49th Fighter Group

49th Fighter Group. . , Activated at Selfridge Field, Michigan, on January 16, 1941, elements of the 49th, together with their P-40 Warhawks, arrived at Darwin, Australia in March, 1942, thus becoming the first army air corp pursuit unit dispatched to the South Pacific Theater after the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor. , Under 5th Air Force Commander Gen. George C. Kenney, the first combat Mission was flown on March 14, 1942, later transitioning into Lockheed P-38 Lightnings. The group flew 41 months of combat off fighter strips from Australia to the Philippines. The "Fighting 49ers" destroyed 678 enemy aircraft in aerial combat and their last World War-II mission was flown August 16, 1945. , Major Richard Bong, a member of the 49th, became America's "Ace of Aces," credited with 40 air victories. A congressional medal of honor recipient, he was the first to break Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker's WW-I record of 26 enemy planes destroyed. , The 49th flew the F-80 and F-84 in combat in Korea and saw action in Vietnam flying the F-4 Phantom. Now known as the 49th Tactical Fighter Wing, the unit is based at Holloman AFB, N.M. under the command of B/Gen. Dennis Larsen, flying the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk Stealth Fighter. , Dedication ceremony conducted by Cliff Robertson, Marge Bong Drucker, and from the 49th Fighter Group, Col. Cecil Jones, on December 4, 1996