68th Composite Wing

68th Composite Wing
Active	1943–1945
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army Air Forces
Role	Fighter
Part of	Fourteenth Air Force
Garrison/HQ	China Burma India Theater of World War II
Engagements	World War II; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign (1944–1945)
Commanders
Notable; commanders	Clinton D. Vincent

Last updated March 05, 2019

The 68th Composite Wing was a United States Army Air Forces organization. It was a command and control organization of Fourteenth Air Force that fought in the China Burma India Theater of World War II.

The United States Army Air Forces, informally known as the Air Force,or United States Army Air Force, was the aerial warfare service of the United States during and immediately after World War II (1939/41–1945), successor to the previous United States Army Air Corps and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force of today, one of the five uniformed military services. The AAF was a component of the United States Army, which in 1942 was divided functionally by executive order into three autonomous forces: the Army Ground Forces, the Services of Supply, and the Army Air Forces. Each of these forces had a commanding general who reported directly to the Army Chief of Staff.

The Fourteenth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). It is headquartered at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

The wing was formed as an expansion of the Fourteenth Air Force Forward Echelon in 1943, becoming the command and control organization for the 23d Fighter Group and 308th Bomb Group. It served in combat from December 1943 until August 1945. The mixed unit was composed of fighters, fighter bombers and heavy bombers, flown by both American and Chinese airmen.

History

Lineage

Constituted as 68th Fighter Wing on 9 August 1943.

Activated on 3 September 1943.

Redesignated 68th Composite Wing in December 1943.

Inactivated on 10 October 1945.

Assignments

Fourteenth Air Force, 3 September 1943 – 10 October 1945

Stations

Kunming Airport, China, 3 September 1943
Kweilin Airfield, China, c. 23 December 1943
Liuzhou Airfield, China, c. 15 September 1944
Luliang Airfield, China, c. 7 November 1944
Peishiyi Airfield, China, c. 19 September-10 October 1945

China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia and the world's most populous country, with a population of around 1.404 billion. Covering approximately 9,600,000 square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third- or fourth-largest country by total area. Governed by the Communist Party of China, the state exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four direct-controlled municipalities, and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

Guilin Liangjiang International Airport international airport serving Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang, China

Guilin Liangjiang International Airport is the airport serving the city of Guilin in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. It is located in Liangjiang, about 28 km (17 mi) southwest of the city center.

Components

23d Fighter Group August 1943 – October 1945 (P-40, P-51)
308th Bombardment Group March 1943 – February 1945 (B-24)

The 23d Fighter Group is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 23d Wing and stationed at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia.

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References

This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/ .

The Air Force Historical Research Agency is the repository for United States Air Force historical documents. The Agency's collection, begun during World War II in Washington, D.C. and moved in 1949 to Maxwell Air Force Base, the site of Air University, to provide research facilities for professional military education students, the faculty, visiting scholars, and the general public.

Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.

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The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.

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