The 454th Bombardment Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the Strategic Air Command 42d Air Division, stationed at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi. It was inactivated on 25 July 1968.
Originally activated in 1943 as the 454th Bombardment Group as a World War II United States Army Air Forces combat organization. It served primarily in the Mediterranean, African, and The Middle East Theatres of World War II.
As part of the reserves after World War II, it was activated during the Korean War, with its personnel and equipment being sent to Japan for combat operations as a Tactical Air Command troop carrier organization. In 1962, the unit was redesignated as the 454th Bombardment Wing, Heavy, and became part of Strategic Air Command. Flying B-52 Stratofortress bombers, the 454th BW were integrated into SAC's combat forces in the Pacific and Southeast Asia. The 454th Bombardment Wing completed more than 100 missions to South Vietnam without losing a single bomber to enemy aircraft fire. The wing was inactivated in 1969 with the end of SAC operations from Columbus AFB, Mississippi.
Famous quotes containing the word wing:
“the uncomfortable angels that rot
On the slabs, a wing chipped here, an arm there:
The brute curiosity of an angel’s stare
Turns you, like them, to stone....”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)