The 444th Air Expeditionary Wing is a provisional unit of the United States Air Force assigned to Air Combat Command to activate or inactivate as needed. It was last activated in 2003.
During World War II, the 444th Bombardment Group was a United States Army Air Forces combat organization. The group was the first Boeing B-29 Superfortress Group formed for the 58th Bombardment Wing, and served in the China Burma India Theater and Pacific Ocean Theater as part of the Twentieth Air Force. The group's aircraft engaged in very heavy bombardment operations against Japan. The group received the Distinguished Unit Citation for its combat operations on three occasions.
After returning to the United States, the 444th Bombardment Group became one of the original ten bombardment groups assigned to Strategic Air Command (SAC). The unit was inactivated on 1 October 1946 at Davis–Monthan Field, Arizona. Its B-29 aircraft and personnel were reassigned to the 43d Bombardment Group.
During Operation Iraqi Freedom the group was briefly activated as the 444th Air Expeditionary Group. The composition and stationing of the unit was never officially disclosed, and it was inactivated after the invasion of Iraq was completed.
History
Training for combat
The 444th Bombardment Group was activated on 1 March 1943 at Davis–Monthan Field, Arizona. Its original squadrons were the 676th, 677th, 678th, and 679th Bombardment Squadrons. After a period of organization at Davis–Monthan the group moved to Great Bend AAF, Kansas. for training, initially flying Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, Consolidated B-24 Liberators and Martin B-26 Marauders. After receiving its B-29s, the aircraft were ferried off to modification centers to correct design flaws. The 444th, under the command of Colonel Alva Harvey, was assigned to the first B-29 Superfortress wing, the 58th Bombardment Wing. After the planes were returned, the group engaged in training on the new aircraft and its mission of long range precision bombing. In November 1943 the 444th reorganized as a "Very Heavy" group and added four Bombardment Maintenance Squadrons and a Photographic Laboratory.
China Burma India Theater
In early April 1944, the group left the United States and deployed to a former B-24 Liberator airfield at Charra Airfield, India. The first airplane of the group landed at Charra on 11 April 1944. Due to the lack of revetments at Charra the group's airplanes were parked wingtip to wingtip on the field's shorter runway. Charra served only as a maintenance and staging base. Its runways were too short for a B-29 to take off fully loaded. While the group was stationed there, all missions were flown from the bases of the other groups in the 58th Bombardment Wing.
During the week of 15–22 April, no fewer than five 58th wing B-29s crashed near Karachi, all from overheated engines. The cause was traced to the design of the engine cowl flaps which controlled air flow over the cylinders. There were also problems with exhaust valves and valve guides on the engine. The B-29 was an advanced aeronautical design which had not been fully tested before being deployed overseas. The Wright 3350 tended to overheat partially due to reduced airflow over the rear cylinders due to restricted space caused by the cowl flap design. Additional complications leading to overheating were caused by operations in the tropical heat of India and by flying with maximum loads. The lower air pressures produced by the high ambient heat reduced lift and engine performance. The result was engine fires and crashes on take off.