21st Operations Group The 21st Operations Group ( 21 OG ) is an operational component of the 21st Space Wing , stationed at Peterson Air Force Base , Colorado . The mission of the 21st OG is to provide overall management and guidance to 21 geographically separated units assigned to the wing , which provide attack warning and space control . Its history goes back to World War II when the 21st Fighter Group flew very long range ( VLR ) escort missions of Twentieth Air Force B - 29 Superfortress bombardment groups against Japan . During the Cold War , the unit was a USAFE tactical fighter unit assigned to France in the 1950s and later controlled all operational fighter squadrons at Elmendorf AFB , Alaska . Overview . Responsibilities include establishment of operational requirements and managing the training , standardization and evaluation programs . This includes conducting command - directed evaluations and staff assistance visits . Additionally , the 21st OG develops and maintains operational procedures and regulations for field units . The 21st OG funnels Defense Support Program satellite information to forward users , and the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station missile warning . The group is also the focal point for the Air Force ' s transition from DSP to the new Space - Based Infrared Satellite system . History . World War II . Constituted as 21st Bombardment Group ( Medium ) on 13 January 1942 . Activated on 1 February 1942 at Bowman Field , Kentucky . Thereafter , from February 1942 until October 1943 , the group relocated successively to Jackson Army Air Base ; Mississippi ; Columbia Army Air Base , South Carolina ; Key Field , Mississippi , and MacDill Field , Florida . The 21st initially trained on B - 25 Mitchell bombers then converted to B - 26 Marauder s . The group largely served as an operational training unit assigned to Third Air Force ; however , while at MacDill Field , from June 1942 to October 1943 , the 21st additionally carried out anti - submarine patrols over the Caribbean Sea . For this action the group received the Anti - Submarine 1941 – 1945 campaign streamer . The 21st inactivated on 10 October 1943 . The 21st did not have to wait long to write a further chapter in the history of warfare . Another unit , the 21st Fighter Group ( FG ) , activated on 21 April 1944 at Wheeler Army Airfield in the Hawaii Territory . Assigned to VII Fighter Command , the group consisted of the 46th , 72d , and 531st Fighter Squadrons . Over the next two months , the group trained on its first aircraft type , the P - 39Q Airacobra . The 21st provided air defense over the Hawaiian Islands from July 1944 , then began upgrading into the P - 38J / L Lightning in September . By the end of October , rumors filled the air that the group soon would upgrade airframes again , this time to the P - 51 Mustang . This change in aircraft heralded a new mission for the 21 FG . True to rumor , leading echelons began deploying by ship to the island of Iwo Jima in the western Pacific in February 1945 . Before the end of the month , the 21st began flying patrols over the critical island base in support of ground operations . The final group echelon arrived at Iwo Jima on 25 March . Early the next morning , elements of the 21st were attacked in their encampment by Japanese soldiers . Assisted by a patrol of American Marines , 21st personnel counterattacked and in the tent - by - tent fighting killed 250 of the enemy . Fourteen group personnel were killed and 50 , including 21 FG commander Colonel Kenneth R . Powell , were wounded . The first long - range aerial mission of the 21st Fighter Group against the mainland of Japan began on 7 April 1945 , when the group ’ s Mustangs escorted a formation of B - 29 bombers against the fortified and well - defended Nakajima aircraft factory near Tokyo . This mission marked the first time fighters had escorted bombers over Japan . Moreover , this mission has been credited as having been the longest over - water fighter escort sortie to date . Over the following weeks , the 21st escorted American B - 29s over enemy airfields and industrial targets and engaged rival Japanese fighter aircraft . The 531st Squadron achieved another first for the 21 FG in June 1945 by initiating aerial rocket strike sorties against select enemy targets which included ships and a radio station . In the meantime , the groups ’ aircraft continued to duel in the air and two “ aces ” soon emerged : Major Harry Crim and Captain Willis Matthews , both of the 531st Fighter Squadron . Aircrews of the 21st also strafed the airfields which the Japanese used for their increasingly dangerous kamikaze attacks . The 21 FG flew its last combat mission 14 August 1945 , about two weeks before the official Japanese capitulation on 2 September . The group received the Distinguished Unit Citation on 13 November 1945 specifically for its outstanding conduct during the earlier raid on Nakajima . However , the 21st had played a laudable part throughout the final stages of the war in the Pacific . After the war , the group transferred from Iwo Jima , first to Saipan , then finally to Guam . Re - equipped with P - 47 Thunderbolt s during the summer of 1946 . The 21 FG inactivated on 10 October 1946 . Post / Cold War . Redesignated 21st Fighter - Bomber Group . Activated at George AFB California on 1 January 1953 with three ( 72d , 416th and 531st ) Fighter - Bomber squadrons . Assigned to Tactical Air Command . Equipped for a few months with F - 51 ' s , later with F - 86 ' s . Maintained tactical proficiency and provided air defense augmentation in the United States , January 1953 – November 1954 . At George , the group established and maintained tactical proficiency and provided air defense augmentation . In December 1954 , the group was assigned to NATO and was reassigned to Chambley - Bussieres Air Base , France . The 21 FBG consisted of three squadrons , the 72d , 416th and 531st Fighter - Bomber Squadrons , equipped with the F - 86F Sabre . Upon their arrival , the facilities at Chambley were not ready for aircraft use , and the squadrons had to deploy elsewhere . The 72d deployed to Chateauroux AB , while the 416th and 531st operated out of Toul - Rosieres AB . After many construction delays , the group combined its fighter squadrons at Chambley on 15 April 1955 . The squadrons carried out close air support training missions with the Army , then took first place at the United States Air Forces in Europe ( USAFE ) " Gunnery Meet " at Wheelus Air Base , Libya . The 21 FBW participated in the Atomic Warfare exercise Carte Blanche , and went on to take an overall second place in the Nellis AFB , Nevada Gunnery Meet in 1956 . Moreover , they won the USAFE Award for Tactical Proficiency for the January – June period of 1957 . In 1957 , the French Government decreed that all nuclear weapons and delivery aircraft had to be removed from French soil by July 1958 . As a result , the F - 86 ' s of the 21st Fighter - Bomber Group had to be removed from France . During October 1957 it was announced that the 21 FBG would be inactivated on 8 February 1958 , and that its assets would be dispersed among existing USAFE units . Modern era . In 1991 , the 21st Tactical Fighter Wing was reorganized as an objective wing and all the major tenant units on Elmendorf AFB , Alaska were placed under it . The 21st Operations Group was the flying component of the 21st Wing . The 21st Wing was inactivated and the 3d Wing was reassigned from Clark Air Base , Philippines to Elmendorf on 19 December 1991 as a result of the Mount Pinatubo eruption and the inhabitability of Clark . This was in keeping Air Force ' s polices of retaining the oldest and most illustrious units . The 21st Operations Group was reactivated on 15 May 1992 as a component of the redesignated and reactivated 21st Space Wing , providing command management of Air Force Space Command ' s worldwide network of assigned missile warning , space surveillance , and communications units . Lineage . 21st Bombardment Group 21st Fighter Group