351st Operations Group The 351st Operations Group ( 351 OG ) is an inactive unit of the United States Air Force . Its last assignment was with to the 351st Missile Wing , being stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base , Missouri . It was inactivated on 31 July 1995 . During World War II , its predecessor unit , the 351st Bombardment Group was a VIII Bomber Command B - 17 Flying Fortress unit in England . Assigned to RAF Polebrook in early 1943 , the group ' s 504th Bomb Squadron made 54 consecutive missions on June 1943 to January 1944 without losses . Two members of the 351st Bombardment Group , Lt . Walter E . Truemper and S / Sgt . Archibald Mathies , were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on a mission to Leipzig , Germany , 20 February 1944 . The 351st was the unit to which Captain Clark Gable was assigned . Gable flew five combat missions , including one to Germany , as an observer - gunner in B - 17 Flying Fortresses between 4 May and 23 September 1943 , earning the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his efforts . History . World War II . Activated 1 October 1942 at Salt Lake City AB , Utah . The group established at Geiger Field in Washington in November 1942 where the Group was assembled for initial training , and the Second phase of training was conducted at Biggs Field , Texas , between December 1942 and March 1943 . The unit then moved to Pueblo AAB , Colorado for preparation for overseas movement . the ground unit left Pueblo for New York on 12 April 1943 . the aircraft began movement on 1 April 1943 . In April – May 1943 , the unit moved to RAF Polebrook England to serve in combat with Eighth Air Force . It was assigned to the 94th Combat Wing , also at Polebrook . The group tail code was a " Triangle J " . The 351st ' s first completed combat mission took place on 14 May 1943 , when 18 B - 17 ' s targeted a German Luftwaffe airfield at Kortrijk , Belgium . As the war progressed , the 351st operated primarily against strategic objectives in Germany , striking such targets as ball - bearing plants at Schweinfurt , communications at Mayen , marshalling yards at Koblenz , a locomotive and tank factory at Hanover , industries at Berlin , bridges at Cologne , an armaments factory at Mannheim , and oil refineries at Hamburg . The group also struck harbor facilities , submarine installations , airfields , V - weapon sites , and power plants in France , Belgium , the Netherlands , and Norway . The 351st Received a Distinguished Unit Citation ( DUC ) for performance on 9 October 1943 , when an aircraft factory in Germany was accurately bombed in spite of heavy flak and pressing enemy interceptors . It received another DUC for its part in the successful attack of 11 January 1944 , on aircraft factories in central Germany . The group participated in the intensive air campaign against the German aircraft industry during " Big Week " , 20 – 25 February 1944 . In addition to its strategic missions , the group often operated in support of ground forces and attacked interdictory targets . Bombed in support of the Battle of Normandy in June 1944 and the Saint - Lô breakthrough in July . The group hit enemy positions to cover the airborne attack on the Netherlands in September 1944 and subsequently struck front - line positions , communications , and airfields to help stop the German counteroffensive in the Battle of the Bulge , December 1944 – January 1945 . The 351st later flew missions in support of Operation Varsity , the airborne assault across the Rhine in March 1945 . The 351st conducted routine 8th Air Force missions from RAF Polebrook until the end of the war . The unit completed 311 combat missions from Polebrook . The 351st lost 175 B - 17 ' s and their crews . The gunners in the Group fired off 2 , 776 , 028 rounds of ammunition and were credited with destroying 303 enemy aircraft . Redeployed to the US in May and June 1945 . the first aircraft left on 21 May 1945 . the ground unit sailed for the US on 25 June 1945 aboard the Queen Elizabeth . Docked the US in July 1945 , but the group inactivated on 28 August 1945 . During the early years of the Cold War , the 351st Bombardment Group ( Very Heavy ) was part of the Air Force Reserve between 1947 and 1949 . Strategic Missiles . Activated as the 351st Operations Group on 1 September 1991 under the " Objective Wing " concept adapted by the Air Force . The ICBM squadrons of the renamed 351st Missile Wing were reassigned to the newly established group , along with the lineage , honors and history of the 351st Bombardment Group . On 28 September 1991 , in response to President Bush ' s directive to stand down the Minuteman II , personnel of the 351 OG began to dissipate launch codes and pin safety control switches at launch control centers . On 1 June 1992 , the 351 OG was relieved of its emergency war order mission and its primary focus was deactivation of the Minuteman II weapon system . This day also marked the end of SAC and the beginning of Air Combat Command ( ACC ) . On 1 July 1993 its parent unit , the 351 MW changed hands from ACC to Air Force Space Command along with all other ICBM wings . The 508th , 509th and 510th Missile Squadrons were inactivated along with the 351st Operations Group on 31 July 1995 .