The wing was first established during World War II as the 5th Photographic Group with Twelfth and Fifteenth Air Forces in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations.

[3][6][7] After training in the United States and participating in military exercises, the group moved to Tunisia and served in combat with Twelfth and Fifteenth Air Forces in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations.

It also flew night photographic missions with its Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress and North American B-25D Mitchell aircraft.

It flew missions to northwestern France to photograph rail targets to be attacked in preparation for Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy in June 1944.

[3] The group remained in Italy after VE Day until October 1945, when it returned to the United States and was inactivated on arrival at the port of embarkation.

Exercising control of a deployed Aerospace Defense Command squadron, it also performed electronic countermeasure training through the late 1960s.