page_title: 22nd Operations Group
section_title: Korean War
hierarchical_section_title: 22nd Operations Group / History / Korean War
caption_attribution_description: English: 22d Bombardment Group Boeing B-29A-65-BN Superfortress 44-62196 "Never Happen", on a mission over North Korea, July 1950. Sent to McClellan AFB Mar 1953, off inventory as surplus Aug 1955.
context_page_description: The 22d Operations Group is the operational flying component of the United States Air Force 22d Air Refueling Wing. It is stationed at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas, and is part of Air Mobility Command's Eighteenth Air Force.
  The group's primary mission is to provide global reach by conducting air refueling and airlift where and when needed. The group directs the 22d Wing's Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker refueling and airlift operations in support of worldwide AMC, United States Transportation Command, Air Force, Department of Defense, and allied operations anywhere in the world.
  During World War II, as the 22d Bombardment Group, the unit was one of the first Army Air Forces units to be deployed into the Pacific Theater after Pearl Harbor with the Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber. It operated primarily in the Southwest Pacific Theater as a North American B-25 Mitchell unit assigned to Fifth Air Force. It was awarded two Distinguished Unit Citations and the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation for its combat service in China, the Netherlands East Indies, New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago; the Western Pacific; Leyte and Luzon.
context_section_description: The 22d was one of two SAC groups selected to deploy to the Pacific after SAC was directed to reinforce the 19th Bombardment Wing of Far East Air Forces.  The 22d was selected because removing it from SAC control would have a minimum impact on the SAC mission because its planes were not yet equipped for the delivery of nuclear weapons and would not impact SAC's task of building a credible deterrent to the Soviet Union. The 22d Bombardment Group deployed its B-29 Superfortresses in early July 1950 to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, where it came under control of FEAF Bomber Command (Provisional). On 13 July, the group flew its first mission, against the marshalling yards and oil refinery at Wonsan, North Korea. By 21 October, it had amassed fifty-seven missions against the enemy, attacking bridges, factories, industrial targets, troop concentrations, airfields, marshalling yards, communications centers, and port facilities. During four months of combat, the group flew 335 sorties with only fourteen aborts and dropped over 6,500 tons of bombs.
  When the 22d returned to March Air Force Base in late October or early November 1950, 335 sorties had been flown. One plane, 44-62279, was reported lost during operations from Okinawa. Combat components of the group were the 2nd, 19th and 33rd Bombardment Squadrons. It became a records unit in February 1951, inactivated on 16 June 1952.
caption: 22d Bombardment Group Boeing B-29A-65-BN Superfortress 44-62196 "Never Happen", on a mission over North Korea, July 1950.
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