14th Operations Group

14th Operations Group
T-6 Texan IIs over Columbus AFB, Mississippi
Active	1941–1945; 1946-1949; 1955-1960; 1991–present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Pilot Training
Size	group
Part of	14th Flying Training Wing
Garrison/HQ	Columbus Air Force Base
Nickname(s)	Blaze
Motto(s)	To Fight to Death (1941-1960) Day and Night – Peace and War (Wing Motto, 1991-present)
Engagements	European Theater of World War II
Decorations	Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
Commanders
Current commander	Col. Stan Lawrie
Notable commanders	General Robert H. Foglesong
Insignia
14th Operations Group emblem
14th Flying Training Wing emblem from 1991-2007
14th Fighter Group emblem (approved 17 June 1942)

The 14th Operations Group is the flying component of the 14th Flying Training Wing, assigned to the United States Air Force's Air Education and Training Command. The group is stationed at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi.

The group was first activated in 1941 as the 14th Pursuit Group at Hamilton Field, California. For a short time following the Attack on Pearl Harbor it flew patrols along the Pacific coast. It moved to the United Kingdom as the 14th Fighter Group in the summer of 1942 and was the first fighter unit to ferry its own aircraft across the Atlantic. After combat training with the Royal Air Force, the group moved to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations following Operation Torch, the North Africa invasion. It continued in combat until V-E Day, earning a Distinguished Unit Citation for defending bombers attacking a target in Austria in 1944. It was inactivated in Italy in September 1945.

The 14th was again activated at Dow Field, Maine in 1946 as part of Air Defense Command (ADC). It became the first Army Air Forces combat unit to equip with the Republic P-84 Thunderjet. The group was inactivated in 1949 when reductions in the Department of Defense budget required a reduction of groups in the United States Air Force (USAF) to 48.