page_title: 50th Operations Group
section_title: Air Force Reserve
hierarchical_section_title: 50th Operations Group / History / Air Force Reserve
caption_attribution_description: English: F-84C Thunderjets of the 33d Fighter Group (ADC)
context_page_description: The 50th Operations Group was a component of the 50th Space Wing, assigned to the United States Space Operation Command from 1991-2020. The group is stationed at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado.
  The group was activated in January 1941 as the 50th Pursuit Group and began training under Third Air Force. In May 1942 it was reassigned to the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics, where it was a training and test unit as the 50th Fighter Group. The group moved to the European Theater of Operations in the Spring 1944 expansion of Ninth Air Force in England in preparation for Operation Overlord. It few its first combat mission on 1 May 1944. The group moved to France in late June and continued in combat until V-E Day. During combat operations over Western Europe, the unit received two Distinguished Unit Citations. It returned to the United States, where it was inactivated on 7 November 1945.
  In June 1949 the group was activated as a reserve unit at Otis Air Force Base, Massachusetts, where it was a corollary unit of the active duty 33d Fighter Group. In 1950, it became the 50th Fighter-Interceptor Group.
context_section_description: The May 1949 Air Force Reserve program called for a new type of unit, the Corollary unit, which was a reserve unit integrated with an active duty unit.   It was viewed as the best method to train reservists by mixing them with an existing regular unit to perform duties alongside the regular unit. As this plan was implemented, the 50th Fighter Group was reactivated on 1 June 1949, with the 81st Fighter Squadron as its only component. The group was formed at Otis Air Force Base, Massachusetts, and was assigned to the newly activated 50th Fighter Wing under the Wing Base organization plan.  The group was the corollary of the 33d Fighter Group of First Air Force. It was originally equipped with the F-51 Mustang which, as the P-51, had formed part of the group's equipment prior to 1944.
  In January 1950, the group was redesignated 50th Fighter-Interceptor Group.  Training activity included participating in portions of the 33rd Group's air defense missions and exercises.  During the year, the group flew a mixture of North American T-6 Texans, Lockheed T-33 T-Birds, Republic F-84 Thunderjets and North American F-86 Sabres.  The group was ordered to active service on 1 June 1951 due to the Korean War, and its personnel and equipment were reassigned as replacements to active duty units and the 50th group was inactivated the next day.
caption: 33d Fighter Group F-84Cs at Otis AFB
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