456th Bombardment Wing

The 456th Bombardment Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the Strategic Air Command 14th Air Division, stationed at Beale Air Force Base, California. It was inactivated on 30 September 1975.

Originally activated in 1943 as the 456th Bombardment Group as a World War II United States Army Air Forces combat organization. The highly-decorated unit flew 249 bombing missions from Italy while assigned to the Fifteenth Air Force. Its members earned two Distinguished Unit Citations for valor in combat and participated extensively in the strategic bombing campaign against oil production targets including Ploieşti, Romania, that resulted in high bomber losses.

Inactivated at the end of the war and allotted to the Air Force Reserve, the group was reactivated as the 456th Troop Carrier Wing, Medium, operating C-119 Flying Boxcar transports during the 1950s. In November 1962 the wing was designated the 456th Strategic Aerospace Wing and was stationed at Beale Air Force Base, California, flying B-52 Stratofortress bombers and KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling aircraft, and operating a Titan I ICBM squadron (1962–1965). In July 1972 the wing was redesignated the 456th Bombardment Wing, Heavy and continued to fly the B-52 Stratofortress and KC-135 Stratotanker, but lost the ICBM squadron. The wing was inactivated in September 1975.