19th Operations Group - History

History

The 19th Observation Group was constituted as part of the United States Army Air Corps on 18 October 1927, without personnel or equipment. In 1929 its paper designation was changed to the 19th Bombardment Group, and it came into being with its activation at Rockwell Field, California, in June 1932. Two of its four squadrons, the 23rd and 72nd Bomb Squadrons, were permanently detached for service in Hawaii with the 5th Composite Group. The two squadrons at Rockwell, the 30th and 32nd Bomb Squadrons, were equipped with Keystone B-3A bombers.

The unit flew training missions along the California coast for coastal defense between 1932 and 1935. On 1 March 1935, all aviation combat units of the AAC in the United States were reorganized into General Headquarters Air Force, the first centralized control of the air striking arm of the United States. The 19th BG moved to March Field, California as part of the 1st Wing, commanded by Brig. Gen. Henry H. Arnold.

In 1940, the group was equipped with the new B-17B Flying Fortress, the first production version of the B-17. The unit made aviation history on the night of 13–14 May 1941 when they took 21 B-17s from California to Hawaii to transfer them to the 11th Bomb Group, landing on schedule within 30 minutes of each other and in the order they took off. The 19th BG redeployed two squadrons (the 30th and 93d) to the Philippines between 16 October and 4 November 1941. The 26 bombers, traveling individually and at night on their longest leg, flew a trans-Pacific route from Hamilton Field, California; to Hickam Field, Hawaii; Midway Island; Wake Island; Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia; and Clark Field, Luzon, a distance of over 10,000 miles, nearly all of it over water. The route had been pioneered between 5 and 12 September 1941 by the 14th Bombardment Squadron, which was attached as the group's third squadron after its arrival. The 28th Bombardment Squadron, a squadron that had long been based in the Philippines with the 4th Composite Group (being broken up and disbanded), but now rostered by pilots fresh out of flight training, was also attached to the group as its fourth squadron and began transition training to the B-17. The 19th BG had an inventory of 6 B-17C and 29 B-17D, although one B-17D was out of commission during its entire overseas service when it broke off its tail in a collision with a parked aircraft while landing after its flight from the United States on 12 September.