Reactivated in 1947 in the Air Force reserve, in 1949 it was reorganized as a light bomber group, It was mobilized in 1951 with its personnel and aircraft being used to bring other units up to full strength before inactivating. The group was again active in the reserve from 1955 to 1957 as the 448th Fighter-Bomber Group.
The group was redesignated the 448th Combat Sustainment Group and activated at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma in 2006, but was inactivated as the 448th Combat Sustainment Group in 2010.
The squadron was occasionally diverted from its strategic bombing mission to fly interdiction and close air support missions. It bombed V-weapon launch sites, airfields and transportation facilities to support Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, and on D-Day attacked coastal defenses and choke points on German lines of communication. It struck enemy positions to assist the allied attacks on Caen and Operation Cobra, the breakout at Saint Lo. It dropped supplies to allied troops during Operation Market Garden, the attempt to seize a bridgehead across the Rhine in the Netherlands. During the Battle of the Bulge, it attacked transportation and communications targets in December 1944 and January 1945. In the spring of 1945, it again dropped supplies to airborne troops in Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine near Wesel. The squadron flew its last combat mission on 25 April 1945, an attack on a railroad yard near Salzburg, Austria.[2] The group flew 262 combat missions, on which it lost 101 bombers, while claiming the destruction of 44 enemy fighters. Joseph C. McConnell the leading United States Air Forcefighter ace during the Korean War, served as a navigator with the group.[7]
The air echelon began returning to the United States with their planes in June 1945, while the ground echelon sailed from Greenock on the RMS Queen Mary on 6 July. Squadron members were given leave upon arrival in the States and the squadron began to assemble at Sioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota in the middle of the month. After training with the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the squadron moved to Fort Worth Army Air Field, Texas in December 1945. At Fort Worth, it became one of the first units of Strategic Air Command in March 1946. Although B-29 groups were organized with three squadrons, the squadron maintained its four squadron strength until May 1946, when the 715th Bombardment Squadron transferred to the control of the 509th Composite Group and moved to join the 509th the following month.[6][note 4] However, in August the group was inactivated and its personnel and equipment were transferred to the 92nd Bombardment Group, which was simultaneously activated.[2][7][8]
In August 1950, the 448th Wing's companion reserve unit at Long Beach, the 452d Bombardment Wing, was mobilized for Korean War service. In order to bring the 452d Wing to combat strength, skilled reservists and reservists who required 60 or fewer days training to qualify them as fully skilled assigned to the 448th Wing were transferred to the 452d Wing.[16] The group itself was called to active duty in the second wave of mobilization in March 1951 and its personnel who had not been transferred to the 452d Wing were used as fillers for other Air Force organizations, while the squadron was inactivated four days later.[2][17]
The reserve mobilization for the Korean War left it without aircraft, and the reserve did not again receive aircraft until July 1952.[18] When aircraft were assigned, six reserve pilot training wings were activated. However, the Air Force desired that all reserve units be designed to augment the regular forces in the event of a national emergency. Because the pilot training wings had no mobilization mission they were discontinued on 18 May 1955, and replaced by fighter-bomber and troop carrier wings.[19] The group was redesignated the 448th Fighter-Bomber Group and again activated as a reserve unit at Hensley Field, Texas when the 448th Fighter-Bomber Wing replaced the 8709th Pilot Training Wing. The group took over the North American T-28 Trojan aircraft of the 8709th, but soon re-equipped with Lockheed F-80 Shooting Stars.
Despite its fighter bomber designation, the squadron was gained on mobilization by Air Defense Command upon mobilization. The group flew the F-80 until 1957, when it began converting to the North American F-86 Sabre.[12]
However, the Joint Chiefs of Staff were pressuring the Air Force to provide more wartime airlift. At the same time, about 150 Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars became available from the active force. Consequently, in November 1956 the Air Force directed Continental Air Command to convert three reserve fighter bomber wings to the troop carrier mission by September 1957. In addition, within the Air Staff was a recommendation that the reserve fighter mission given to the Air National Guard and replaced by the troop carrier mission.[20] As a consequence in November 1957, the 448th[14] and the remainder of the 448th Wing were inactivated[12] when reserve operations at Hensley converted to the airlift mission.
In 2005, Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) implemented the AFMC Transformation project, which replaced the staff agencies at air logistics centers with wings, groups, and squadrons. The group was redesignated the 448th Eagle Propulsion Sustainment Group and activated at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma on 18 February 2005. It was assigned three newly organized combat sustainment squadrons, the 540th, 541st, and 542nd.[21] A little over a year later, AFMC removed the specific systems from the new groups' designations and the 448th became the 448th Combat Sustainment Group.[22] In 2008, it became the 448th Supply Chain Management Group and its subordinate squadrons were inactivated.[23] In 2010, AFMC returned some supply management functions to logistics complex staffs, and the group was inactivated.[24]
711th Bombardment Squadron (later 711th Fighter-Bomber Squadron): 27 June 1949 – 21 March 1951; 18 May 1955 – 16 November 1957[14]
712th Bombardment Squadron: 1 May 1943 – 4 August 1946; 19 April 1947 – 21 March 1951[3]
713th Bombardment Squadron (later 713th Fighter-Bomber Squadron): 1 May 1943 – 4 August 1946; 19 April 1947 – 21 March 1951; 18 May 1955 – 16 November 1957[4]
714th Bombardment Squadron: 1 May 1943 – 4 August 1946; 19 April 1947 – 21 March 1951[5]
715th Bombardment Squadron: 1 May 1943 – 6 May 1946[6]
^Aircraft is Ford built Consolidated B-24H-25-FO Liberator, serial 42-95185 "Do Bunny". This aircraft was shot down by a Me 262 on 25 March 1945 over Soltau, Germany.
^While assigned to the 448th Wing, the group uses the wing emblem with the group designation on the scroll. AF Instruction 84-105, Organizational Lineage, Honors and History, 27 April 2017, paragraph 3.3.3
^Aircraft is North American built Consolidated B-24J-1-NT Liberator, serial 42-78491 "Egress U-Uncle" (foreground). One of only three (of eight total) B-24s built by North American Aviation to survive hostilities in World War II.
^The 715th Squadron continued to be associated with the 509th through 2005.
^ abcdResearch Division, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Air Force Organization Change Status Report, February 2005, Maxwell AFB, AL
^ abcdeResearch Division, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Air Force Organization Change Status Report, April 2006, Maxwell AFB, AL
^ abcdefResearch Division, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Air Force Organization Change Status Report, April 2008, Maxwell AFB, AL
^ abcdResearch Division, Air Force Historical Research Agency, Air Force Organization Change Status Report, June 2010, Maxwell AFB, AL
^ abLineage and station information through 1956 in Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 322-323
^Department of the Air Force/MPM Letter 648q, 31 July 1985, Subject: Reconstitution, Redesignation, and Consolidation of Selected Air Force Organizations
Freeman, Roger A. (1970). The Mighty Eighth: Units, Men and Machines (A History of the US 8th Army Air Force). London, England, UK: Macdonald and Company. ISBN978-0-87938-638-2.
Watkins, Robert (2008). Battle Colors: Insignia and Markings of the Eighth Air Force In World War II. Vol. I (VIII) Bomber Command. Atglen, PA: Shiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN0-7643-1987-6.
Further reading
Brett, Jeffrey E. The 448th Bomb Group(H): Liberators over Germany in World War II. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, 2002. ISBN0-7643-1464-5.