The 449th Air Expeditionary Group (449 AEG) is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to the Third Air Force supporting United States Africa Command. It is stationed at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. It flies missions for Africa Command and Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa, supporting varied U.S. objectives in the area. The group began as the World War II 449th Bombardment Group (Heavy) in the spring of 1943. The group prepared for combat with Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bombers. It moved to Italy by January 1944, and was assigned to the 47th Bombardment Wing of Fifteenth Air Force. The group operated primarily as a strategic bombardment organization. The group earned two Distinguished Unit Citations for its combat actions. After returning to the United States at the end of May 1945, the unit was assigned to Second Air Force, transitioned to B-29 Superfortresses, and was redesignated a Very Heavy bomb group. In the postwar era, the 449th Bombardment Group was one of the original ten bombardment groups assigned to Strategic Air Command (SAC). The unit was inactivated on 4 August 1946 at Grand Island Army Air Field, Nebraska and its mission, aircraft, and personnel were transferred to the 28th Bombardment Group which was simultaneously activated. The 449th Bombardment Wing, Heavy was activated in 1963 at Kincheloe AFB, Michigan, assuming the mission, aircraft and equipment of the 4239th Strategic Wing and trained for strategic operations flying Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses and Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers as part of Strategic Air Command. The wing inactivated in 1977 with the closure of Kincheloe AFB. In 1985 the group and the wing were consolidated, but remained inactive. In 2003 the unit was redesignated as the 449th Air Expeditionary Group and was assigned to United States Air Forces Europe (USAFE) to activate or inactivate as needed. Since 2008, the unit has controlled USAF activities in the Horn of Africa. Units The 449th AEG is currently made up of: 12th Expeditionary Special Operations Squadron (Chabelley Airfield, Djibouti) 75th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron 82nd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron 475th Expeditionary Air Base Squadron (Manda Bay Airfield, Kenya) 726th Expeditionary Air Base Squadron 776th Expeditionary Air Base Squadron (Chabelley Airfield, Djibouti) History World War II The group was constituted as 449th Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 6 April 1943 and activated on 1 May at Davis–Monthan Field, Arizona. its original components were the 716th, 717th, 718th, and 719th Bombardment Squadrons.