306th Flying Training Group

The 306th Flying Training Group (306 FTG) is a unit of the United States Air Force, assigned to Air Education and Training Command (AETC). The group is stationed at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) near Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The 306 FTG is the airmanship training unit of the USAFA. The group replaced the 34th Operations Group in 2004. The designation "306th" was deliberately selected by the historian of AETC to connect the training mission of the current group with its relationship to the book and movie '' Twelve O'Clock High''.

During World War II, the group, as the 306th Bombardment Group, was the first operational bombardment group in the VIII Bomber Command. It was stationed at RAF Thurleigh, England from 6 September 1942 until 25 December 1945, the longest tenure at one station for any one Eighth Air Force group.The 306th Bombardment Group Museum: Wartime History of the Airfield
(retrieved 12 August 2013)

Staff Sergeant Maynard H. Smith of the 423d Bomb Squadron was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions that helped save the lives of six of his wounded comrades on 1 May 1943.

The 306th was the first Eighth Air Force heavy bombardment group to complete 300 missions over Occupied Europe and Nazi Germany and also was the first United States Army Air Forces heavy bombardment group to attack a strategic target located in Nazi Germany when the group, led by Colonel Frank A. Armstrong, attacked Wilhelmshaven on 27 January 1943. Colonel Armstrong's experiences with the 97th and 306th groups became the basis of Sy Bartlett and Beirne Lay Jr.'s novel and film '' Twelve O'Clock High''.

The group was reactivated as a Strategic Air Command (SAC) group during the Cold War at MacDill AFB, Florida in 1947. The group was initially equipped with Boeing B-29 Superfortresses, and was upgrading to Boeing B-47 Stratojets when it was inactivated in 1952 when SAC transferred its operational squadrons to its parent 306th Bombardment Wing. Although the group remained inactive until 2004, from 1954 to 1992 its history and honors were temporarily bestowed on the 306th Bombardment Wing (Medium) at MacDill AFB, Florida; the 306th Bombardment Wing (Heavy) at McCoy AFB, Florida; and the 306th Strategic Wing at RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom.

Units

The group consists of the following squadrons:
* 1st Flying Training Squadron
: Conducts flight training for all USAF Pilot, Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) Pilot, and Combat Systems Officer (CSO) trainees
* 94th Flying Training Squadron
: Conducts glider training
* 98th Flying Training Squadron "Wings of Blue"
: Conducts freefall parachute training
* 306th Operations Support Squadron
: Airfield and Airspace Management of the USAF Academy Airfield and Bullseye Auxiliary Airfield
* 557th Flying Training Squadron
: Conducts flying training (powered)

History

: ''For additional post-WW II history and lineage, see 306th Strategic Wing''

World War II

The group was activated 1 March 1942 at Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah. Personnel moved to Wendover Army Air Field, Utah on 6 April 1942 and began flying training, where it trained for bombardment operations using 40 B-17E aircraft. Group left Wendover 1 August 1942 to begin movement to the United Kingdom. The Ground unit first moved to Richmond AAB, Virginia and remained a week before leaving for Fort Dix, New Jersey. On 13 August 1942, the Group's personnel sailed on the on 30 August 1942 and arrived 5 September 1942 at Greenock, Scotland. The aircraft flew from Wendover to Westover Field, Massachusetts on 2 August 1942. The remainder of the Group departed for the United Kingdom on 1 September 1942 via Gander-Prestwick ferry route.

Based at RAF Thurleigh, Bedfordshire, in south-central England, as part of the Eighth Air Force, the 306th was the longest continuously-serving bomb group of the Eighth Air Force during World War II, and led the first mission against a target in Germany. The novel and film '' Twelve O'Clock High'' were based in large part on incidents occurring in the group in 1942 and 1943.

Between October 1942 and April 1945, the Group bombed a variety of enemy targets in Europe, including railroad facilities and submarine pens in France and ball-bearing works, oil plants, marshaling yards, chemical plants, aircraft factories, and foundries in Germany. Took part in the first penetration into Germany by heavy bombers of the Eighth Air Force on 27 January 1943 by attacking the U-boat yards at Wilhelmshaven.

Sergeant Maynard Harrison Smith received the Medal of Honor for his actions on 1 May 1943. When the aircraft on which he was a gunner was hit by the enemy and set on fire, the sergeant threw explosive ammunition overboard, manned a gun until the German fighters were driven off, administered first aid to the wounded tail gunner, and extinguished the fire.

The 306th was the center of media attention on 6 July 1944, when Thurleigh was visited by the British Royal Family. As cameras rolled, King George VI, his wife Queen Elizabeth, and their daughter Heiress Presumptive Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II) were led to a new B-17G of the 367th Bomb Squadron. The new replacement aircraft had been named ''Rose of York'' in honor of the 18-year-old Princess, who ceremonially christened the bomber. On her 50th mission on 3 February 1945, ''Rose of York'' was hit by flak over Berlin; she disappeared over the English Channel or North Sea while returning home."In a last radio report from Rose of York, pilot Capt. Vernon Daley Jr. stated he was leaving the French coast with two engines out but with the aircraft still under control. The B-17G Rose of York, her crew and Guy Byam were never seen again." Simonsen & O'Malley.

Without fighter escort and in the face of powerful opposition, the group completed an assault against aircraft factories in central Germany on 11 January 1944, earning a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for the mission. The group participated in the Big Week intensive campaign against the German aircraft industry, 20–25 February 1944. The group earned another DUC for effectively bombing an aircraft assembly plant at Bernberg, Gummersbach, Germany on 22 February, even though escort fighters had abandoned the mission because of weather. Often supported ground forces and attacked interdictory targets in addition to its strategic operations. Hit airfields and marshaling yards in France, Belgium, and Germany in preparation for Normandy. On D-Day, 6 June 1944, the unit raided railroad bridges and coastal guns in support of the assault. Assisted ground forces during the Saint-Lô

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