page_title: 486th Air Expeditionary Wing
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: 486th Air Expeditionary Wing / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: B-17s of the 486th Bomb Group, flying out of RAF Sudbury. England. Identifiable is Douglas-Long Beach B-17G-15-DL Fortress Serial 42-37891 of the 833d Bomb Squadron.
context_page_description: The 486th Air Expeditionary Wing is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Combat Command. As a provisional unit, it may be activated or inactivated at any time.
  The unit was last known to be active during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
  During World War II, its predecessor unit, the 486th Bombardment Group was an Eighth Air Force heavy bombardment unit in England, stationed at RAF Sudbury. The group operated chiefly against strategic objectives in Germany until May 1945, flying 188 missions and losing 33 aircraft.
context_section_description: Constituted as 486th Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 14 September 1943 and activated on 20 September Moved to England in March 1944 and assigned to Eighth AF.
  The group was assigned to the 4th Combat Bombardment Wing, and the group tail code initially was a "Square-O". When the group converted from B-24s to B-17s during the summer of 1944, the identification symbol was changed to a "Square-W", perhaps to avoid confusion with the Square-D on B-17s of the 100th Bomb Group. The 486th was the only group to change its tail code.
  The group flew both the B-24 Liberator and the B-17 Flying Fortress as part of the Eighth Air Force's strategic bombing campaign and operated chiefly against strategic objectives in Germany until May 1945. Targets included marshalling yards in Stuttgart, Cologne, and Mainz; airfields in Kassel and Münster; oil refineries and storage plants in Merseburg, Dollbergen, and Hamburg; harbours in Bremen and Kiel; and factories in Mannheim and Weimar.
  Other missions included bombing airfields, gun positions, V-weapon sites (total of nine "No Ball" missions beginning 20 June), and railway bridges in France in preparation for or in support of the invasion of Normandy in June 1944; striking road junctions and troop concentrations in support of ground forces pushing across France, July–August 1944; hitting gun emplacements near Arnhem to minimize transport and glider losses during the airborne invasion of the Netherlands in September 1944; and bombing enemy installations in support of ground troops during the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944 – January 1945) and the assault across the Rhine (March–April 1945).
  The 486th Bomb Group returned to Drew Field, Tampa, Florida, during August 1945 and was inactivated on 7 November.
caption: B-17s (Square-W) of the 486th Bomb Group. Identifiable is Douglas-Long Beach B-17G-15-DL Fortress Serial 42-37891 of the 833d Bomb Squadron.
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