87th Fighter Group

87th Troop Carrier Group
P-47 Thunderbolt as used by the 87th Fighter Group during World War II
Active	1943–1944; 1949–1951; 1952–1953
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force

The 87th Troop Carrier Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 87th Troop Carrier Wing at Atterbury Air Force Base, Indiana where it was inactivated on 1 February 1953.

The group was first activated as the 87th Pursuit Group in 1942 at Selfridge Field, Michigan, but was inactivated almost immediately because the Army Air Corps had exceeded the number of pursuit units authorized, and the group was disbanded five days after it was activated. It remained in this state until 1979 when it was consolidated with the 87th Troop Carrier Group in inactive status.

In the fall of 1943, a new unit, the 87th Fighter Group was activated at Richmond Army Air Base, Virginia to serve as a replacement training unit. It served as a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt replacement training unit under First Air Force until 1944 when it was disbanded in a general reorganization of Army Air Forces training units.

In 1949, the group was reactivated in the Air Force Reserve and served as a corollary unit of the active duty 27th Fighter Group and later, as the 87th Fighter-Escort Group, of the 12th Fighter-Escort Group until it was ordered to active service in 1951. Its personnel were used to man active duty units and the group was inactivated two months after being called up.

The group was redesignated in 1952 as the 87th Troop Carrier Group, and activated at Atterbury Air Force Base to replace the 923d Reserve Training Wing. the following year the group was inactivated and replaced at Atterbury by the 434th Troop Carrier Group.