458th Air Expeditionary Group The 458th Air Expeditionary Group ( 458 AEG ) is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to the United States Air Forces in Europe . As a provisional unit , the 458 AEG may be activated or inactivated at any time . The last known activation of the unit was at Mihail Kogălniceanu International Airport , 26 km NW of Constanţa , Romania . The group was active from about March to June 2003 , charged with maintaining an airbridge at the base to transport supplies and people to the US Central Command Area of Responsibility ( AOR ) . During World War II , the 458th Bombardment Group was an Eighth Air Force B - 24 Liberator unit in England . Assigned to RAF Horsham St Faith in early 1944 , the group flew its last combat mission on 25 April 1945 , flying 240 missions losing 47 aircraft in combat . History . World War II . The Group flew its first diversionary missions on 24 and 25 February 1944 to draw enemy fighters from German targets being attacked by other USAAF bombers . The group ' s first bombing mission was on 2 March 1944 , and afterward the group operated primarily against strategic targets in Nazi Germany , examples being the industrial areas of Saarbrücken , oil refineries at Hamburg , an airfield at Brunswick , aircraft factories at Oschersleben building the Fw 190 under contract , a fuel depot at Dulmen , a canal at Minden , the aircraft works at Brandenburg , the marshalling yards at Hamm and an aircraft engine plant at Magdeburg . The Group helped to prepare for the D - Day invasion of Normandy by striking gun batteries , V - weapon sites , and airfields in France and hit coastal defenses in support of the assault on 6 June 1944 . Afterward the Group supported the Allied advance through France , bombing bridges and highways to prevent the movement of enemy materiel to the beachhead and by attacking enemy troops to aid the Allied breakthrough at Saint - Lô in July 1944 . The Group ceased bombing activity briefly during September 1944 to carry fuel as cargo to airfields in France . During Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and January 1945 the Group struck transportation lines , later attacking enemy airfields to assist the Allied assault across the Rhine in March 1945 . The Group flew its last combat mission on 25 April 1945 , returning to the USA almost immediately through June and July 1945 . The Group was redesignated 458th Bombardment Group ( Very Heavy ) in August 1945 , training with the Boeing B - 29 Superfortress until it was inactivated on 17 October 1945 . Modern era . The unit was reactivated on 1 June 1992 as the 458th Operations Group and controlled two KC - 10 Extender tanker squadrons as a detached component of the 22d Air Refueling Wing at Barksdale AFB , Louisiana . The group was inactivated on 1 July 1995 when it ' s KC - 10s were reassigned to McGuire AFB , New Jersey , and its squadrons to the 305th Operations Group when Air Mobility Command consolidated its aerial tanker force . The unit was converted to provisional status about 2002 and assigned to the United States Air Forces in Europe . In September 2002 the 458 AEG was deployed to Air Force Base Waterkloof , South Africa to participate in the first bilateral exercise between the air forces of South Africa and the United States . More than 200 airmen from Royal Air Force Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath in England , Ellsworth Air Force Base , S . D . , and the Oklahoma Air National Guard are participated in the exercise . The group was again brought briefly to life in 2003 , when the 458th Air Expeditionary Group was active at Mihail Kogălniceanu International Airport , 26 km NW of Constanţa , Romania . The group was active from about March to June 2003 , charged with maintaining an airbridge at the base to transport supplies and people to the US Central Command Area of Responsibility ( AOR ) . 458 AEG :