385th Air Expeditionary Group
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The 385th Air Expeditionary Group is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to Air Mobility Command to activate or inactivate as needed.[2] It was last known to be stationed at Incirlik AB, Turkey. It is currently a tenant unit of the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar.
385th Air Expeditionary Group | |
---|---|
Active | 1943–1945, 1963–1964; 2002-Undetermined |
Country | United States |
Branch | United States Air Force |
Role | Expeditionary Unit |
Nickname(s) | Van's Valiants (World War II) |
Motto(s) | Ales Victoria [sic] "Winged Victory" |
Engagements | European theater of World War II |
Decorations | Distinguished Unit Citation |
Insignia | |
385 Air Expeditionary Gp emblem | |
385th Bombardment Group emblem[1] | |
World War II Tail Code[1] | Square G |
During World War II, it was active as the 385th Bombardment Group (Heavy), an Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress unit, stationed at RAF Great Ashfield, England. The group led the famous attack on the Focke-Wulf Assembly Plant[3] at Marienburg in East Prussia on 9 October 1943.
During the Cold War, the 385th Strategic Aerospace Wing was a Strategic Air Command (SAC) wing assigned to the 818th Strategic Aerospace Division at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. It conducted strategic air refueling operations and maintained ICBM readiness to meet SAC commitments. The wing served as a deterrent force and also supported SAC's global air refueling mission until inactivated in 1964 as part of the phaseout of the SM-65 Atlas ICBM from the USAF inventory. It was inactivated on 15 December 1964.