[10] The group trained at Geiger until June 1943 when it moved to Great Falls Army Air Base, Montana.

This was a shuttle mission, with the bombers recovering at Twelfth Air Force bases in North Africa, although a group aircraft was one of the first two American planes to make emergency landings in neutral Switzerland.

[9] The 390th was awarded a second Distinguished Unit Citation for a mission on 14 October 1943 when it braved assaults by enemy fighters to bomb the ball bearing plants at Schweinfurt.

Other strategic missions included attacks on marshalling yards at Frankfurt, bridges at Cologne, petroleum facilities at Zeitz, factories at Mannheim, naval installations at Bremen and synthetic oil refineries at Merseburg.

Although crewmembers were not advised why radar bombing was directed, this mission was a test to determine if pathfinder operations would succeed if the weather over Normandy was foul when the invasion took place.

It attacked enemy artillery in support of ground forces during Operation Cobra, the breakout at Saint-Lô in late July 1944.

[9] In August 1944, the group attacked a Focke-Wulf aircraft factory at Rumia (Rahmel), Poland, landing at Mirgorod in Ukraine.

After flying a mission against a synthetic oil production facility at Trzebinia, Poland, (returning to Mirgorod), the group attacked airfields in Romania, landing in Italy.

[9] On 14 January 1945, during an attack on targets near Berlin, a low squadron of the group's aircraft were separated from the main attacking formation because of supercharger problems with the lead aircraft, making them easy targets for German fighters, which shot down all eight Flying Fortresses in the formation.

[16] The group attacked airfields of the Luftwaffe to support Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine, in March 1945.

[9] On 5 April 1945, Master Sergeant Hewitt Dunn became the only person to fly 100 combat missions with Eighth Air Force.

The wing's initial task was to supervise the construction of launch silos and command and control facilities for its Titans.

[18] Its first missile did not arrive at Davis–Monthan until 27 November 1962 and was installed in its silo twelve days later, although it would be 31 March 1963 before the wing would accept its first Titan II complex.

[19][note 5] With a requirement to keep all 18 wing missiles on alert status, maintenance personnel initially worked extremely long hours, particularly until the end of 1964, when the Davis–Monthan launch sites became the first Titan II sites to install dehumidifier equipment that eased corrosion problems within the silos under Project Green Jug.

During the operation, titled Rivet Cap, missiles were removed and shipped to Norton Air Force Base, California, where they were refurbished and stored.

[22] In May the last Titan II at Davis–Monthan came off alert status,[18] and at the end of July the Air Force inactivated the 390th Strategic Missile Wing.