92d Operations Group | |
---|---|
Active | 1942–1946; 1946–1952; 1991–present |
Country | United States |
Branch | United States Air Force |
Type | Air Refueling |
Part of | 92d Air Refueling Wing |
Garrison/HQ | Fairchild Air Force Base |
Nickname(s) | Blaze |
Aircraft flown | |
Tanker | Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker |
The 92d Operations Group (92 OG) is the flying component of the 92d Air Refueling Wing, assigned to the United States Air Force Air Mobility Command Eighteenth Air Force. The group is stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington.
During World War II, the group's predecessor unit, the 92d Bombardment Group was the first VIII Bomber Command B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombardment groups to carry out strategic bombardment operations against targets in Occupied Europe and Nazi Germany from RAF Bovingdon, England in September 1942. The 92d Bomb Group was the first Bomb group to make a non-stop Atlantic flight to United Kingdom. Its 327th BS was the only unit in the USAAF to be equipped with the service test "gunship" YB-40 Flying Fortress for combat, before fighter squadrons began receiving the P-51 Mustang for the same duties. It tested the secret Disney rocket-assisted-bomb experimental mission early in 1945, and led the Eighth Air Force on its last combat mission of the war.
In the postwar era, the 92d Bombardment Group was one of the first USAAF units assigned to the Strategic Air Command on 4 August 1946, prior to the establishment of the United States Air Force. The group being activated as a redesignation of the 448th Bombardment Group due to the Air Force's policy of retaining only low-numbered groups on active duty after the war.