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Groups · 1918–1941

1st Operations Group

Military unit.

History

The 1st Operations Group (1 OG) is the flying component of the 1st Fighter Wing, assigned to the USAF Air Combat Command. The group is stationed at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. The 1st Operations Group is the oldest major air combat unit in the United States Air Force, being the successor organization of the 1st Pursuit Group. The 1st Pursuit Group was the first air combat group formed by the Air Service, American Expeditionary Force, on 5 May 1918.

The Group was first organized at Croix de Metz Aerodrome, near Toul, France, as a result of the United States entry into World War I. As the 1st Pursuit Group it saw combat on the Western Front in France, and during World War II as the 1st Fighter Group combat in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. Pilots of the 1st Group are credited by the USAF with destroying 554.33 aircraft and 50 balloons, and 36 pilots are recognized as being aces.

The pilots of the 1st Group included Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, credited as the top scoring American ace in France during World War I. During World War II, the 1st FG was among the first groups deployed overseas in the summer of 1942. The group flew missions in England as part of the Eighth Air Force, then was transferred to North Africa in November 1942. It experienced significant combat as part of the Twelfth Air Force, moved to Italy, and became part of the fighter force of the Fifteenth Air Force. The 1st FG was equipped with the first operational U.S. jet fighter aircraft, the P-80A Shooting Star, in 1946.

Text from Wikipedia: 1st Operations Group, CC BY-SA 4.0, lightly trimmed.

Wars and campaigns

World War I

From Wikidata (CC0).

Key dates

  1. 1917
    The 27th Fighter Squadron (FS) is one of the oldest fighter squadrons in the Air Force, being first organized on 15 June 1917.
  2. 1918
    On 5 May 1918, the AEF replaced the 1st Pursuit Organization Center at Toul-Croix de Metz Aerodrome, with the 1st Pursuit Group, the first American group-level fighter establishment (the 1st Corps Observation Group, organized in April 1918, was the first U.S. group).
  3. 1924
    Captain Burt E. Skeel, commander of the 27th Pursuit Squadron, was killed 4 October 1924, in the crash of a Verville-Sperry R-3 at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, at the start of Pulitzer Trophy event of the 1924 Races.
  4. 1942
    During its brief duty at March Field the Group provided cadre for newly mobilized fighter groups, losing over half of its assigned officers and enlisted men, but still made preparations for deployment to Europe on 25 April 1942.
  5. 1943
    The North African campaign ended with the capture of Tunis on 7 May 1943.
  6. 1944
    The minimal effect of high altitude bombing raids on the Ploieşti refineries prompted Fifteenth Air Force planners on 10 June 1944, to lay on a low level dive bombing attack by 48 P-38s of the 82nd Fighter Group and 45 of 1st FG. Mechanical turnbacks reduced the force by 21 aircraft, nine from the 1st Group.
  7. 1944
    Of the last 38 kills awarded to the 1st Fighter Group, 30 were by the 27th FS (24 in July, 2 in August 1944, and 4 in 1945).
  8. 1952
    It replaced ADC's 575th Air Base (later Air Defense) Group which had been the USAF host for Selfridge AFB since 1 February 1952 and had commanded the fighter squadrons at Selfridge effective 13 February 1953.
  9. 1991
    6th Airborne Command and Control Squadron: 1 October 1991 – 1 October 1992 (not operational after March 1992)

Dates and events quoted from the same Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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