1st Bombardment Wing The 1st Bombardment Wing is a disbanded United States Army Air Force unit . It was the first wing formed in the reorganized United States Army Air Service , created in August 1919 to control three groups patrolling the border with Mexico after revolution broke out there . Its last assignment was with the Continental Air Forces , based at McChord Field , Washington . It was inactivated on 7 November 1945 . As the 1st Wing , the unit was one of the original wings of the GHQ Air Force on 1 March 1935 . During World War II , it was one of the primary B - 17 Flying Fortress heavy strategic bombardment wings of VIII Bomber Command and later , Eighth Air Force . History . World War I . Organized at Gengault Aerodrome , Toul Sector , France , during World War I as the 1st Pursuit Wing . Was a command and control organization in the First Army Air Service for several pursuit groups in the American Sector of the Western Front in France . Served in combat on the St . Mihiel offensive in September , flew reconnaissance sorties , protected observation aircraft , attacked enemy observation balloons , strafed enemy troops , flew counter - air patrols , and bombed towns , bridges , and railroad stations behind the enemy ' s lines . Moved to Chaumont - Sur - Aire Aerodrome , and during the Meuse - Argonne offensive ( 26 September – 11 November 1918 ) bombardment aircraft continued their attacks behind the lines while pursuit ships concentrated mainly on large - scale counter - air patrols . Demobilized in France , December 1918 . Intra - War Period . Authorized in the Regular Army on 15 August 1919 as the 1st Wing Headquarters . Organized on 16 August 1919 at Kelly Field , Texas . Provided command and control of all United States Army Air Service units conducting patrol duties 1919 - 22 along the Mexican Border from Brownsville , Texas , to the California - Arizona border , Assigned to the GHQ , US Army in 1921 . Reorganized 19 July 1922 as 1st Wing ( Provisional ) Headquarters and assigned responsibility to perform duties as the headquarters for the Advanced Flying School at Kelly Field . Inactivated on 26 June 1924 . Allotted to the Eighth Corps Area on 29 February 1927 . Fort Sam Houston , Texas , designated as headquarters on organization , but the unit was never organized at that location . Designated headquarters location changed on 14 September 1928 to Kelly Field . Re - designated as Headquarters , 1st Bombardment Wing on 8 May 1929 . Activated on 1 April 1931 at March Field , California . Re - designated as Headquarters , 1st Pursuit Wing on 18 August 1933 . Was responsible for the supervision and administration of twenty - five camps in the southern California Civilian Conservation Corps ( CCC ) District , 1933 - 34 . Re - designated Headquarters , 1st Wing on 1 March 1935 and assigned to the General Headquarters Air Force ( GHQAF ) . Transferred on 27 May 1941 to Tucson Municipal Airport , later Tucson Army Air Field , Arizona , under IV Bomber Command . World War II . After the Pearl Harbor Attack , initially supervised Heavy Bomber Operational Training at Tucson AAF . Re - designated as 1st Bombardment Wing and reassigned to VII Bomber Command and deployed to England July – August 1942 . In England , mission was command and control of B - 17 Flying Fortress bombardment groups stationed in East Anglia , receiving operational orders from VII BC headquarters and mobilizing subordinate groups for strategic bombardment attacks on enemy targets in Occupied Europe . Operated primarily from RAF Bassingbourn , Cambridgeshire . Served in combat in the European Theater of Operations ( ETO ) from August 1942 until 25 April 1945 , receiving a Distinguished Unit Citation ( DUC ) for an attack on aircraft factories in Germany on 11 January 1944 . Returned to the United States in August 1945 . Inactivated On 7 November 1945 .