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442d Operations Group | |
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Emblem of the 442d Operations Group | |
Active | 1943–1946; 1949–1951; 1952–1959; 1982–1984; 1992–present |
Country | United States |
Branch | United States Air Force Reserve |
The 442d Operations Group is an active United States Air Force Reserve unit. It is the flying component of the Tenth Air Force 442d Fighter Wing, stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri.
The Tenth Air Force is a unit of the U.S. Air Force, specifically a numbered air force of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC). 10 AF is headquartered at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base/Carswell Field, Texas.
Whiteman Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base located approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Knob Noster, MO; 10 miles (16 km) east of Warrensburg, MO, and 70 miles (110 km) east-southeast of Kansas City.
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern United States. With over six million residents, it is the 18th-most populous state of the Union. The largest urban areas are St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia; the capital is Jefferson City. The state is the 21st-most extensive in area. In the South are the Ozarks, a forested highland, providing timber, minerals, and recreation. The Missouri River, after which the state is named, flows through the center of the state into the Mississippi River, which makes up Missouri's eastern border.
The unit's World War II predecessor unit, the 442d Troop Carrier Group was a C-47 Skytrain transport unit assigned to Ninth Air Forces in Western Europe. The 442d TCG group carried 82nd Airborne paratroopers into France for the 6 June 1944, D-Day invasion. In September 1944, the 442d flew units of the 101st Airborne into Belgium during Operation Market Garden. After D-Day, the 442d TCG flew resupply missions, hauled freight, and evacuated casualties in support of the Allied efforts in France and Belgium. While continuing its transport duties until V-E Day, it also released gliders filled with troops in the airborne assault across the Rhine River in March 1945, carried supplies to ground forces in Germany during April and May, and evacuated liberated prisoners of war.
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
The Ninth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command (ACC). It has been headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, since activation on 5 August 2009. From 1990, units were deployed to the Middle East against Iraq, and from 2001 against threats emanating from Afghanistan. This prior Ninth Air Force is now known as United States Air Forces Central (USAFCENT).
The 442d Operations Group (Tail Code: KC), operates A-10 Thunderbolt II Aircraft.
The 303d Fighter Squadron is part of the 442d Operations Group at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri.
The 442d trained in the United States with C-47 Skytrain and C-53 aircraft, then moved to England in March 1944 for duty with Ninth Air Force. The 442d was a group of Ninth Air Force's 50th Troop Carrier Wing, IX Troop Carrier Command.
The IX Troop Carrier Command was a United States Army Air Forces unit. Its last assignment was with the Ninth Air Force, based at Greenville Army Air Base, South Carolina. It was inactivated on 31 March 1946. As a component command of the Ninth Air Force, based in the United Kingdom.
The Douglas C-47/C-53 Skytrains of the group did not move in until 12/13 June although elements of the group had visited RAF Weston Zoyland during the preceding weeks. With 50 C-47s on the airfield, there was a shortage of aircraft standings and, while many aircraft were parked on the turf, additional PSP standings were put down in case of wet weather.
Haulage of freight to the Continent and casualty evacuation occupied the 442d until mid-July when the air echelons of three squadrons (303rd, 304th, 305th) were sent to Follonica airfield in Italy from where they look part in the air drops for the invasion of southern France in August.
In their absence, the 306th TCS continued with air haulage to and from France, being temporarily based at RAF Ramsbury for two weeks prior to the return of the MTO detachment on 24 August.
For Operation Market Garden, the 442d TCG air echelon moved to an advanced base at RAF Chilbolton to give better range and operated temporarily as part of 53rd TCW. The group suffered 13 crew casualties and lost 10 C-47s during the missions in support of the air operations over the Netherlands, all of which were flown from Chilbolton.
It was then back to supply carrying until the group was alerted that it would be going to its Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) Peray Airfield (ALG A-44) France. The main party moved out between 4/6 October, the 442d being the last of the 50th TCW groups to leave its English base.
In France, the group flew resupply missions, hauled freight, and evacuated casualties in support of the Allied effort to breach the Siegfried Line. While continuing its transport duties until V-E Day, it also released gliders filled with troops in the airborne assault across the Rhine River in March 1945, carried supplies to ground forces in Germany during April and May, and evacuated liberated prisoners of war.
The group flew air transport missions throughout Europe and the Middle East until inactivated in 1946.
Trained in the Reserve as a troop carrier group, June 1949 – March 1951. Ordered to active service on 10 March 1951, the group inactivated two days later, its personnel being distributed to other USAF organizations. Served as a Reserve troop carrier group again from June 1952 to April 1959.
Activated as an A-10 fighter group in October 1982. Trained for such missions as close air support, anti-armor operations, battlefield interdiction, and combat search and rescue. On a recurring basis beginning in December 1993, deployed personnel and aircraft to Aviano AB, Italy, to participate in operations over Bosnia. Deployed aircraft and personnel to Kuwait in support of Operation Southern Watch, September–October 1998.
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