The 320th Air Expeditionary Wing (320 AEW) is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Force District of Washington. It is stationed at Bolling AFB, District of Columbia. The 320 AEW may be activated or inactivated at any time.
The 320 AEW was activated at Bolling in December 2006 for former President Gerald Ford’s state funeral during the Christmas and New Year holidays, attaching 634 personnel to complete a 10-day mission in three joint-operation areas. In less than 12 hours from notification, the 320 AEW deployed 167 joint forces and equipment for JTF Ceremony Forward.
It was activated in December 2008 to support Air Force requirements during the 2009 Presidential Inauguration, working with the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee, or AFIC.
The wing is the successor organization to the World War II Twelfth Air Force 320th Bombardment Group. The highly-decorated unit was equipped with the Martin B-26 Marauder aircraft. The 320th Bombardment Wing was a component organization of Strategic Air Command's deterrent force during the Cold War, as a strategic bombardment wing.
Famous quotes containing the words air and/or wing:
“Nor sequent centuries could hit
Orbit and sum of SHAKSPEARE’s wit.
The men who lived with him became
Poets, for the air was fame.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“the embattled flaming multitude
Who rise, wing above wing, flame above flame,
And, like a storm, cry the Ineffable Name,
And with the clashing of their sword-blades make
A rapturous music, till the morning break....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)