306th Flying Training Group

306th Flying Training Group

The 306th Flying Training Group (306 FTG) is a unit of the United States Air Force, previously assigned to the Air Education and Training Command's (AETC) Nineteenth Air Force (19 AF). With the inactivation of 19 AF on 9 July 2012, the 306 FTG now reports directly to HQ AETC. The group is stationed at the United States Air Force Academy Airfield on the USAFA campus in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The 306 FTG is the airmanship training unit of the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), having replaced the 34th Operations Group in 2004. The designation "306th" was deliberately selected by the historian of the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) to connect the training mission of the current Group with its relationship to the book and movie "Twelve O'Clock High".

During World War II, the group's predecessor unit, the 306th Bombardment Group was the first operational bombardment group in the VIII Bomber Command. It was stationed at RAF Thurleigh, England from 6 September 1942 until 25 December 1945, the longest tenure at one station for any one Eighth Air Force group.

Staff Sergeant Maynard H. Smith of the 423d Bomb Squadron was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions that helped save the lives of six of his wounded comrades on 1 May 1943.

The 306th was the first Eighth Air Force heavy bombardment group to complete 300 missions over Occupied Europe and Nazi Germany and also was the first USAAF heavy bomb group to attack a strategic target located in Nazi Germany when the group attacked Wilhelmshaven led by Colonel Frank A. Armstrong on 27 January 1943. Colonel Armstrong's experiences with the 97th and 306th groups became the basis of Sy Bartlett and Beirne Lay, Jr.'s novel and film Twelve O'Clock High.

Reactivated as a Strategic Air Command (SAC) bombardment wing during the Cold War, it later operated B-47 Stratojets at MacDill AFB, Florida in the 1950s and 1960s; B-52 Stratofortress and KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft at McCoy AFB, Florida (and forward deployed to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War) in the 1960s and 1970s; and as a strategic wing, KC-135 Stratotanker, KC-10 Extender, RC-135 Rivet Joint and U-2 aircraft rotating/deploying from CONUS bases to RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.