It was one of the first groups deployed from the United States after the Attack on Pearl Harbor, traveling west to India via Australia and Ceylon.

The group defended the Indian terminus of the "Hump" airlift route over the Himalaya Mountains between India and China and airfields in that area.

The group flew strafing, bombing, reconnaissance, and patrol missions in support of Allied ground troops during a Japanese offensive in northern Burma in 1943.

The group was reequipped with North American P-51D Mustangs in 1945 to defend the eastern end of the route over the Hump, and to guard air bases in the Kunming area.

It entered combat service flying the Lockheed F-80C Shooting Star on 22 September of that year, when it moved to Itazuke Air Base, Japan to support the breakout of the U.S. Eighth Army from the Pusan Perimeter.

The wing moved to South Korea in October only to return to Japan in December, leaving combat elements behind.

The group operated a detachment at Suwon AB, Korea, beginning in May 1951, and relocated there in October 1951, with maintenance and supply elements remaining in Japan until August 1954.

Since 1990, trained and took part in a series of exercises to maintain combat readiness for the air defense of South Korea.