409th Air Expeditionary Operations Group The 409th Air Expeditionary Operations Group ( 409 AEOG ) is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to Air Mobility Command . It may be activated or inactivated at any time . The 409 AEOG was assigned to Camp Sarafovo , Burgas , Bulgaria during March – June 2003 as a logistics support organization . It was also responsible for refueling operations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom using six KC - 10 Extender aircraft deployed from McGuire AFB , New Jersey to help keep coalition aircraft fueled and flying on their air routes through Bulgaria and on to the theater of war . The current status of the unit is undisclosed . Its World War II predecessor , the 409th Bombardment Group , was a Ninth Air Force unit flying A - 20 Havoc light bombers in Western Europe during the 1944 Battle of Normandy and the 1945 Western Allied invasion of Germany . History . Operational history . World War II . Constituted as 409th Bombardment Group ( Light ) on 1 June 1943 and activated the same day . Used A - 20 ' s in preparing for duty overseas . The unit moved to RAF Little Walden England , February – March 1944 , and was assigned to Ninth Air Force . The 409th flew the A - 20 " Havoc " light bomber and Douglas A - 26 " Invader " medium bomber and was originally trained in low - level attack missions . However , the group was busy flying medium - altitude bombing runs from 10 , 000 ft . Over 100 missions were flown by the group , attacking coastal defenses , V - weapon sites , aerodromes , and other targets in France in preparation for the invasion of Normandy . The group supported ground forces during the Battle of Normandy by hitting gun batteries , rail lines , bridges , communications , and other objectives . During July 1944 , aided the Allied offensive at Caen and the breakthrough at Saint - Lô with attacks on enemy troops , flak positions , fortified villages , and supply dumps . The group moved to their Advanced Landing Ground in at Bretigny , France ( A - 48 ) to support Third Army ' s advance toward Germany on 10 September . A total of ten aircraft were lost by the group flying from Little Walden . In February 1945 the 409th moved to Laon - Couvron Air Base ( A - 70 ) France , remaining until June . The group returned to the United States and was inactivated at Seymour Johnson AAF North Carolina on 6 October 1945 . It may be observed that that although the 409th was inactivated at Seymour - Johnson AFB , this would not be the last time " SJ " would claim them . War on Terror . The 409th Air Expeditionary Group was activated in March 2003 as an aerial refueling unit at Sarafovo Air Base , Bulgaria as part of the War On Terror . The 409th Group was responsible for refueling operations in support of the US - led Operation Iraqi Freedom and the mission included the use of six Boeing KC - 10 Extender aircraft , deployed from McGuire AFB New Jersey , to help keep coalition aircraft fueled and flying on their air routes through Bulgaria and on to the theatre of war . The 409th AEG was inactivated in June 2003 . The US originally purchased 60 KC - 10 ( A ) airframes ; however , one was burned in a fire . At the time they were divided between Seymour - Johnson AFB , North Carolina ; and Barksdale AFB , Louisiana . Ultimately they were assigned to Travis AFB , California and McGuire AFB , New Jersey . The Camp Sarafavo planes included some of the aircraft originally assigned to Seymour - Johnson AFB . The New Jersey airmen joked casually upon arrival that the tail designator SJ ( Seymour - Johnson ) stood for South Jersey instead . Today there is an integration of both Seymour - Johnson and Barksdale airmen at both bases and the aerial refueling mission goes on across the generations and the globe .