388th Operations Group

388th Operations Group
Group F-16 Fighting Falcons
Active	1942–1945; 1953–1957; 1991–present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Fighter
Size	Three fighter squadrons
Garrison/HQ	Hill Air Force Base
Mottos	Libertas vel Mors (Latin for 'Liberty or Death') Fortress for Freedom (WW II)[1]
Engagements	European Theater of Operations Operation Desert Shield Operation Desert Storm
Decorations	Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Meritorious Unit Award Air Force Outstanding Unit Award[2]
Commanders
Current commander	Col. Charles A. Fallon[2]
Insignia
388th Operations Group emblem[a][2]
388th Bombardment Group[1]
Tail code	HL
World War II tail marking[1]	H within a square

The 388th Operations Group is the flying component of the 388th Fighter Wing, assigned to Air Combat Command and stationed at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. The group operates F-35A Lightning II aircraft through three fighter squadrons — the 4th Fighter Squadron, 34th Fighter Squadron, and 421st Fighter Squadron — and is the United States Air Force's first combat-coded F-35A operations group.

During World War II, its predecessor unit, the 388th Bombardment Group, flew B-17 Flying Fortress bombers with the Eighth Air Force from RAF Knettishall in Suffolk, England. Flying 331 combat missions between July 1943 and May 1945, the group struck targets across German-occupied Europe and earned two Distinguished Unit Citations: one for the Regensburg raid of 17 August 1943, and a second for three missions at Hanover, Brüx, and Ruhland in 1943–1944. It also flew radio-controlled Consolidated B-24 Liberator missions under Operation Aphrodite before being inactivated in August 1945.

Reactivated in November 1953 as the 388th Fighter-Bomber Group, the unit deployed to Étain-Rouvres Air Base, France, flying F-86F Sabres and later F-100D Super Sabres on nuclear standby for United States Air Forces in Europe. Budget shortfalls and a personnel crisis led to its inactivation in December 1957; the wing designation continued in Southeast Asia while the group designation remained inactive until 1991.

Redesignated and activated as the 388th Operations Group in December 1991 under the Air Force Objective Wing structure, the group flew F-16 Fighting Falcons for over two decades, deploying to Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990–91 — among the first units to employ the LANTIRN pod system in combat — and maintaining a continuous presence in Operation Southern Watch. The group transitioned to F-35As between 2015 and 2017 and first deployed them to combat in April 2019.

The 388th Operations Group organizes, trains, equips, and maintains combat-ready forces for Air Combat Command. The group operates the F-35A Lightning II through three assigned fighter squadrons and is responsible for maintaining personnel and aircraft at the readiness levels required for rapid global deployment.

Squadrons of the group are:

• 4th Fighter Squadron
• 34th Fighter Squadron
• 421st Fighter Squadron
• 388th Operations Support Squadron

For additional history and lineage, see 388th Fighter Wing

The 388th Bombardment Group (Heavy) was activated on 24 December 1942 at Gowen Field, Idaho, under II Bomber Command and Second Air Force.^[3] The training nucleus moved to Wendover Field, Utah in early February 1943, and completed final preparation at Sioux City Army Air Base, Iowa, in the spring of 1943.^[3] Aircraft flew the northern route to England via Newfoundland, Greenland, and Iceland; the ground echelon sailed on the Queen Elizabeth from New York on 1 July 1943 and arrived at Clyde, Scotland, on 7 July.^[3]

Assigned to the 45th Combat Bombardment Wing, 3d Bombardment Division, Eighth Air Force, the group was stationed at RAF Knettishall (AAF Station 136) in Suffolk, England.^[3][2] The group flew its first combat mission on 17 July 1943, attacking an aircraft factory in Amsterdam.^[3] For the next two years the group functioned as a strategic bombardment unit. Targets included aircraft factories, synthetic oil refineries, naval installations, marshalling yards, and industrial and communications infrastructure in Germany, France, Norway, Poland, Belgium, Romania, and the Netherlands.^[3][2]

The group received a Distinguished Unit Citation for withstanding heavy fighter opposition to bomb an aircraft factory at Regensburg on 17 August 1943, part of the combined Schweinfurt–Regensburg raid.^[3][2] A second citation recognized three missions: an attack against a tire and rubber factory at Hanover on 26 July 1943, the bombing of a synthetic oil refinery at Brüx on 12 May 1944, and a strike against a synthetic oil refinery at Ruhland on 21 June 1944, the last carried out as a shuttle mission to the Soviet Union.^[3][2] Other targets included aircraft factories at Kassel, Reims, and Brunswick; airfields at Bordeaux, Paris, and Berlin; naval works at La Pallice, Emden, and Kiel; chemical plants at Ludwigshafen; ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt; and marshalling yards at Brussels, Osnabrück, and Bielefeld.^[3] Operations also included support and interdiction missions: the group helped prepare for the invasion of Normandy by attacking military installations in France, struck coastal guns and field batteries on D-Day, and continued supporting ground forces through the Normandy campaign, bombing positions at Saint-Lô in July 1944 and Caen in August.^[3] In September 1944 the group covered the airborne assault on the Netherlands by attacking military installations and airfields near Arnhem.^[3]

From RAF Fersfield the group also participated in Operation Aphrodite, flying radio-controlled B-24 Liberator aircraft as guided weapons against hardened targets in France and Germany.^[3] In total the group flew 331 combat missions against European targets.^[4] Following Victory in Europe Day, the group flew food relief to flood-stricken areas of the Netherlands.^[3]

The group began redeployment to the United States in June 1945. Aircraft departed RAF Knettishall between 9 June and July 1945; the ground echelon sailed from Greenock on 5 August 1945 and arrived in New York on 11 August. The group was established at Sioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota, and inactivated there on 28 August 1945.^[3][2]

The 388th Fighter-Bomber Group was reactivated on 23 November 1953 at Clovis Air Force Base, New Mexico, as the flying element of the newly reconstituted 388th Fighter-Bomber Wing under Ninth Air Force and Tactical Air Command.^[5][6][2] The group's 561st, 562d, and 563d Fighter-Bomber Squadrons equipped with F-86F Sabres and commenced training for tactical nuclear weapons delivery under NATO commitments.^[5][6][2]

On 12 December 1954 the group arrived at Étain-Rouvres Air Base in northeastern France, its permanent station under Twelfth Air Force.^[5][6][7] Construction delays at Étain forced a temporary dispersal for the winter of 1954–55: the 562d Squadron operated from Spangdahlem Air Base, the 563d from Bitburg Air Base, and the 561st from Hahn Air Base, all in West Germany.^[6][2] By September 1955 sufficient facilities had been completed at Étain to consolidate all three squadrons at the home station.^[6][7]

Rotational deployments to Wheelus Air Base, Libya, for gunnery and bombing training began in April 1955.^[6] On 22 November 1955 Detachment 1, 388th Fighter-Bomber Group was activated at Hahn Air Base to maintain nuclear standby (Zulu Alert) with the group's F-86s, primarily manned by the 561st Squadron.^[6] The detachment transferred to Spangdahlem Air Base in February 1956 and continued rotational deployments of eight aircraft through fall 1957.^[6]

In fall 1956 the group began planning conversion to the F-100D Super Sabre. Adverse flying conditions at Étain made in-place conversion impractical; each squadron deployed to Nouasseur Air Base in Morocco, transitioned to the F-100 there, then returned to Étain in the new aircraft.^[6] The conversion coincided with a personnel crisis: a large cohort of officers and NCOs completed two-year unaccompanied tours simultaneously in fall 1957, followed by single airmen completing three-year overseas rotations, reducing the group's strength to approximately 65 percent of authorized levels.^[6] Headquarters United States Air Forces in Europe determined that budget shortfalls and the manning deficit made transfer to a new station impractical.^[6] On 10 December 1957 the 388th Fighter-Bomber Group was inactivated at Étain, its assets absorbed by the 49th Fighter-Bomber Group, which had relocated from Misawa Air Base, Japan, without personnel or equipment.^[5][6][7][2]

The wing lineage continued active service at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, from April 1966 through December 1975 under the 388th Fighter Wing, while the 388th group designation remained inactive.^[2] For that period see 388th Fighter Wing.

On 1 December 1991, the 388th Operations Group was activated at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, as part of the Air Force's implementation of the Objective Wing organizational structure, which separated flying and support functions into distinct groups within each wing.^[2] Upon activation, the group was bestowed the lineage and history of the 388th Tactical Fighter Group and all predecessor organizations, and assumed command of the wing's flying squadrons — the 4th Fighter Squadron, 34th Fighter Squadron, and 421st Fighter Squadron — flying the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon.^[8][2]

During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm (1990–91), two of the group's squadrons deployed to Southwest Asia. The 388th was the first unit to fly the F-16 into conflict using the Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night (LANTIRN) pod system, enabling precision strikes against Iraqi and Kuwaiti targets during night operations.^[9] Following the Gulf War, the group maintained a continuous presence through Operation Southern Watch, with approximately six months of deployments per year patrolling the no-fly zone south of the 33rd parallel over Iraq.^[9]

On 4 December 1996, the group's F-16 fleet logged its five millionth flying hour at Hill Air Force Base.^[9] In its 2005 BRAC recommendations, the Department of Defense recommended closing Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico; six F-16s from the 27th Fighter Wing were redistributed to the 388th at Hill AFB as a result.^[9]

The 388th began transition to the F-35A Lightning II on 2 September 2015, when the first two operational F-35As (designated AF-77 and AF-78) arrived at Hill Air Force Base for assignment to the 34th Fighter Squadron. The aircraft were delivered by Colonel David Lyons, 388th Fighter Wing commander, and Lieutenant Colonel Yosef Morris, 34th Fighter Squadron director of operations, on a flight from the F-35 production facility in Fort Worth, Texas.^[10] The 34th Fighter Squadron achieved initial operational capability in August 2016, making the 388th Operations Group the Air Force's first combat-coded F-35A operations group.^[2]

On 8 September 2017, Hill AFB held a "Viper Out" ceremony marking the end of 38 years of F-16 operations at the base. The group's remaining F-16s were assigned to Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, clearing the ramp for a full F-35A complement.^[11] By January 2020 the group operated 78 F-35A aircraft across the 4th Fighter Squadron, 34th Fighter Squadron, and 421st Fighter Squadron.^[2]

In April 2019 the 388th Operations Group deployed F-35As to the Central Command area of operations, the type's first combat deployment from Hill AFB.^[12]

• Established as the 388th Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 19 December 1942

Activated on 24 December 1942

Redesignated 388th Bombardment Group, Heavy on 20 August 1943

Inactivated on 28 August 1945

• Redesignated 388th Fighter-Bomber Group on 5 November 1953

Activated on 23 November 1953

Inactivated on 10 December 1957

• Redesignated 388th Tactical Fighter Group on 31 July 1985 (Remained inactive)
• Redesignated 388th Operations Group and activated on 1 December 1991^[2]

• 4th Fighter Squadron: 1 December 1991–present
• 34th Fighter Squadron: 1 December 1991 – 16 July 2010, 17 July 2015-
• 421st Fighter Squadron: 1 December 1991–present
• 560th Bombardment Squadron: 24 December 1942 – 28 August 1945
• 561st Bombardment Squadron (later 561st Fighter-Bomber Squadron): 24 December 1942 – 28 August 1945; 23 November 1953 – 10 December 1957
• 562d Bombardment Squadron (later 562d Fighter-Bomber Squadron): 24 December 1942 – 28 August 1945; 23 November 1953 – 10 December 1957
• 563d Bombardment Squadron (later 563d Fighter-Bomber Squadron): 24 December 1942 – 28 August 1945; 23 November 1953 – 10 December 1957^[2]

• B-17 Flying Fortress, 1943–1945
• F-86 Sabre, 1954–1956
• F-100 Super Sabre, 1957
• F-16 Fighting Falcon, 1991–2017^[9]
• F-35A Lightning II, 2015–present^[10]

Explanatory notes

Citations

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2016.
• Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947–1977. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9.
• Rogers, Brian (2005). United States Air Force Unit Designations Since 1978. Hinkley, UK: Midland Publications. ISBN 1-85780-197-0.
• Watkins, Robert (2008). Battle Colors: Insignia and Markings of the Eighth Air Force In World War II. Vol. I (VIII) Bomber Command. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7643-1987-7.

• Huntzinger, Edward J. (1979). The 388th at War. San Angelo, TX: Newsfoto Yearbooks.
• McAuliffe, Jerome J. (2005). US Air Force in France 1950–1967. San Diego, CA: Milspec Press. ISBN 0-9770371-1-8.
• The History of the 388th Bomb Group. San Angelo, TX: Newfoto Publishing Company. 1946.

• 388th Fighter Wing – official website of the parent wing
• 388th Bomb Group Mission Database (archived)
• 388th Bomb Group Association – veterans' organization for the WWII bombardment group