The 88th Bombardment Group was activated in July 1942 at Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah.

However, it existed only on paper until September 1942, when it was organized at Geiger Field, Washington, with the 316th, 317th, 318th and 399th Bombardment Squadrons as its operational components.

[1] However, the AAF was finding that standard military units like the 88th Group, whose equipment and manning were based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were not well adapted to the training mission.

Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit.

[8][9] This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency