457th Air Expeditionary Group

457th Air Expeditionary Group
Emblem of the 457th Air Expeditionary Group
Active	1943–1945; 1993–1994; 2003
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Garrison/HQ	Air Combat Command

The United States Air Force's 457th Air Expeditionary Group is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Combat Command. The 457 AEG may be activated or inactivated at any time.

Its last assignment was to the United States Central Command Air Forces, being stationed at RAF Fairford, England, for duty during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. It was inactivated sometime after the active combat phase of the operation ended.

During World War II, its predecessor unit, the 457th Bombardment Group (Heavy) was an Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress unit stationed in England. It was activated on 1 July 1943 under General Order 98. Assigned to RAF Glatton in early 1944, the group carried out 236 combat missions over Occupied Europe and Nazi Germany. Total number of sorties was 7,086 with nearly 17,000 tons of bombs and 142 tons of leaflets being dropped.

Constituted as the 457th Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 19 May 1943. Activated on 1 July 1943. Trained for combat with B-17's. Moved to RAF Glatton England, January–February 1944, and assigned to Eighth Air Force. The group was assigned to the 94th Combat Bombardment Wing of the 1st Bombardment Division. Its tail code was Triangle-U.

The 457th Bomb Group consisted of the following operational squadrons:

The 457th Bomb Group flew its first mission on 21 February 1944 during Big Week, taking part in the concentrated attacks of heavy bombers on the German aircraft industry. Until June 1944, the Group engaged primarily in bombardment of strategic targets, such as ball-bearing plants, aircraft factories, and oil refineries in Germany.