The wing was first activated shortly before the beginning of World War II as the 42nd Bombardment Group, a medium bomber unit.

It was brought up to strength by the transfer of veteran squadrons in 1943 when it moved to the Southwest Pacific Theater as part of Thirteenth Air Force.

The 42nd Bombardment Wing was initially activated in 1953 with Convair B-36 Peacemakers as a component of Strategic Air Command's heavy bomber force.

[3] The wing ensures airmen are ready to deploy in support of U.S. military operations worldwide and promotes their professional and personal growth.

The wing is also responsible for the safety and security of the base, which it accomplishes through force protection, maintaining and modernizing facilities and infrastructure, and seeking efficient new ways of conducting operations.

In addition, the group is responsible for maintaining a $2.2 billion physical plant including 4,106 acres, 859 buildings, 2,300 lodging rooms, utilities and communications.

Gowen was not ready for occupancy when the advance echelon arrived, so they were initially quartered at a National Guard armory near Boise, Idaho, named Camp Bonneville.

[7] Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the group initially moved most of its available B-26s to Muroc Army Air Base, California.

[12][14] While antisubmarine patrols continued, the group trained North American B-25 Mitchell combat crews for the Alaskan Defense Command.

[15] The group's ground echelon assembled at Camp Stoneman for overseas shipment aboard the SS Catalina and the USAT Maui, departing for Noumea on 27 and 28 March.

[18] The group launched its first attack on 14 June, when eighteen bombers of the 69th squadron with Navy Chance Vought F4U Corsairs flying top cover, struck the support areas of Vila Airfield, on Kolombangara.

The force, sighted by [a Navy Consolidated PBY Catalina ] Black Cat patrol plane earlier in the evening, was estimated to consist of four destroyers, one light cruiser, and an unknown number of transports.

Repeated skip-bombing attacks, with quarter-ton bombs driven into the face of a terrific barrage of automatic weapons fire from the warships, were observed by the Mitchell crews and the naval crews aboard the patrol plane to have accomplished the following results: Enemy losses-one light cruiser left burning and dead in the water; two direct hits scored on a destroyer, causing large explosions and certain destruction; damaging hits or near misses on a 300-foot freighter.

At 0720 eight Mitchells of the 390th Squadron found the cruiser damaged in the previous night's action creeping to friendly waters at a speed of 2 knots.

[21] In December 1943, a shipment of 440 enlisted men and ten officers arrived from advanced B-25 training, mostly at Greenville Army Air Base, South Carolina.

These replacements permitted most of the ground echelon of the 69th and 70th squadrons, which had been engaged in combat since before the group arrived in the theater, to rotate back to the United States.

[24] Until July 1944, the group engaged primarily in the neutralization of enemy airfields and harbor facilities on New Britain, but also supported ground forces on Bougainville Island and attacked shipping in the northern Solomons and the Bismarck Archipelago.

[27] From this base on Palawan the group attacked shipping along the China coast, struck targets in French Indochina, bombed airfields and installations in the Philippines, and supported ground operations on Mindanao.

Pre-mission experiments determined that the group's bombers could carry a bomb load over this distance with fuel tanks installed in their radio compartments despite having to take off from a runway damaged by enemy action.

Despite intense and accurate flak, the group destroyed gun positions, warehouses, roadblocks, fuel and ammunition dumps, a radar station as well as huge stores of gasoline and oil which the enemy had placed in position to be released into shallow pits on the beach and ignited when the Australian ground troops made their assaults.

[29] The group's final combat action of World War II was attacking isolated Japanese units on Luzon during July and August 1945.

[40] On 24 and 25 November 1956, in an operation known as Quick Kick, four B-52Cs of the 42nd joined four B-52Bs of the 93rd Bombardment Wing for a nonstop flight around the perimeter of North America.

[2] In the late 1950s SAC began a program to disperse its Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for the Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike.

[8] Starting in 1960, one third of the wing's aircraft were maintained on fifteen-minute alert, fully fueled, armed and ready for combat to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet missile strike.

In Operation Hard Head VI, the wing flew similar missions to monitor communications with the Thule, Greenland Ballistic Missile Early Warning System site.

Tasking to support these two operations typically lasted from thirty to sixty days during which the wing maintained two B-52s airborne at all times.

President John F. Kennedy informed the American public that the Soviet Union had installed missile sites in Cuba from which it could strike the United States.

[47] In February 1965, wing involvement in the Vietnam War began as the 42nd Air Refueling Squadron sent aircraft to the Young Tiger Task Force, which supported tactical operations in Southeast Asia.

[47] In 1972 the demand for the wing's aircraft and personnel to deploy for Operations Bullet Shot, Young Tiger, and Linebacker II increased significantly.

[49] Following the Vietnam War, the wing again participated in military exercises worldwide and provided tankers to support USAF air refueling needs.