The Group was first organized at Croix de Metz Aerodrome, near Toul, France, as a result of the United States entry into World War I.

The pilots of the 1st Group included Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, credited as the top scoring American ace in France during World War I.

In addition to carrying out local training requirements, the group deploys personnel and equipment on a regular basis to support air expeditionary operations worldwide as part of the Global War on Terrorism.

The command staff left Paris and selected a site for its headquarters adjoining that of the Groupe de Combat No 12 of the French Aeronautique Militaire at Vertus, near the airfield.

Continuous German air raids in the vicinity of Vetrus led to the digging of zigzag trenches on the Aerodrome and falling shrapnel was a hazard from the French anti-aircraft guns.

Two of the four pilots earning the Medal of Honor for actions during World War I were members of the 1st Pursuit Group: 2Lt Frank Luke Jr. and Captain Edward V. "Eddie" Rickenbacker.

[6] On 10 December 1918, orders were received relieving the First Pursuit Group from First Army with instructions to report to Commanding Officer, First Air Depot, Colombey-les-Belles Airdrome for demobilization.

Captain Burt E. Skeel, commander of the 27th Pursuit Squadron, was killed 4 October 1924, in the crash of a Verville-Sperry R-3 at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, at the start of Pulitzer Trophy event of the 1924 Races.

It garnered favorable publicity in other ways, however, using bombs to break up an ice jam on the Clinton River on 24 February 1925, and escorting Charles Lindbergh to Canada in 1927.

[11] Resistance by the Coolidge administration to implementation of the plan for economic reasons, followed by the onset of the Great Depression severely limited the expansion.

Original orders called for 35 pilots and 16 aircraft to be detached for mail service, but the Curtiss P-6 Hawk and Boeing P-12 fighters detailed had insufficient cargo capacity potential.

The 27th and 71st squadrons were immediately sent with an additional 12 P-38s and 24 P-43 fighters to March Field to provide the West Coast air defense against Japanese attack.During its brief duty at March Field the Group provided cadre for newly mobilized fighter groups, losing over half of its assigned officers and enlisted men, but still made preparations for deployment to Europe on 25 April 1942.

En route the 27th Fighter Squadron was detached at "Indigo" airfield, Reykjavík, Iceland, for air defense duty in July and August.

The group experienced its first combat loss on 2 October 1942, when a P-38F escorting B-17 Flying Fortress bombers on a mission to Méaulte, France, was shot down by a German fighter of JG 26 near Calais, and 2nd Lt. William H. Young was killed in action.

On 29 November 1942, the 94th Fighter Squadron flew the group's first combat sorties in the Mediterranean theater, strafing a German airfield and recording several aerial victories.

The searing sun was so intense that mechanics were unable to as much as touch the aluminum surfaces of the fuselage, wings and cowlings with exposed skin, Silliman said.

The grating sand found its way not only into engine components and weapons but crewmens' bedding, footwear, clothing, hair, eyes and even their teeth.

On 23 February 1943, the group began two days of low-level strafing missions in support of hard-pressed Allied troops at Kasserine Pass, losing several aircraft.

In 1943 the squadrons of the 1st Fighter Group began to apply distinctive colors to their tailbooms, wingtips and propeller tips for rapid unit identification.

The group flew 44 aircraft in escorting B-26 bombers to the railroad marshalling yards at Aversa, Italy, and were opposed by approximately 75–100 German fighters.

Outnumbered two to one, the group engaged the Luftwaffe for 40 minutes, enabling the bombers to strike their target and return to base without loss, but in doing so lost 13 fighters themselves, with 10 pilots killed.

In all, the 1st Fighter Group had 14 P-38s shot down, its heaviest single day loss of the war, while claiming 18 kills, including five by a 71st pilot, 1st Lt. Herbert Hatch.

From 10 to 21 August 1944, the 94th Fighter Squadron deployed sixty Lightnings to Aghione, Corsica, providing air support for the Allied invasion of Southern France.

Under Operation Argonaut, the 1st FG escorted British and American delegations to the Yalta Conference, deploying 51 P-38's to protect the ships and aircraft carrying President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and their aides to and from the Crimea.

The 1st Fighter Group had 402.5 claims credited for German aircraft destroyed in air-to-air combat recognized by U.S. Air Force Historical Study No.

The uneven distribution of kills among the squadrons is an apparent reflection of an unequal degree of contact with German fighter units after June 1944, almost all of which occurred in July 1944.

In January 1950, while stationed at George Air Force Base, California, the 1st Group formed an aerial demonstration team, the "Sabre Dancers."

The team, composed of five pilots of the 27th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron (FIS), flew their most distinguished show on 22 April 1950, at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, for an audience that included President Harry S Truman.

Beginning in 1977, at least a dozen different groups attempted to locate and recover one of the eight aircraft abandoned on the Greenland ice cap after the forced landing of 15 July 1942.

The P-38 was subsequently restored to flying condition over the next ten years, dubbed Glacier Girl by its new owner, the Lost Squadron Museum, and flown on 26 October 2002.