Katana VentraIP

7th Operations Group

The 7th Operations Group is the operational flying component of the United States Air Force 7th Bomb Wing, stationed at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas. The 7th Operations Group currently flies the B-1 Lancer.

7th Operations Group

6 September 1918 – present
(104 years, 7 months)

Detailed
  • 1 October 1993 – present
    29 August 1991 – 1 January 1993 (as 7th Operations Group)
    20 July 1948 – 16 June 1952 (as 7th Bombardment Group, Heavy)
    1 October 1946 – 20 July 1948 (as 7th Bombardment Group, Very Heavy)
    15 October 1944 – 6 January 1946 (as 7th Bombardment Group, Heavy)
    6 December 1939 – 15 October 1944 (as 7th Bombardment Group (Heavy))
    24 March 1923 – 6 December 1939 (as 7th Bombardment Group)
    25 January 1923 – 24 March 1923 (as 7th Observation Group)
    26 March 1921 – 30 August 1921 (as 7th Group (Observation))
    6 September 1918 – April 1919 (as 1st Army Observation Group)[1]

 United States Air Force (18 September 1947 – present)
United States Army ( Army Air Forces, 20 June 1941 – 18 September 1947; Army Air Corps, 2 July 1926 – 20 June 1941; Army Air Service, 6 September 1918 – 2 July 1926)

Mors Ab Alto Latin Death from Above

DY

The 7th Operations Group is a direct successor organization of the 7th Bombardment Group, one of the 15 original combat air groups formed by the United States Army before World War II.


Activated in 1921, it inherited the lineage of the 1st Army Observation Group, which was established and organized, on 6 September 1918. The 7th Bombardment Group was deploying to the Philippines when the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Six of the group's B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft which had left Hamilton Field, California on 6 December 1941 reached Hawaii during the enemy attack, but were able to land safely. The unit later served in India during World War II.


In the postwar era, the 7d Bombardment Group was one of the first USAAF units assigned to the Strategic Air Command on 1 October 1946, prior to the establishment of the United States Air Force. Equipped with low-hour B-29 Superfortress surplus World War II aircraft, the group was inactivated in 1952 when the parent wing adopted the Tri-Deputate organization and assigned all of the group's squadrons directly to the wing.


Reactivated as the 7th Operations Group in 1991 when the 7th Bomb Wing adopted the USAF Objective organization plan.

7th Operations Support Squadron

9th Bomb Squadron

28th Bomb Squadron

436th Training Squadron

The 7 OG (Tail Code: DY) consists of the following units:


Both the 9th and 28th Bomb Squadrons fought in combat on the Western Front of World War I, and histories predate that of the Operations Group.

Heraldry[edit]

The group's emblem, approved in 1933, features three crosses symbolizing its squadrons' battle honors. The diagonal stripe was taken from the coat of arms of Province of Lorraine which France took back from Germany in World War I.

Organized in France as: First Army Observation Group, 6 September 1918

26 September – 11 November 1918

Meuse-Argonne Offensive

Organization of the Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force

12–16 September 1918

St Mihel Offensive

Strategic Air Command

United States Army Air Forces in Australia

George Waldo Browne; Rosecrans W. Pillsbury (1921). . Overseas book Company. p. 239.

The American Army in the World War: A Divisional Record of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe

Clay, Steven E. (2011). (PDF). Vol. 3 The Services: Air Service, Engineers, and Special Troops 1919-1941. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-98419-014-0. LCCN 2010022326. OCLC 637712205. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2012.

US Army Order of Battle 1919-1941

Gorrell, Col. Edgar S. (1974). History of the American Expeditionary Forces Air Service, 1917-1919. Series C: Tactical Units. Vol. 8, History of the 1st and 2nd Army Observation Group. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration.  215070705.

OCLC

Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979. Retrieved 17 December 2016.

Air Force Combat Units of World War II

Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). (PDF). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9. Retrieved 17 December 2016.

Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947-1977