The 58th Bombardment Operational Training Wing (Heavy) was constituted on 22 April and activated on 1 May 1943 at Smoky Hill AAF, Kansas.

The wing's mission was to train the first Boeing B-29 Superfortress aircrews and help prepare the new aircraft for operational combat duty.

On 1 June 1943 the wing was reassigned to the Boeing manufacturing plant at Marietta Army Air Field, Georgia in advance of delivery of the first YB-29 prototypes.

The 472d Group was destined to remain at Smoky Hill Field as an operational training unit (OTU), and the others were to be deployed to India.

However, delays in the B-29 program forced General Arnold to admit to the President that the bombing campaign against Japan could not begin until May 1944 at the earliest.

At that time, much of the equipment and components of the Superfortress had still not been perfected, and rather than delay production by stopping the assembly lines to incorporate modifications and add new equipment, it was decided to let the first production airplanes leave the lines at Wichita deficient in combat readiness and deliver them to these USAAF modification centers to bring them up to combat standards.

The program was seriously hampered by the need to work in the open air in inclement weather, by delays in acquiring the necessary tools and support equipment, and by the USAAF's general lack of experience with the B-29.

The 444th Bombardment Group later moved to a permanent airfield at Dudhkundi, leaving Charra to become a transport base for the C-87s and C-46s which would support the effort.

On 4 April 1944, a special strategic formation, the Twentieth Air Force, was established, which would carry out the aerial assault against Japan.

This was done at the insistence of General Arnold himself, mainly to avoid having the B-29s being diverted to tactical missions under pressure from CBI theatre commanders.

Led by General Saunders himself, 98 B-29s took off from bases in eastern India to attack the Makasan railroad yards at Bangkok, Thailand.

Even after the Air Transport Command took over the logistical supply of the B 29 bases in China at the end of 1944, enough fuel and bombs never seemed to reach Chengtu.

In December 1944, the Joint Chiefs of Staff made the decision that the 58th Bombardment Wing's B-29s would be moved to newly captured bases in the Marianas in the central Pacific.

Its units made daylight attacks from high altitudes on strategic targets, participated in incendiary raids on urban areas, and dropped mines in Japanese shipping lanes.

After the Japanese surrender, groups of the 58th Bomb Wing dropped food and supplies to Allied prisoners of war in Japan, Korea, and Formosa, and took part in show of force missions.

it had inherited the headquarters buildings previously occupied by the Continental Air Forces at Bolling Field in Washington, D.C., and some of "operational assets" that had been assigned to it.

It supervised training programs for its subordinate units and supported exercises such as 'Hour Hand, Blue Light, Red Cap, Iron Ba', and Surefire.