page_title: 401st Air Expeditionary Group
section_title: Tactical Air Command
hierarchical_section_title: 401st Air Expeditionary Group / History / Cold War / Tactical Air Command
caption_attribution_description: English: A U.S. Air Force North American F-100D-50-NH Super Sabre (s/n 55-2895) from the 401st Tactical Fighter Wing, England AFB, Louisana (USA).
context_page_description: The 401st Air Expeditionary Group is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to United States Air Forces in Europe to be activated or inactivated at any time as needed. It is stationed at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
  The group was first activated as the 401st Bombardment Group during World War II. The 401st entered combat with VIII Bomber Command, flying Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses from RAF Deenethorpe. The group earned two Distinguished Unit Citations for missions over Leipzig on 11 January and 20 February 1944. The 401st Bomb Group had the second best rating in bombing accuracy for Eighth Air Force.
  The group was activated briefly as an Air Force Reserve unit in 1947, but apparently was minimally manned. It was called to active duty in 1951 for the Korean War, but its personnel were used as fillers for other units and the group was soon inactivated.
  The group was again active in the 1950s as the 401st Fighter-Bomber Group at England AFB, Louisiana. It was inactivated in 1957 when Tactical Air Command replaced its groups reporting directly to TAC numbered air forces with like numbered wings and its squadrons were transferred to the 401st Fighter-Bomber Wing.
context_section_description: The 401st was redesignated as a Tactical Air Command Fighter-Bomber group in 1953 and activated on 8 February 1954 at Alexandria Air Force Base, Louisiana. The group was equipped initially with F-86F Sabres returned from combat in Korea. The group was assigned three of its old squadrons, the 612th, 613th and 614th Fighter-Bomber Squadrons. The group was attached to the 366th Fighter-Bomber Wing at Alexandria (later England AFB), and its mission was to perform advanced fighter training on high performance jet aircraft.
  In 1955, the group converted to Republic F-84F Thunderstreaks, performing its training mission until 25 September 1957 when it was inactivated and its component squadrons were assigned directly to newly activated 401st Fighter-Bomber Wing. At the same time the wing transitioned into the North American F-100 "Super Sabre" aircraft and gained a fourth tactical squadron, the 615th Fighter-Bomber Squadron.  Less than a year after activation, the wing and its squadrons dropped the "Fighter-Bomber" designation for "Tactical Fighter". In 1959 the 401st wing became the host organization for England AFB when the 834th Air Division and 366th Tactical Fighter Wing inactivated.
  The 401st TFW Participated in numerous firepower demonstrations, tactical exercises and maneuvers in the United States and overseas, and periodically deployed its tactical squadrons to bases in Europe and the Middle East to support NATO.  With the exception of its elements deployed overseas, the wing operated from Homestead AFB, Florida during the Cuban Missile Crisis from October to December 1962.
  From February 1964 to November 1965, wing's squadron deployments shifted to the Far East and Southeast Asia in support of operations in that area.  In November, the wing's 612th Tactical Fighter Squadron moved to Misawa Air Base, Japan.  The 90th Tactical Fighter Squadron was attached to the wing while it equipped with F-100s before moving to Bien Hoa Air Base, Republic of Viet Nam. The wing then briefly returned to support operations in Europe-Middle East. When the 614th and 615th Tactical Fighter Squadrons moved to Phu Cat Air Base and Phan Rang Air Base in the spring of 1966, the wing was left with a single operational squadron. In 1966 fighter operations at England ceased and were replaced by special operations training. on 27 April the wing and its remaining squadron moved to Europe.
caption: North American F-100D Super Sabre 55-2895 of the 401st Tactical Fighter Wing
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