[1] About 1,200 active duty military members, Reserve, and Air National Guard personnel make up the Wing.

Aircraft assigned: McDonnell Douglas KC-10A Extenders, Lockheed U-2 Dragon Ladies, Boeing E-3 Sentry (AWACS) and Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk.

It operated primarily in the Southwest Pacific Theater as a Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber unit assigned to Fifth Air Force.

Shortly after being activated, the group moved to Biggs Field, Texas, where it underwent extensive combat training.

The group was assigned to train RAAF personnel on the B-24 and to secure Australia's safety against a threatened Japanese invasion along its northern coast.

It was the only heavy bomber unit available to cover the whole of the Dutch East Indies (1,000,000 square miles) from July 1943 until late in 1944.

At that time the successes in the New Guinea campaign had brought the other Fifth Air Force units close enough to the East Indies to join the 380th in that task.

[4] During April and May 1944, the 380th engaged in the most intensive and sustained operations since arrival in the southwest Pacific, neutralizing the rear bases through which the Japanese might reinforce their air force in the Wakde-Hollandia area of the Netherlands East Indies.

From the end of May 1944 until it moved to Murtha Field, San Jose, Mindoro, Philippines in February 1945, the 380th concentrated on neutralizing enemy bases, installations and industrial compounds in the southern and central East Indies.

In June 1945, the 380th was placed under the operational control of the 13th Air Force for pre-invasion attacks against Labuan and on the oil refineries at Balikpapan in Borneo.

In its service with the Australians, the 380th served longer under the operational control of an Allied country than any other Air Force unit (from June 1943 until February 1945).

On 29 May 1947, the Group was activated at MacDill Field, Florida, as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress reserve unit under the 49th Bombardment Wing.

The first B-47E arrived on 21 March 1956 piloted by Brigadier General Kenneth O. Sanborn, first commander of the 820th Air Division[permanent dead link‍], also headquartered at Plattsburgh AFB, but temporarily assigned to Pinecastle.

By June 1956, the runway and essential facilities were completed at Plattsburgh and the wing and Air Division moved its aircraft and headquarters to the newly constructed base from Florida.

On 15 January 1962, the Wing suffered its second aircraft lost when a B-47E assigned to the 529th Squadron on a routine training flight making bomb runs over Fort Drum crashed on the southeast slope of Wright's Peak (a mountain top 60 miles (97 km) south of Plattsburgh).

September 1965 saw one of the Wing's B-47s, "Pride of the Adirondacks" departing Plattsburgh for SAC's 14th Bombing and Navigation Competition at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington.

Six days later, that same aircraft returned to Plattsburgh being hailed as the "World's Best B-47" after having won top honors among all SAC B-47 units in 3 of 4 competition areas for the B-47s.

Within three weeks of that triumph, the first B-47 departed for storage at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, as part of an accelerated phase-out of the type.

To replace the B-47s, the Wing was assigned the Boeing B-52G Stratofortress bomber and received its first aircraft christened "Champlain Lady" on 19 June 1966.

On 21 January 1968, tragedy struck the wing again when B-52G 58-188, crashed near Thule Air Base in Greenland while on a Chrome Dome mission.

The aircraft was flown by a crew from the 528th Squadron and was carrying four hydrogen bombs when it crashed into an ice covered bay at the western tip of Greenland.

In 1968, plans were initiated to bring the Air Force's newest strategic aircraft, the General Dynamics FB-111 Aardvark to Plattaburgh.

On 8 October 1969, the FB-111A entered service with the 4007th Combat Crew Training Squadron of the 340th Bomb Group at Carswell Air Force Base, Texas.

By the end of 1970, B-52s were transferred to Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, and the last B-52G left Plattsburgh on 5 January 1971.

1980 began with a new challenge for the Wing after being named the official military support installation for the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York.

As the year progressed, the 380th once again proved itself worthy of its motto, "Best of the Best", as it achieved an unprecedented fifth Fairchild Trophy at the annual SAC Bombing and Navigation Competition.

As the Rockwell B-1B Lancer came into service, the FB-111A became redundant to SAC needs, and starting in 1988 most FB-111As began a conversion into a ground attack configuration (F-111G – less their nuclear delivery capability).

On 10 July 1991, Strategic Air Command and the 380th Wing said goodbye to the FB-111A when the last 4 operational aircraft left Plattsburgh for their final flight to preservation in museums.

The mission of the wing was to provide worldwide air refueling with its KC-135A/Q Stratotankers and served as host to the Tanker Task Force operation.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency