320th Air Expeditionary Wing The 320th Air Expeditionary Wing ( 320 AEW ) is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Force District of Washington . It is stationed at Bolling AFB , District of Columbia . The 320 AEW may be activated or inactivated at any time . The 320 AEW was activated at Bolling in December 2006 for former President Gerald Ford ’ s state funeral during the Christmas and New Year holidays , attaching 634 personnel to complete a 10 - day mission in three joint - operation areas . In less than 12 hours from notification , the 320 AEW deployed 167 joint forces and equipment for JTF Ceremony Forward . It was activated in December 2008 to support Air Force requirements during the 2009 Presidential Inauguration , working with the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee , or AFIC . The wing was originally activated during World War II and served with Twelfth Air Force as the 320th Bombardment Group . The highly - decorated unit was equipped with the Martin B - 26 Marauder aircraft . The group was later merged with the 320th Bombardment Wing , a component organization of Strategic Air Command ' s deterrent force during the Cold War , as a strategic bombardment wing . History . World War II . Constituted as 320th Bombardment Group ( Medium ) on 19 June 1942 and activated on 23 June at MacDill Field ( now MacDill AFB ) , Florida . The operational squadrons of the group were the 441st , 442d , 443d and 444th Bomb Squadrons . The 320th was equipped with the Martin B - 26 Marauder aircraft . The group was subsequently relocated to nearby Drane Field ( now Lakeland Linder Regional Airport ) , Florida . Most of the group moved to North Africa via England , August – December 1942 ; crews flew their planes over the South Atlantic route and arrived in North Africa , December 1942 – January 1943 . They began combat with Twelfth Air Force in April 1943 and operated from bases in Algeria , Tunisia , Sardinia , and Corsica until November 1944 . During the period April – July 1943 , flew missions against enemy shipping in the approaches to Tunisia , attacked installations in Sardinia , participated in the reduction of Pantelleria , and supported the Allied invasion of Sicily . It then bombed marshalling yards , bridges , airdromes , road junctions , viaducts , harbors , fuel dumps , defense positions , and other targets in Italy . The group supported forces at Salerno and knocked out targets to aid the seizure of Naples and the crossing of the Volturno River . Missions were flown to Anzio and Cassino and the group engaged in interdictory operations in central Italy in preparation for the advance toward Rome . In a disastrous error on 28 January 1944 , the group destroyed a train loaded with Allied POW s on a bridge at Orvieto North , Italy . The death toll has been reported at 450 . The 320th Bombarment Group received the French Croix de Guerre with Palm for action in preparation for and in support of Allied offensive operations in central Italy , April – June 1944 . It was the first such citation to be awarded to an American unit by the provisional French government in World War II . The unit also received a Distinguished Unit Citation ( DUC ) for a mission on 12 May 1944 when , in the face of an intense antiaircraft barrage , the group bombed enemy troop concentrations near Fondi in support of the U . S . Fifth Army ' s advance toward Rome . From June to November 1944 operations included interdictory missions in the Po Valley , support for the invasion of Southern France and attacks on enemy communications in northern Italy . The 329th was then moved to France in November 1944 and bombed bridges , rail lines , gun positions , barracks , supply points , ammunition dumps , and other targets in France and Germany until V - E Day . The group received a second DUC for operations on 15 March 1945 when the group bombed pillboxes , trenches , weapon pits , and roads within the Siegfried Line to enable a breakthrough by the Seventh United States Army . With the end of hostilities in Europe , the group moved to Germany in June 1945 and participated in the disarmament program . It returned to the United States , November – December 1945 , and was inactivated on 4 December 1945 . Strategic Air Command . Medium Bomber Era . The 320th Bombardment Wing , Medium ( BW ) was activated at March AFB , California on 1 December 1952 . The 320th BW assumed the assets of the 106th Bombardment Wing , a federalized New York Air National Guard unit which was brought onto active duty during the Korean War . At March , the wing was initially equipped with second - line Boeing B - 29 Superfortress es and conducted global bombardment training and air refueling operations to meet Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) commitments . The wing was also employed for training Air Force Reservists and Air National Guardsmen to backfill rotating B - 29 Superfortress combat crews which were deployed by Fifteenth Air Force to Far East Air Forces serving in the Korean War . The wing replaced its propeller - driven B - 29s with new Boeing B - 47E Stratojet swept - wing medium bombers capable of flying at high subsonic speeds and primarily designed for penetrating the airspace of the Soviet Union in 1953 . The wing trained the initial B - 47 cadre for the 96th Bombardment Wing , from December 1953 to January 1955 and subsequently deployed as a wing to RAF Brize Norton , England from 5 June to 4 September 1954 and Andersen AFB , Guam from 5 October 1956 to 11 January 1957 . In the late 1950s , the B - 47 Stratojet was considered to be reaching obsolescence , and was being phased out of SAC ' s strategic arsenal . Aircraft were reassigned to other SAC units as replacements in late 1959 and 1960 becoming non - operational . B - 52 Era . 4134th Strategic Wing With the retirement of the Stratojet , the 320th Bomb Wing was reassigned to Mather AFB , California , an Air Training Command ( ATC ) base , on 1 February 1963 where it assumed the assets of the 4134th Strategic Wing ( SW ) , a SAC tenant organization at Mather . , The 4134th SW was established by SAC on 1 May 1958 at Mather and assigned it to the 14th Air Division as part of SAC ' s plan to disperse its Boeing B - 52 Stratofortress heavy bombers over a larger number of bases , thus making it more difficult for the Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike . The wing was assigned only two maintenance squadrons until 1 July 1958 when the 72d Bombardment Squadron ( BS ) , consisting of 15 B - 52Fs moved to Mather from Travis AFB , California where it had been one of the three squadrons of the 5th Bombardment Wing . Half of the wing ' s aircraft were maintained on fifteen minute alert , fully fueled , armed , and ready for combat . The 4039th ( and later the 416th ) continued to maintain an alert commitment until 1965 , and periodically thereafter when not supporting operations in Southeast Asia . Additional maintenance squadrons and a squadron to provide security for special weapons were activated at the same time . On 1 January 1959 the 49th Aviation Depot Squadron was activated to oversee the wing ' s special weapons . The 4135th became fully organized on 1 July 1959 when the 904th Air Refueling Squadron , flying Boeing KC - 135 Stratotanker s was activated and assigned to the wing . In 1962 , the wing ' s bomber s began to be equipped with the GAM - 77 Hound Dog and the GAM - 72 Quail air - launched cruise missiles , The 4134th Airborne Missile Maintenance Squadron was activated in November to maintain these missiles In 1962 , in order to retain the lineage of its MAJCOM 4 - digit combat units and to perpetuate the lineage of many currently inactive bombardment units with illustrious World War II records , Headquarters SAC received authority from Headquarters USAF to discontinue its Major Command controlled ( MAJCON ) strategic 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 . 320th Bombardment Wing As a result the 4134th SW was replaced by the 320th Bombardment Wing , Heavy ( 320th BW ) , which assumed its mission , personnel , and equipment on 1 February 1963 . In the same way the 441st Bombardment Squadron , one of the unit ' s World War II historical bomb squadrons , replaced the 341st BS . The 49th Munitions Maintenance Squadron and the 904th Air Refueling Squadron were reassigned to the 320th . Component support units were replaced by units with numerical designation of the newly established wing . Under the Dual Deputate organization , all flying and maintenance squadrons were directly assigned to the wing , so no operational group element was activated . Each of the new units assumed the personnel , equipment , and mission of its predecessor . At Mather , the wing performed global bombardment training and air refueling operations to meet SAC commitments , February 1963 – 1965 and later . The entire wing was drastically reduced from February to July 1965 , from December 1965 to March 1966 , and from June 1972 to October 1973 , when all aircraft , crews , and most support personnel were loaned to other SAC units based at Andersen AFB Guam , U - Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield , Thailand and Kadena AB , Okinawa for operations in Southeast Asia . Starting in 1972 , the 3542d Operations Squadron conducted Convair T - 29 pilot training for the Fifteenth Air Force in conjunction with the 323d Flying Training Wing of the Air Training Command ( ATC ) to support the Undergraduate Navigator Training ( UNT ) program at Mather . In the early 1980s , the 320 BW and the 441 BS were equipped to carry , and trained in the employment of , the US Navy ' s AGM - 84 Harpoon missile and various types of anti - ship mines as part of a joint USN - USAF initiative to employ USAF bomber aircraft in maritime operations . The 904 ARS was inactivated 1 October 1986 and its older KC - 135As modified to KC - 135 E standard and redistributed to other SAC units or sent to AMARC at Davis - Monthan AFB , Arizona for storage . The 441 BS with its B - 52Gs was inactivated on 30 September 1989 . It was the first squadron to inactivate with the gradual drawdown of the B - 52G fleet pursuant to START reductions of the USAF strategic bomber force . The 320th Bombardment Wing was inactivated on 30 September 1989 . It was the first B - 52 wing to be inactivated in conjunction with the phased retirement of the B - 52G fleet and was also made in conjunction with the pending closure of Mather AFB in 1993 due to Base Realignment and Closure ( BRAC ) action . 320th Air Expeditionary Group ( Air Combat Command ) . In 1998 , the 320th was reactivated as the 320th Air Expeditionary Group ( 320 AEG ) at Eskan Village , Riyadh , Kingdom of Saudi Arabia . As an element of U . S . Central Command Air Forces ( USCENTAF ) / 9th Air Force ( 9 AF ) , the 320 AEG was a ground - based non - flying organization , with the 320 AEG replacing the earlier 4409th Air Base Group ( Provisional ) at Eskan that had been in existence since Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM in 1990 – 91 . The primary mission of the 320 AEG at Eskan was to provide liaison with Saudi Arabian Ministry of Defense and Aviation ( MODA ) for Eskan Village and to provide host base support to the combatant staff of Joint Task Force Southwest Asia ( JTF - SWA ) and the 9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force ( 9 ASETF ) , including its associated Coalition Air Operations Center ( CAOC ) , conducting Operation SOUTHERN WATCH , which provided principal senior command and control of all U . S . and Coalition combat flying units enforcing the " No Fly Zone " over Southern Iraq prior to execution of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM in 2003 . The 320 AEG also supported United States Military Training Mission ( USMTM ) Saudi Arabia , the U . S . Office of Program Management – Saudi Arabian National Guard ( OPM - SANG ) , as well as the Royal Air Force and French Air Force headquarters elements also located at Eskan Village . In 2005 the 320th Air Expeditionary Group was replaced by the 64th Air Expeditionary Group , a component of the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing . 320th Air Expeditionary Wing ( AF District of Washington ) . The 320th was then renamed as the 320th Air Expeditionary Wing ( 320 AEW ) and was reassigned to the Air Force District of Washington at Bolling AFB for National Capital Region ( NCR ) support duties , such as supporting the inauguration of Barack Obama . Lineage . 320th Bombardment Group 320th Bombardment Wing Components . Group Operational Squadrons Support Squadrons References . Bibliography . See Also