497th Air Expeditionary Group The 497th Air Expeditionary Group is a provisional United States Air Force unit . It is assigned to Pacific Air Forces to activate or inactivate as needed . The unit was first activated in the United States Army Air Forces as the 497th Bombardment Group which was part of Twentieth Air Force during World War II . The 497th engaged in very heavy ( B - 29 Superfortress ) bombardment operations against Japan and earned two Distinguished Unit Citation s for its combat actions . Its aircraft were identified by a " A " and a square painted on the tail . The unit was again active as the 497th Air Refueling Wing , which was an element of Strategic Air Command . It absorbed the personnel equipment , and mission of the 4108th Air Refueling Wing at Plattsburgh AFB , New York in January 1963 and was inactivated in September 1964 . In 1985 the two units were consolidated into a single unit . The unit was converted to provisional status and assigned to Pacific Air Forces which activated it to control exercises at Paya Lebar Airfield , Singapore various times between 2000 and 2006 . History . World War II . The unit was established in late 1943 as the 497th Bombardment Group at El Paso Army Air Base , Texas , a Boeing B - 29 Superfortress very heavy bombardment group . The unit ' s original operational squadrons were the 869th , 870th , 871st , and 872d Bombardment Squadron s . It was also assigned four bombardment maintenance squadrons ( one paired with each of its operational squadrons ) and a photographic laboratory . The group ' s initial cadre was drawn from the 491st Bombardment Group . In December the group moved on paper to Clovis Army Air Field , New Mexico , although its ground personnel moved to Pratt Army Air Field , Kansas , where they were attached to the 40th Bombardment Group to begin training . At Clovis , the group began to man its air echelon by January 1944 . The 497th drew heavily on aircrew s of the 480th Antisubmarine Group who were returning to the United States from duty in England and Africa to fill out its flying squadrons . Aircrew training at Clovis was limited to ground training , although some flying in Boeing B - 17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B - 24 Liberator aircraft assigned to the 73d Bombardment Wing was accomplished . Key personnel trained with the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics at Orlando Army Air Base , Florida . In April 1944 , the group air and ground echelons united at Pratt AAF . Here the 497th finally received newly manufactured Boeing B - 29 Superfortress es the following month , although it continued to fly B - 17s as well due to continuing engine problems with the B - 29s . In May the United States Army Air Forces reorganized its very heavy bombardment units . The 872d Bombardment Squadron and the bombardment maintenance squadrons were inactivated and their personnel absorbed into the remaining three squadrons . The 497th deployed to Pacific Theater of Operations , with the ground echelon sailing 30 July on the SS " Fairisle " , passing through Honolulu and Eniwetok before arriving at Saipan on 20 September . Upon arrival the group ' s personnel were engaged in construction . By mid - October most personnel were able to move into Quonset hut s from the tents which they were assigned on arrival . The aircrews began departing Kansas on 6 October , ferrying their aircraft to Saipan via a 6500 nautical mile route , with the last B - 29 arriving on 30 October . The headquarters and staff elements flew to Saipan aboard Air Transport Command Douglas C - 54 Skymaster aircraft . At Saipan the group became part of the XXI Bomber Command at Isley Field . The group began operations on 28 October 1944 with a night attack against the submarine pen s at Truk Islands and attacks against Iwo Jima in early November . The group took part in the first attack on Japan by AAF planes based in the Marianas . On 24 November 1944 Major Robert Morgan led the first mission of the XXI Bomber Command to bomb Japan , with wing commander Brigadier Gen . Emmett O ' Donnell , Jr . as co - pilot . 110 aircraft of the 73rd Bombardment Wing bombed Tokyo on this mission . The group also suffered its first combat loss on this mission , when a B - 29 of the 870th squadron was shot down over the target area . However , this was not the first flight by a 497th aircraft to Japan . Major Morgan and his crew had flown a solo mission on 10 November using radio countermeasures equipment to obtain information on the disposition of Japanese early warning and gun control radar s . During December four group aircraft were destroyed in Japanese bombing raids against Isley Field . The 497th flew missions against strategic objectives in Japan , originally in daylight and from high altitude . It was also tasked with " Weather Strike " missions which were single ship flights flown nightly to obtain weather information for target areas in Japan while also making incendiary attacks on various targets . The group received a Distinguished Unit Citation ( DUC ) for a mission on 27 January 1945 . Although weather conditions prevented the group from bombing its primary objective , the unescorted B - 29s withstood severe enemy attacks to strike an alternate target , the industrial area of Hamamatsu . It was awarded a second DUC for attacking strategic centers in Japan during July and August 1945 . The group assisted the assault on Okinawa in April 1945 by bombing enemy airfields to cut down air attacks against the invasion force . Beginning on 19 March and continuing until the end of the war the group made incendiary raids against Japan , flying at night and at low altitude to bomb area targets . The group released propaganda leaflets over the Japanese home islands , continuing strategic bombing raids and incendiary attacks until the Japanese surrender in August 1945 . After V - J Day , the 497th dropped supplies to Allied prisoners . In November 1945 the unit returned to the United States where it was initially assigned to Continental Air Forces ' s ( CAF ) Fourth Air Force at March Field , California . At March the 513th Bombardment Squadron , a former Fifteenth Air Force B - 24 Liberator squadron joined the group . The 513th was undergoing B - 29 very heavy bomber upgrade training . In January 1945 , the 497th was reassigned to the CAF Third Air Force at MacDill Field , Florida . In March 1946 CAF became Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) , and the group was one of SAC ' s first bombardment groups . Demobilization , however , was in full swing and the group turned in its aircraft and was inactivated on 31 March . Cold War . In January 1961 , SAC separated the two air refueling squadrons of the 380th Bombardment Wing at Plattsburgh AFB , New York into a separate wing , the 4108th Air Refueling Wing . In addition to the 26th and 380th Air Refueling Squadron s , flying Boeing KC - 97 Stratotanker s , the wing was assigned three maintenance squadrons . It was assigned to the Eighth Air Force ' s 820th Air Division ( later the 820th Strategic Aerospace Division ) . However , SAC Major Command controlled ( MAJCON ) could not carry a permanent history or lineage . and SAC looked for a way to make its these wings permanent . In 1962 , in order to perpetuate the lineage of many currently inactive bombardment units with illustrious World War II records , SAC received authority from USAF to discontinue its MAJCON wings that were equipped with combat aircraft and to activate Air Force controlled ( AFCON ) units , most of which were inactive at the time which could carry a lineage and history . As a result the 4108th was replaced by the newly constituted 497th Air Refueling Wing , which assumed its mission , personnel , and equipment on 1 January 1963 . The 26th and 380th Air Refueling Squadrons were reassigned to the 497th . Component support units were replaced by units with numerical designation of the newly established wing . The wing supported global air refueling missions of SAC and other USAF needs , as required , earning an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award for its performance of the mission . In June 1964 the 380th Air Refueling Squadron became non - operational while it began to convert to newer Boeing KC - 135 Stratotanker s . The 497th was discontinued and inactivated on 15 September 1964 . Its subordinate units were also inactivated with the exception of the 380th Air Refueling Squadron , which was reassigned to the 380th Bombardment Wing . Provisional Unit . In 1984 the 497th Bombardment Group and the 497th Air Refueling Wing were consolidated into a single unit , but the consolidated unit remained inactive for the next sixteen years . In 2000 , the consolidated unit was converted to provisional status and assigned to Pacific Air Forces to activate or inactivate as needed . It was redesignated as the 497th Air Expeditionary Group . Between 2000 and 2006 the group was periodically activated for Commando Sling exercise s , using the 497th Combat Training Squadron as its cadre , augmented by deployed personnel and equipment from Pacific Air Forces fighter squadrons . Lineage . 497th Bombardment Group 497th Air Refueling Wing Activations Components . Operational Squadrons Maintenance Squadrons Other Awards and Campaigns . Manual campaign table References . Bibliography . Further reading