68th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing
53d Electronic Warfare Group
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|---|---|
| Active | 1941–1944; 1947–1949; 1952–1982; 1982–1991; 1993–1998; 1998–present |
| Country |
 United States
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| Branch |
 United States Air Force
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| Motto(s) | Victoria per Observatiam (Victory through Observation) Follow Me. |
| Engagements | American Theater of World War II Mediterranean Theater of Operations |
| Decorations |
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Air Force Organizational Excellence Award |
| Insignia | |
| Patch with 53d Electronic Warfare Group emblem |  |
The 53d Electronic Warfare Group (53 EWG) is a component unit of the 53d Wing of the Air Force Warfare Center, Air Combat Command, headquartered at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.
The 53 EWG is a non-flying unit responsible for providing operational, technical and maintenance electronic warfare expertise for the CAF and for systems engineering, testing, evaluation, tactics development, employment, capability and technology assessment. This includes the wartime responsibility for emergency reprogramming and dissemination of EW system mission data software for CAF aircraft. The group manages the Combat Shield Electronic Warfare Assessment Program for CAF aircraft EW systems. Combat Shield provides operational units a system-specific capability assessment for their radar warning receivers, electronic attack pods, and integrated EW systems.
Established in 1941, the unit traces its lineage and heritage the 68th Strategic Reconnaissance Group; the 68th Air Refueling Group; the 68th Bombardment Wing, Heavy, and the 68th Electronic Combat Group
The group was first established as the 68th Observation Group in 1941 at Brownwood Army Air Field, Texas, on 1 September 1941. Its primary mission was observation aircraft training and antisubmarine patrols. The group moved to several different U.S. locations in preparation for overseas deployment in 1942.
It moved to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO), October–November 1942, and became part of Twelfth Air Force. Shortly after the group began operations most of its squadrons were detached for separate duty in order to carry out diverse activities over a wide area. Operating from bases in North Africa until November 1943, the group, or elements of the group, engaged in patrolling the Mediterranean; strafing trucks, tanks, gun positions, and supply dumps to support ground troops in Tunisia; training fighter pilots and replacement crews; and flying photographic and visual reconnaissance missions in Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy to provide information needed to adjust artillery fire.
The group moved to Italy and became part of Fifteenth Air Force in November 1943. It continued visual and photographic reconnaissance and began flying weather reconnaissance missions in Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the Balkans. Also engaged in electronic-countermeasure activities, investigating radar equipment captured from the enemy, flying ferret missions along the coasts of Italy and southern France, and accompanying bomber formations to detect approaching enemy fighters. Inactivated in 1944,
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