57th Operations Group

57th Operations Group
A Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle of the group while deployed to Afghanistan
Active	1941–1945, 1946-1953, 1961-1968, 1991–present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Fighter; Operational Test and Evaluation
Part of	Air Combat Command
Garrison/HQ	Nellis Air Force Base
Motto(s)	First in the Blue
Engagements	Mediterranean Theater of Operations
Decorations	Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award French Croix de Guerre with Palm
Insignia
57th Operations Group emblem
57th Fighter Group emblem (Approved 2 February 1950)

The 57th Operations Group (57 OG) is a non-flying component of the 57th Wing, assigned to the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command. The group is stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.

The Group provides direct oversight of the Nellis flying mission through the 57th Operations Support Squadron. They manage the airfield, operate the air traffic control tower, and the Nellis Air Traffic Control Facility providing radar service to local flying operations and the National Airspace System. It is responsible for scheduling, training, life support, weapons, tactics and planning staff functions. In addition to these functions, it also maintains administrative oversight of the 57th ATG staff and the 57th Wing staff. The 57th OG also directs execution of two of the world's premier combat training exercises, RED FLAG and GREEN FLAG.

The 57th Operations Group became a non-flying organization when on 1 July 2005, the flying squadrons of the 57 OG were split off into the new 57th Adversary Tactics Group; but will change again in September when the 30th Recon Squadron was activated for UAV Sentenals.

Current units assigned to the group are:

The group was first activated as the 57th Pursuit Group in January 1941, flying P-40 Warhawks as part of the Army Air Corps Northeast Defense Sector (later assigned to the I Fighter Command) at Mitchel Field, New York. It trained in New England and provided air defense of the northeast after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It was redesignated as the 57th Fighter Group (FG) in May 1942.

The 57th FG was reassigned to the U.S. Army Middle East Force in Egypt. In June 1942 the pilots and 72 new P-40Fs loaded aboard the aircraft carrier Ranger at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, sailing July 1. On July 19, off the Gold Coast, they launched in four sections of 18 aircraft and flew to Accra, thence across Equatorial Africa to Palestine, officially becoming part of IX Fighter Command. However, prior to the group officially commencing operations, individual 57th FG pilots were attached to, and flew combat sorties with, P-40 squadrons of the Royal Air Force (RAF), South African Air Force (SAAF) and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), belonging to No. 211 Group, Desert Air Force.