It completed its training at Ephrata Army Air Base, Washington, then moved to Wendover Field, Utah for final preparation for overseas movement.

[4] The group flew its first mission during Big Week on 21 February 1944, as Eighth Air Force concentrated its attacks on Germany's aircraft manufacturing industry.

It engaged primarily in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, attacking ball bearing plants, oil refineries and aircraft factories until June 1944.

For the remainder of the month it was engaged in air interdiction, striking airfields, rail systems and roads and depots behind enemy lines.

During Operation Market Garden, the attempt to secure bridgeheads across the Rhine River in the Netherlands, it supported the British 1st Airborne Division.

It provided similar support during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and January 1945, and Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine in March 1945.

[2] On Saturday, 28 July 1945, Lieutenant Colonel William F. Smith lost his way while ferrying a 457th North American B-25 Mitchell bomber from Bedford Army Air Base to Sioux Falls via Newark Airport.

His aircraft crashed headlong into the 79th floor level of the Empire State Building, killing Smith, two passengers and eleven office workers.

Although the system had been used by other platforms, this was its first use in combat by a B-52[10] The bombers returned to North Dakota on 24 April, but elements of the group remained behind to secure materiel, including unexpended munitions.

[11][12] In 2011, the group was briefly active at Naval Station Rota, Spain to support Operation Odyssey Dawn, the enforcement of a no fly zone over Libya.