[2] At the end of April 1942 when it had sufficient personnel and equipment, the 82nd moved to Muroc Army Air Field, California, and started formation flying and gunnery and bombing training with Lockheed P-38 Lightning aircraft.

The 82nd soon distinguished itself in dogfights with enemy fighters while escorting bombers over Gabes, Sfax, Tunis, Bizerte, Kairouan, Sardinia, and other points.

On 20 March 1943, while escorting North American B-25 Mitchells in a sea search off Cape Bon, a group of P-38s engaged the enemy in an air battle.

On 11 April it destroyed 32 Junkers Ju 52s during a fighter sweep against enemy transport planes that were coming from Italy to supply the crumbling Afrika Korps.

On 25 August, it conducted a low level strafing attack against enemy aircraft concentrations at Foggia, Italy for which it received a Distinguished Unit Citation(DUC).

[1] During the invasion of Italy by the United States Fifth Army, between 6 and 18 September 1943, the group patrolled the beachhead at Salerno where the pilots flew a round-the-clock schedule, dive-bombing enemy transports, communications, and gun positions.

From January 1944 until May 1945, the P-38s of the 82nd Fighter Group struck oil centers at Ploiești in Romania, Blechhammer in Poland, Vienna in Austria, Dubova in Czechoslovakia, as well as in Hungary, France, and Yugoslavia.

On 10 June 1944, the 82nd participated in one of the most daring strikes of the war, bombing the Romano-Americano oil refineries at Ploiești, the most heavily defended target on the continent.

On 4 August 1944, while on a strafing mission against the airdrome at Focsani, Rumania, the aircraft flown by Capt E. Willsie was hit by ground fire.

On 7 Nov 1944 in the Niš incident P-38s of the 82rd Fighter Group became involved in a friendly fire incident with the 886th Aviation regiment of the Red Air Force; and had three casualties:Lt Coulson of 43-28662 Lt Brewer of 44-24035 both killed and Captain King forced to land at the Nis Airfield with a damaged plane 44-24392.

[1] On 12 April 1947, the War Department activated the 82nd Fighter Group at Grenier Field in New Hampshire, and assigned it to Strategic Air Command (SAC).

In August 1949, the wing and its components were transferred from SAC to Continental Air Command.The group continued to operate at Grenier until its inactivation on 2 October 1949.

It also acted as the host base organization for the USAF portion of New Castle Airport and was assigned several support units to fulfil this mission.