The 461st Operations Group is a joint

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ar ...

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

unit flying the

Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint STARS The Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) is a United States Air Force airborne ground surveillance, battle management and command and control aircraft. It tracks ground vehicles and some aircraft, c ...

aircraft. The

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

is assigned to the

461st Air Control Wing The 461st Air Control Wing is a joint Air Force/Army unit flying the E-8 J-STARS aircraft. The wing is assigned to Air Combat Command's Ninth Air Force, and is stationed at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It was activated on 1 October 2011. O ...

Air Combat Command Air Combat Command (ACC) is one of nine Major Commands (MAJCOMs) in the United States Air Force, reporting to Headquarters, United States Air Force (HAF) at the Pentagon. It is the primary provider of air combat forces for the Air Force, and i ...

and is stationed at

Robins Air Force Base Robins Air Force Base is a major United States Air Force installation located in Houston County, Georgia, United States. The base is located just east of the city of Warner Robins, south-southeast of Macon and approximately south-southeast ...

, Georgia. It was most recently activated on 1 October 2011. The group was originally activated in 1943 as the 461st Bombardment Group (Heavy) as a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

combat organization. The highly decorated unit served primarily in the Mediterranean, African, and The Middle East Theater of

. Later activated as a tactical bomber unit by

Tactical Air Command Tactical Air Command (TAC) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was a Major Command of the United States Air Force, established on 21 March 1946 and headquartered at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. It was inactivated on 1 J ...

in the 1950s, the group was designated the 461st Bombardment Group, Tactical.

Mission

The 461st Operations Group is the only active duty Air Force unit operating the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS), an advanced ground surveillance and battle management system. Joint STARS detects, locates, classifies, tracks and targets ground movements on the battlefield, communicating real-time information through secure data links with U.S. Forces command posts.

History

World War II

461st Bombardment Group - B-24 Liberator

The

was constituted in May 1943 as a

Consolidated B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models ...

heavy bombardment group and activated on 1 July at

Wendover Field Wendover is a market town and civil parish at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated at the point where the main road across the Chilterns between London and Aylesbury intersects with the once important road ...

, Utah, with the 764th, 765th, 766th and 767th Bombardment Squadrons assigned.Maurer, ''Combat Units'', pp. 335–337 It trained under Second and

Fourth Air Force The Fourth Air Force (4 AF) is a numbered air force of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC). It is headquartered at March Air Reserve Base, California. 4 AF directs the activities and supervises the training of more than 30,000 Air Force Reser ...

s at several airfields in Utah, Idaho, and California, with group elements undergoing combat simulation training at the

Army Air Force School of Applied Tactics The Army Air Forces Tactical Center was a major command and military training organization of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It trained cadres from newly formed units in combat operations under simulated field condition ...

in Florida. The 461st deployed to the

Mediterranean Theater of Operations The Mediterranean Theater of Operations, United States Army (MTOUSA), originally called the North African Theater of Operations, United States Army (NATOUSA), was a military formation of the United States Army that supervised all U.S. Army for ...

in February 1944, the air echelon flying its B-24's via the South Atlantic route, stopping in North Africa before joining the ground echelon in Italy. It was assigned to the

49th Bombardment Wing "Thank God for Mississippi" is an adage used in the United States, particularly in the South, that is generally used when discussing rankings of U.S. states. Since the U.S. state of Mississippi commonly ranks at or near the bottom of such rankings ...

Fifteenth Air Force The Fifteenth Air Force (15 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base. It was reactivated on 20 August 2020, merging the previous units of the Ninth Air Force ...

Torretto Airfield The Foggia Airfield Complex was a series of World War II military airfields located within a radius of Foggia, in the Province of Foggia, Italy. The airfields were used by the United States Army Air Force Fifteenth Air Force as part of the strat ...

, Italy, in late February. The group began combat operations in April, engaging in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. It engaged chiefly in bombardment of communications, industries, and other strategic objectives in Italy, France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Greece. It supported counter-air operations by bombing enemy airdromes and aircraft centers, receiving a

Distinguished Unit Citation The Presidential Unit Citation (PUC), originally called the Distinguished Unit Citation, is awarded to units of the uniformed services of the United States, and those of allied countries, for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed ene ...

(DUC) for a mission on 13 April 1944 when the group battled its way through enemy defenses to attack an aircraft components plant in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. The 461st BG conducted Oil Campaign of World War II operations against Brux Czechoslovakia;

Blechhammer The Blechhammer ( en, sheet metal hammer) area was the location of Nazi Germany chemical plants, prisoner of war (POW) camps, and forced labor camps (german: Arbeitslager Blechhammer; also Nummernbücher). Labor camp prisoners began arriving as ...

, Germany; and Moosbierbaum and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in Austria. It received a second DUC for a July 1944 bombing of

Ploiești Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest. The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Blejoi commun ...

despite flak, clouds, smoke, and fighters. Also operated in support of ground forces and flew some interdictory missions. It hit artillery positions in support of the

Operation Dragoon Operation Dragoon (initially Operation Anvil) was the code name for the landing operation of the Allied invasion of Provence ( Southern France) on 15August 1944. Despite initially designed to be executed in conjunction with Operation Overlord, ...

, the invasion of Southern France in August 1944 and flew supply missions to France in September. The group aided

Operation Grapeshot The spring 1945 offensive in Italy, codenamed Operation Grapeshot, was the final Allied attack during the Italian Campaign in the final stages of the Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWI ...

, the spring 1945 Allied offensive in Italy, by attacking gun emplacements and troop concentrations. After

V-E Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easte ...

, the 461st dropped supplies to

prisoner-of-war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

camps in Austria during May 1945. During its operations in the Mediterranean, the group suffered 108 aircraft lost in combat, and was credited with the destruction of 129 enemy aircraft.Statistical Summary of Operations 1943–1945
(accessed 20 October 2012) It dropped over 13,000 tons of bombs in over 46,000 hours of combat flying. The group began returning to the United States in early July. It reassembled at

Sioux Falls Army Air Field Sioux Falls Regional Airport , also known as Joe Foss Field, is a public and military use airport three miles northwest of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States. It is named in honor of aviator and Sioux Falls native Joe Foss, who later served ...

, South Dakota at the end of the month and was inactivated there on 28 August 1945.

Tactical Air Command

461st Bombardment Wing Martin B-57B-MA 53-3934 1956

The unit was reactivated as the 461st Bombardment Group, Light and assigned to the 461st Bombardment Wing. It was initially equipped with

era

Douglas B-26 Invader The Douglas A-26 Invader (designated B-26 between 1948 and 1965) is an American twin-engined light bomber and ground attack aircraft. Built by Douglas Aircraft Company during World War II, the Invader also saw service during several major C ...

light bombers. This aircraft assignment was temporary until the unit received jet-powered Martin

Martin B-57 Canberra The Martin B-57 Canberra is an American-built, twin-engined tactical bomber and reconnaissance aircraft that entered service with the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1953. The B-57 is a license-built version of the British English Electric ...

s and moved to a permanent base at

Blytheville Air Force Base Blytheville Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base from 1942, until it closed in 1992. In 1988, the facility was renamed Eaker Air Force Base in honor of World War II General of the Eighth Air Force, Ira C. Eaker. It was located nor ...

, Arkansas. After three years of service with the B-57s the group was inactivated at the beginning of 1958 as TAC prepared to transfer Blytheville to

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile c ...

.Mueller, p. 37

Joint STARS operations

The group was redesignated the 461st Operations Group and activated at

, Georgia as the operational element of the 461st Air Control Wing in October 2011. The group operates the

along with the associated

116th Operations Group The 116th Operations Group is a Georgia Air National Guard unit assigned to the 116th Air Control Wing. The unit is stationed at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. The 116th Group controls all operational Northrop Grumman E-8C Joint STARS aircraft ...

of the

Georgia Air National Guard The Georgia Air National Guard (GA ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of Georgia, United States of America. It is, along with the Georgia Army National Guard, an element of the Georgia National Guard. As state militia units, the units i ...

Lineage

* Constituted as the 461st Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 19 May 1943 : Activated on 1 July 1943 : Redesignated 461st Bombardment Group, Heavy in 1944 : Inactivated on 18 August 1945 * Redesignated 461st Bombardment Group, Light on 11 December 1953 : Activated on 23 December 1953 : Redesignated 461st Bombardment Group, Tactical on 1 October 1955 : Inactivated on 8 January 1958 * Redesignated 461st Operations Group on 1 September 2011 : Activated on 1 October 2011

Assignments

* Second Air Force, 1 July 1943 * Fourth Air Force, 30 October 1943 *

IV Fighter Command The IV Fighter Command is a disbanded United States Air Force unit. It was activated under Fourth Air Force at March Field, California in June 1941, when it replaced a provisional organization. It was responsible for training fighter units a ...

, 7 November 1943 * 55th Bombardment Wing, 5 February 1944 *

, 14 March 1944 * Second Air Force, c. 22 July-28 August 1945 * 461st Bombardment Wing, 23 December 1953 – 8 January 1958 * 461st Air Control Wing, 1 October 2011 – present

Components

12th Airborne Command and Control Squadron The 12th Airborne Command and Control Squadron is a United States Air Force flying unit, assigned to the 461st Air Control Wing, stationed at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. The squadron flies the Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint STARS ( Joint Survei ...

: 1 October 2011 – present *

16th Airborne Command and Control Squadron The 16th Airborne Command and Control Squadron is a United States Air Force squadron assigned to Air Combat Command's 461st Air Control Wing, 461st Operations Group, stationed at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. The squadron previously flew th ...

: 1 Oct 2011–present * 330th Combat Training Squadron: 1 October 2011 – present * 461st Operations Support Squadron: 1 October 2011 – present * 764th Bombardment Squadron: 1 July 1943 – 28 August 1945, 23 December 1953 – 8 January 1958 * 765th Bombardment Squadron: 1 July 1943 – 28 August 1945, 23 December 1953 – 8 January 1958 * 766th Bombardment Squadron: 1 July 1943 – 28 August 1945, 23 December 1953 – 8 January 1958 * 767th Bombardment Squadron: 1 July 1943 – 28 August 1945

Stations

* Wendover Field, Utah 1 July 1943 *

Gowen Field Boise Airport (Boise Air Terminal or Gowen Field) is a joint civil-military airport in the western United States, south of downtown Boise in Ada County, Idaho. The airport is operated by the city of Boise Department of Aviation and is overs ...

, Idaho, 29 July 1943 *

Kearns Army Air Field South Valley Regional Airport is a public airport located in West Jordan, southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Established as a Utah World War II army airfield, it is the primary general aviation airport in the area and is a Uta ...

, Utah 11 September 1943 * Wendover Field, Utah, 30 September 1943 *

Hammer Field Fresno Yosemite International Airport is a joint military/public airport in Fresno, California, United States. It is the primary commercial airport for the San Joaquin Valley and three national parks: Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon. It ...

, California, 30 October 1943 – January 1944 * Torretto Airfield, Italy c. 20 February 1944 – July 1945 * Sioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota, 22 July – 18 August 1945 *

Hill Air Force Base Hill Air Force Base is a major U.S. Air Force (USAF) base located in northern Utah, just south of the city of Ogden, and bordering the Cities of Layton, Clearfield, Riverdale, Roy, and Sunset with its largest border immediately adjacent ...

, Utah, 23 December 1953 – 8 April 1956 * Blytheville Air Force Base, Arkansas, 8 April 1956 – 1 April 1958 * Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, 7 October 2011 – present

Aircraft

1943–1945 * Douglas B-26 Invader 1953–1956 *

Douglas C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remain ...

1954–1956 * Martin B-57 Canberra 1955–1958 * Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint STARS

Awards and campaigns

References

; Notes ; Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * ; Further reading *

External links

461st Bombardment Group website

The 461st Liberaider, June 2012
(accessed 20 October 2012) {{Navboxes , list = {{Tactical Air Command {{USAAF 15th Air Force World War II {{USAAF 4th Air Force World War II {{USAAF 2d Air Force World War II Operations groups of the United States Air Force