warehouses, supply dumps, and defended villages in Germany. in November, the group converted to Douglas A-26 Invader aircraft. With its new aircraft it attacked transportation facilities, strong points, communications centers, and troop concentrations during the Battle of the Bulge from December 1944 through January 1945. It aided the Allied thrust into Germany by continuing its strikes against transportation, communications, airfields, storage depots, and other objectives, February—May 1945. It also bombed flak positions in support of the airborne assault across the Rhine in March 1945. The group returned to the US between July and October 1945 and was inactivated at the port of embarkation on 24 October 1945. Cold War 4039th Strategic Wing The origins of the 416th Bombardment Wing begin on 1 August 1958 when Strategic Air Command established the 4039th Strategic Wing at Griffiss AFB, New York as part of SAC's plan to disperse its B-52 Stratofortress heavy bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for the Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike. The wing remained a headquarters only until 5 January 1959 when the 41st Air Refueling Squadron, flying Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers and three maintenance squadrons were activated and assigned to the wing and the wing was transferred from Eighth Air Force to the 820th Air Division. In July, the 56th Aviation Depot Squadron was activated to oversee the wing's special weapons. It became fully organized on 15 October 1959 when the 75th Bombardment Squadron (BS), consisting of 15 Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses moved to Griffiss from Loring AFB, Maine where it had been one of the three squadrons of the 42d Bombardment Wing. Starting in 1960, one third of the squadron's aircraft were maintained on fifteen-minute alert, fully fueled and ready for combat to reduce vulnerability to a Soviet missile strike. This was increased to half the squadron's aircraft in 1962. The 4039th (and later the 416th) continued to maintain an alert commitment until December 1991. On 1 April 1961 the wing was reassigned from the 820th to the 6th Air Division, which was activated at Dow. In 1962, the wing bombers began to be equipped with the GAM-77 Hound Dog and the GAM-72 Quail air-launched cruise missiles, The 4039th Airborne Missile Maintenance Squadron was activated in November to maintain these missiles. However, SAC Strategic Wings could not carry a permanent history or lineage and SAC