319th Operations Group The 319th Operations Group ( 319 OG ) is the flying component of the 319th Air Refueling Wing , assigned to the United States Air Force Air Mobility Command . The group is stationed at Grand Forks Air Force Base , North Dakota . The group ' s predecessor World War II unit , the 319th Bombardment Group was the first Martin B - 26 Marauder group in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations during the war . The group received two Distinguished Unit Citation s during the war . In 1945 , the group was re - equipped with the Douglas A - 26 Invader and was deployed to Okinawa , where it flew combat missions over China as part of Seventh Air Force against Imperial Japanese forces until the war ' s end . One of the original Mercury Seven astronauts , Donald Kent “ Deke ” Slayton , flew A - 26s from Okinawa as a part of the group ' s 438th Bomb Squadron in 1945 . Overview . The 319 OG ( Tail stripe : Grand Forks ) provides air refueling of combat and support aircraft around the world through its global mobility operations flying KC - 135R / T tankers . Components . The group consists of the following squadrons : History . World War II . The 319th Bombardment Group trained in Louisiana in B - 26 Marauders and after completing initial training , the group reported in October and November 1942 to England for staging to the Mediterranean theater of operations , where it was assigned to the Twelfth Air Force . After it moved to Algeria as the first B - 26 unit in that theater , arriving with just 15 aircraft and losing group commander Col . Alvord Rutherford over France en route , the 319th BG entered combat for the first time on 28 November , bombing and strafing warehouses , docks , and railroad yards at Sfax in Tunisia . From then to March 1943 , the group bombed German and Italian targets in Tunisia and Libya , including airfields and enemy shipping along the Mediterranean Coast . The 319th trained in French Morocco from March , then returned to combat in June 1943 , attacking enemy targets on Italian island in the Mediterranean , including Sicily , Sardinia , and Pantelleria . From bases in Algeria and Tunisia , the group supported the Allied invasion of Italy , bombing bridges and marshalling yards during the late summer and early autumn of 1943 . In November , it moved to Sardinia , to strike Axis targets in central Italy . Early in 1944 , the 319th supported Allied ground forces as they advanced in the Cassino and Anzio areas . Later in the year , the group attacked German supply lines in northern Italy , bombing bridges , marshalling yards , and roads . In March , it earned two Distinguished Unit Citation s for raids on marshalling yards in Rome and Florence that damaged enemy communications without destroying cultural monuments . For supporting the Allied ground advance in Italy during April , May , and June 1944 , the group earned the French Croix de Guerre . During the summer , it bombed bridges over the Po River in northern Italy to block the stream of German supplies and reinforcements going southward . The 319th Bombardment Group supported the invasion of southern France in August 1944 by attacking coastal batteries , radar stations , and bridges . From Corsica , it hit railroad bridges in Northern Italy and late in the year attacked railroad lines through the Brenner Pass that connected Germany and Austria with Italy . In January 1945 , the 319th returned to the United States , where it began to train with A - 26 aircraft for operations in the Pacific Theater . Between May and July 1945 , the group moved by ship to Okinawa , and on 16 July flew its first mission against Japan . From then until the end of the fighting in early August , the 319th attacked enemy targets such as airfields and industrial centers on Kyūshū and occupied Shanghai area of China , and shipping around the Ryukyu Islands and in the East China Sea . In November and December 1945 , the group returned to the United States . Cold War . During the Truman and Eisenhower administrations , the 319th served three periods in the continental United States as a reserve organization . It was inactivated in 1957 when its operational squadrons were assigned directly to its parent wing as a result of the Air Force tri - deputate reorganization . Modern era . The group was reactivated in on 1 September 1991 as the 319th Operations Group and assigned to the 319th Bomb Wing as part of the " Objective Wing " concept adapted by the Air Force . The 319th OG was bestowed the lineage , honors and history of the 319th Bombardment Group , Heavy and its predecessor units . The 319th Operations Group took control of operational units of the 319th Bomb Wing at Grand Forks AFB , ND . At that time it was equipped with B - 1B and KC - 135 aircraft . For a brief period between September 1992 and October 1993 , the Group lost its refueling mission . However , in October 1993 , the 319th Wing was redesignated as an Air Refueling Wing and its bombardment squadron was reassigned . Over the next year , the group gained four air refueling squadrons equipped with KC - 135R / T aircraft . It supported worldwide Tanker Task Forces , as well as , combat operations in Southwest Asia , Central Europe , and antidrug operations in Central America by constantly deploying elements to provide air refueling for combat aircraft , 1993 – present . 319th Air Expeditionary Group . The 319th Air Expeditionary Group is a provisional unit allocated to Air Mobility Command for activation or inactivation anytime after 11 September 2001 . It was deployed to a makeshift tent city somewhere in the arid desert of Southwest Asia . From the start of air operations over Afghanistan 7 October , by 2 November 2001 the 319th Air Expeditionary Group [ 319th AEG ] had flown over 150 sorties and more than 1050 hours ; pumping over 1 . 4 million US gallons ( 5 , 300 m ) of gas into more than 450 planes . Keeping jets aloft and providing fuel to the fight – it ’ s the main reason the 319th Air Expeditionary Group Aircraft Generation Squadron is deployed to ensure the jets keep flying and are fully prepared to support the air campaign against terrorism . Consisting of crew chiefs , aircraft specialists , maintenance specialists and various support agencies , the AGS is composed exclusively of personnel from Grand Forks AFB . Refueling by the Grand Forks Air Force Base ' s 319th Air Refueling Group is the mission of Base X in Oman . The mission , going on since early in the Afghan war , has become workaday . Base X serves as the forward operating location for US air refueling aircraft in the Middle East . US bombers , crucial during Operation Anaconda in March , are just some of the planes that receive mid - air refueling from KC - 135 tankers stationed there . ' Base X ' is likely to have been Masirah Air Base , where the RAF and USAF have long had facilities .