This Air Education and Training Command (AETC) organization had been a tenant unit located on an 80-acre (32 ha) site at Vandenberg.

The Group received a Distinguished Unit Citation for performance on 8 October 1943 when shipyards at Bremen were bombed accurately in spite of persistent enemy fighter attacks and heavy flak, and received a second DUC for similar action on 11 January 1944 during a mission against aircraft factories in central Germany.

The Group supported the Normandy invasion in June 1944 by bombing bridges and airfields near the beachhead.

After V-E Day, the 381st Bomb Group returned to Sioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota in July 1945 and was inactivated on 28 August.

On 24 July 1947, the group was reactivated at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska as a reserve unit.

It was nominally a heavy bomber group, but does not appear to have been equipped with operational aircraft or fully manned before inactivating in July 1949.

The 381st maintained Titan II intercontinental ballistic missiles on alert from 1 March 1962 until being inactivated on 8 August 1986.

The hydraulics also operated the radial motors that pulled the door open with 1.5-inch-diameter (38 mm) steel cables (four of them).

On 24 August 1978, an accident involving an oxidizer leak at launch complex 533-7 killed two Air Force personnel, caused the temporary evacuation of local communities, and damaged the site.

In September 1978, First Lieutenant Patricia E. Dougherty became the first female officer to perform SAC Titan II alert.

On 2 October 1981, Deputy Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci III ordered the inactivation of the Titan II weapon system.

The 381st was inactivated after providing twenty-plus years of strategic deterrence and winning numerous awards, including the SAC missile combat competition Blanchard Trophy in 1972, 1975, 1980, and 1983.

In July 1993, responsibility for missile training was transferred from Air Combat Command to AETC.

In October 1996, the space training squadrons moved from Colorado Springs to Vandenberg to further complete the unit's consolidation.

[9][10] This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency