The Group's major mission is RED FLAG-Alaska, 10-day air combat training exercise held up to four times a year.

RED FLAG-Alaska planners take those factors into consideration when designing exercises so participants get the maximum training possible without being placed at an unfair advantage during simulated combat scenarios.

On 4 November 1943, the group was moved to Portland AAF, Oregon and were informed that they were to fly the brand new North American P-51B Mustang.

This was a big change of equipment for the Fighter Group—the Mustang being a more capable aircraft with excellent high-altitude performance that would be required for escorting heavy bomber groups of the Eighth Air Force against Germany.

As a result, priority for the Mustang was shifted from the Ninth to the Eighth Air Force, which eventually converted 14 of its 15 Fighter Groups to the P-51.

During that same period, Colonel James H. Howard won the Medal of Honor for his single-handed efforts defending a bomber formation that was attacked by a large force of enemy planes while on a mission to Oschersleben, Germany on 11 January 1944.

Pressing home the attack for more than thirty minutes, he destroyed three aircraft, and even when he was low on fuel and his ammunition was exhausted, he continued his aggressive tactics to protect the bombers.

An increasing number of dive-bombing missions were flown during the weeks prior to the invasion, each Mustang carrying two 250 or 500 pound bombs on wing racks, the targets being frequently rail installations.

When D-Day arrived, the 354th's pilots were disappointed to be kept on the ground until 21:00 hours, when they took off to escort Douglas C-47 Skytrains towing gliders for a landing on the Cotentin Peninsula near Cherbourg Naval Base.

The group participated in the Battle of the Bulge by supporting ground forces and by conducting armed reconnaissance operations to destroy enemy troops, tank artillery, and rail lines.

Assisted ground forces in their advance to and across the Rhine and was based at Herzogenaurach, Germany (ALG R-29) when V-E Day arrived.

By war's end, the 354th FG was officially credited by USAAF Command with the highest number of enemy aircraft destroyed in the air (701 confirmed kills) of any U.S.