310th Space Wing turns 70
The 310th has a long and rich heritage dating back to World War II, when it began as the 310th Bombardment Group on 15 March 1942, flying B-25 Mitchell medium bombers. In October 1942, the 310th was the first 12th Air Force group sent overseas, initially to England and then to French Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, France, and Italy where the highly-decorated unit participated in the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign.[1] The 310th Bombardment Group was inactivated in September 1945.
The 310th Bombardment Wing was reactivated in 1952 as part of Strategic Air Command. It trained on the B-29 Superfortress before converting to the B-47 Stratojet. It was deactivated in June 1965 with the phaseout of the B-47 from the U.S. Air Force inventory.
The 310th became part of Air Force Space Command in 1991 when the 310th Training and Test Wing was activated for a short time at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.; the 310th designator was again activated with the stand up of the 310th Space Group on 4 September 1997. The 310th Space Group was re-designated the 310th Space Wing on 7 March 2008.