The 449th Air Expeditionary Group (449 AEG) is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to the 17th Air Force (Air Forces Africa) supporting United States Africa Command. It was last known to be stationed at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti.
Its assignment was to support the Africa Command and Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa mission supporting varied U.S. objectives in the area. Sibling organizations are the 1st Battalion, 294th Infantry Regiment (Guam Army National Guard); 1st Battalion, 3d Infantry Regiment and various Explosive Ordnance Disposal Teams.
The group begin as the World War II 449th Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 6 April 1943. Activated on 1 May 1943. Prepared for combat with B-24 Liberator heavy bombers. Moved to Italy, December 1943 – January 1944, and assigned to the 47th Bombardment Wing of the Fifteenth Air Force. The group operated primarily as a strategic bombardment organization, attacking such targets as oil refineries, communications centers, aircraft factories, and industrial areas in Italy, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Albania, and Greece. After returning to the United States at the end of May 1945, the unit was assigned to Second Air Force and transitioned to B-29 Superfortresses and was redesignated a Very Heavy bomb group.
In the postwar era, the 449th Bombardment Group was one of the original ten USAAF bombardment groups assigned to Strategic Air Command on 21 March 1946. The unit was inactivated on 4 August 1946 at Grand Island AAF, Nebraska, its B-29 aircraft and personnel being reassigned to the senior 28th Bombardment Group which was reactivated due to the Air Force's policy of retaining only low-numbered groups on active duty after the war.
The 449th Bombardment Wing, Heavy was reactivated in 1962, replacing the 4239th Strategic Wing and assumed a mission of training for strategic bombardment flying B-52 Stratofortresses as part of Strategic Air Command. The unit inactivated on 30 November 1977 with the closure of Kincheloe AFB, Michigan.
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