Now-Lieutenant General Stayce D. Harris is listed by the USAF as commanding the 494th AEG at Moron Air Base, Spain, from July to October 2003.

[citation needed] The group's origins begin when the 10th Antisubmarine Squadron moved to Gowen Field, Idaho to retrain as a heavy bombardment unit with B-24s.

The unit remained in Hawaii throughout the summer of 1944 while its B-24s were modified at Hickam Field to meet the standards required by Seventh Air Force.

As the area was finally secured in late October, additional aircraft began arriving; with the group completely established by the end of the month.

Late in 1944 the unit hit gun emplacements, personnel areas, ant storage depots on Corregidor and Caballo at the entrance to Manila Bay.

It bombed radio installations and power plants at Japanese bases in the Philippines and attacked enemy-held airfields, including Clark Field on Luzon.

The group also participated in incendiary raids, dropped propaganda leaflets over urban areas of Kyūshū and struck airfields in China, in southern Korea, and around the Inland Sea of Japan until the Japanese capitulation in August.

The group was engaged in transporting personnel and supplies in the Southwest Pacific, and moving necessary occupation support elements from Manila to Tokyo.

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.

494th Bombardment Wing In 1962, in order to perpetuate the lineage of many currently inactive bombardment units with illustrious World War II records, Headquarters SAC received authority from Headquarters USAF to discontinue its Major Command controlled (MAJCON) strategic wings that were equipped with combat aircraft and to activate Air Force controlled (AFCON) units, most of which were inactive at the time, which could carry a lineage and history.

[note 2] As a result, the 4245th SW was replaced by the newly constituted 494th Bombardment Wing, Heavy (BW),[1] which assumed its mission, personnel, and equipment on 1 February 1963.

Under the Dual Deputate organization,[note 4] all flying and maintenance squadrons were directly assigned to the wing, so no operational group element was activated.

[1] By 1966, Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) had been deployed and become operational as part of the United States' strategic triad, and the need for B-52s had been reduced.