72 Quail air-launchedcruise missiles, The 4239th Airborne Missile Maintenance Squadron was activated in November to maintain these missiles.
However, SAC Strategic Wings could not carry a permanent history or lineage[14] and SAC looked for a way to make its Strategic Wings permanent.
In 1962, in order to perpetuate the lineage of many currently inactive bombardment units with illustriousWorld War II records, Headquarters SAC received authority from Headquarters USAF to discontinue its Major Command controlled (MAJCON) strategic wings that were equipped with combat aircraft and to activate Air Force controlled (AFCON) units, most of which were inactive at the time which could carry a lineage and history. As a result, the 4239th SW was replaced by the 449th Bombardment Wing, Heavy[15] which assumed its mission, personnel, and equipment on 1 February 1963.[16]
In the same way the716th Bombardment Squadron, one of the unit's World War II historical bomb squadrons, replaced the 93d BS. The 70th Munitions Maintenance Squadron was reassigned to the 449th. Under the Dual Deputate organization,[17] all flying and maintenance squadrons were directly assigned to the wing, so no operational group was activated. The 4239th's maintenance and security squadrons were replaced by ones with the 449th numerical designation of the new wing. Each of the new units assumed the personnel, equipment, and mission of its predecessor. In July 1963, the wing added anair refueling capability when the908th Air Refueling Squadron, equipped withBoeing KC-135 Stratotankers, was organized and assigned to the wing.[15]
The 449th continued the mission of strategic bombardment training and contributing to SAC's worldwide refueling capability. It supported SAC combat operations in Southeast Asia by furnishing KC-135 aircraft and crews from November 1965 through December 1975 and B-52 crews between May 1968 and June 1975.[15]
Although the number of ADC interceptor squadrons remained almost constant in the early 1960s, attrition (and the fact that production lines closed in 1961) caused a gradual drop in the number of planes assigned to fighter interceptor squadrons, from 24 to typically 18 by 1964 and to 12 by 1967.[18] Because of this reduction, in December 1965, theDepartment of Defense announced it would close Kincheloe by October 1971. ADC terminated itsinterceptor mission at Kincheloe and inactivated its507th Fighter Wing in 1968.[19] It then organized the 4609th Air Base Group as a temporary host organization for the base. However, in May 1971, the decision to close the base was reversed and it was instead transferred to SAC, which activated the 449th Combat Support Group as the new host organization and assigned it to the wing. This was only a six-year reprieve, as the base was closed on 30 September 1977 as part of an ongoing reduction in force in the USAF following the end of theVietnam War. The B-52s and KC-135s of the 449th were reassigned to other SAC units, and the wing was inactivated[15] concurrent with the closure of the base.
From 2008, the 449th Air Expeditionary Group has been assigned toUnited States Air Forces Europe to activate or inactivate as needed for operations. The group is currently based atCamp Lemonnier, Djibouti. The 449th provides combat search and rescue for theCombined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa. The group has been assigned various expeditionary rescue squadrons while located in Djibouti. It is composed ofHC-130P Hercules aircraft assigned to the 81st Expeditionary Rescue Squadron andpararescuemen from the 82nd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron.[20] While deployed the group performed both combat and civil search and rescue missions.[21] Since the above referenced fact sheet was issued the group has been joined by the75th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron.
In November 2006, while conducting an air-land mission, Staff Sergeant Joshua C. Sevilla, assigned to the group's79th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron and his crew were forcibly detained by atEl Fasher Airport, Sudan by members of the Sudanese military who accused them of espionage and demanded the surrender of all crew members and the aircraft. SSG Sevilla denied a force of more than 150 Sudanese soldiers the ability to control the aircraft, enabling all 17 American detainees to return.[22]
The303rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, now a provisional Expeditionary Rescue Squadron assigned to USAFE since July 2011,[23] has conducted deployments as part of the 449th AEG as the 303rd ERQS, at least during December 2013.[24]
From November 2016 a detachment ofGeneral Dynamics F-16CM Fighting Falcons were deployed here from the510th Fighter Squadron atAviano Air Base, Italy with support from the100th Air Refueling Wing, fromRAF Mildenhall, UK usingBoeing KC-135 Stratotankers.[25]
It is likely that the60th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron at Camp Lemonnier was associated with the group in some way until it was inactivated in 2015. The12th Expeditionary Special Operations Squadron now conducts UAV takeoffs and landings fromChabelley Airport inDjibouti.
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1943–1977
| From 2011
|
| Award streamer | Award | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Distinguished Unit Citation | 4 April 1944 | Bucharest, Rumania[3] |
| Distinguished Unit Citation | 9 July 1944 | Ploiești, Romania[3] |
 | Air Force Outstanding Unit Award | 1 July 1974 – 30 June 1976 | [15] |
| Campaign Streamer | Theater | Campaign | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
.png) | American Theater of World War II | [3] | |
 | Mediterranean Theater of Operations | Air Combat EAME Theater | [3] |
| Mediterranean Theater of Operations | Air Offensive, Europe | [3] |
| Mediterranean Theater of Operations | Naples-Foggia | [3] |
| Mediterranean Theater of Operations | Anzio | [3] |
| Mediterranean Theater of Operations | Rome-Arno | [3] |
| Mediterranean Theater of Operations | Normandy | [3] |
| Mediterranean Theater of Operations | Northern France | [3] |
| Mediterranean Theater of Operations | Southern France | [3] |
| Mediterranean Theater of Operations | North Apennines | [3] |
| Mediterranean Theater of Operations | Rhineland | [3] |
| Mediterranean Theater of Operations | Central Europe | [3] |
| Mediterranean Theater of Operations | Po Valley | [3] |
Further reading
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
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