The 17th's heritage traces back to World War I, when the 95th Aero Squadron played a key role in the St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, and other Allied campaigns.

During World War II the 17th Bomb Group was the only combat organization to fight all three of the Axis powers (Japan, Italy, and Germany) on three continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe).

As the first unit to operate the B-25, the 17th achieved another "first" on 24 December 1941 when one of its Mitchells, flown by 1st Lt. Everett W. Holstrom, dropped four 300-pound bombs on a Japanese submarine near the mouth of the Columbia River.

The group officially transferred effective 9 February 1942 to Columbia, where its combat crews were offered the opportunity to volunteer for an "extremely hazardous", but unspecified mission.

[4] Initial planning called for 20 aircraft to fly the mission,[5] and 24 of the group's B-25B Mitchell bombers were diverted to the Mid-Continent Airlines modification center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

On the morning of 18 April 1942, some 600 miles east of Japan, the aircraft carrier USS Hornet launched 16 Mitchells on the highly successful Doolittle raid on Tokyo and other Japanese cities.

In December the group transferred once more, this time to Telergma Airport, Algeria, where it participated in the North African campaign as part of Twelfth Air Force.

Its sheer cliffs would have proved a daunting obstacle to amphibious invasion but precision bombardment by the 17th secured the surrender of the island's defenders in less than a month.

In August, the group switched to daylight formation raids, earning the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation by the end of the war in July 1953.

On 26 January 1955, due to problems in the B-57 program, this decision was reversed and the unit was directed to transfer with 39 aircraft to Hurlburt Auxiliary Field, Florida.

At Hurlburt, was redesignated the 17th Bombardment Group, Tactical and the unit transitioned to the Martin B-57 Canberra and Douglas B-66 Destroyer medium bombers before inactivating again in 1958 due to budgetary cuts.