Boeing B-17G of the 303rd Bombardment Group showing Triangle C tail markings
Active
1942–1945; 1947–1948; 1951–1952; 2004–2010
Country
United States
Branch
United States Air Force
Role
Bombardment
Part of
United States Air Forces Europe
Nickname(s)
Hell's Angels[1]
Motto(s)
Might in Flight[2]
Engagements
European Theater of World War II
Decorations
Distinguished Unit Citation
Insignia
303rd Air Expeditionary Group emblem[3]
303rd Bombardment Group emblem as usually displayed during World War II[4]
303rd Bombardment Group arms as approved 9 January 1943[2]
Eighth Air Force Tail Marking
Triangle C[4]
Military unit
The 303rd Air Expeditionary Group is a provisional United States Air Force unit. In 2011, it was assigned to United States Air Forces Europe to activate or inactivate as needed.
The unit was first activated as the 303rd Bombardment Group in February 1942. During World War II, the 303rd was one of the first VIII Bomber Command B-17 Flying Fortress units in England. The group's "Hell's Angels" is recognized by the USAF as the first B-17 to complete 25 combat missions in the ETO on 13 May 1943, six days before the Memphis Belle,[5] though 12 days after Delta Rebel 2. The group went on to fly more than 300 combat missions, more than any other B-17 group in the theater. The B-17 "Knock-out Dropper" was the first aircraft in Eighth Air Force to complete 50, then 75 missions. The group was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation for completing an attack against a heavily defended target in January 1944.
The group was twice activated for brief periods by Strategic Air Command (SAC). During the first of these periods, from July 1947 to September 1948, the group was not equipped or manned. It was again activated at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona in September 1951. However, SAC reorganized its combat wings to assign operational squadrons directly to the wing headquarters in June 1952 and the group was again inactivated.
Air Force Materiel Command activated the Global Hawk Systems Group in January 2005 during a reorganization called the Air Force Materiel Command Transformation to manage the acquisition and development of the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk. This group was consolidated with the 303rd as the 303rd Aeronautical Systems Group in June 2006. The consolidated group was inactivated in June 2010, when AF Materiel Command returned to its traditional directorate systems management organization.
^Cite error: The named reference Freeman247 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abMaurer, Combat Units, pp. 175–176
^Robertson, Patsy (2 May 2011). "Factsheet 303 Air Expeditionary Group (USAFE)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
^ abWatkins, pp. 52–53
^Stout, Jay (January 2015). Hell's Angels The True Story of the 303rd Bomb Group in World War II (First ed.). New York: Berkley Publishing Group. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-425-27409-5.
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