384th Bombardment Group

384th Air Expeditionary Group
Emblem of the 384th Bombardment Group
Active	1942–1946; 1947–1949; 1991–1994; 2003
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force

The 384th Air Expeditionary Group (384 AEG) is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Combat Command. The 384 AEG may be activated or inactivated at any time.

Its last assignment was with to the United States Central Command Air Forces, being stationed at Shaikh Isa Air Base, Bahrain. It was inactivated on 3 September 2003.

During World War II, its predecessor unit, the 384th Bombardment Group was a VIII Bomber Command B-17 Flying Fortress unit in England. Assigned to RAF Grafton Underwood in early 1943, the group dropped the last Eighth Air Force bombs of the war on 25 April 1945.

Activated 1 December 1942 at Gowen Field, Idaho. Began training at Wendover, Utah on 2 January 1943 to 1 April 1943. Unit moved to Sioux City AAB, Iowa for final training. the ground unit left for Camp Kilmer on 9 May 1943, sailing on the Queen Elizabeth on 27 May 1943 and arrived in Greenock on 2 June 1943. The aircraft left Sioux City for Kearney, Nebraska on 3 May 1943, and then to the United Kingdom via Bangor, Goose Bay, and then Gander. One B-17 ditched in the Atlantic but the crew was rescued. The first aircraft arrived into England on 25 May 1943, being stationed at RAF Grafton Underwood. The 384th was assigned to the 41st Combat Bombardment Wing of the 1st Bombardment Division. Its tail code was Triangle-P.

The Group's targets included aerodromes at Orléans, Bricy, and Nancy; motor works at Cologne; a coking plant at Gelsenkirchen; an aircraft component parts factory at Halberstadt; weapons manufacturers at Solingen; steel works at Magdeburg; and ball-bearing plants at Schweinfurt. The Group made a damaging raid on aircraft factories in central Germany on 11 January 1944 and received a Distinguished Unit Citation for the action.