The 26th Information Operations Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with United States Air Forces in Europe at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, where it was inactivated on 5 July 2006. 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. The 26th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing operated under the direction of Strategic Air Command from 1952 until 1958. The two units were consolidated in 1965 as the 26th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing and served for the next twenty-six years with United States Air Forces Europe. The wing was inactivated on 31 July 1991. The wing was activated again as the 26th Intelligence Wing in late 1991, redesignated 26th Information Operations Wing in August 2000, and inactivated in July 2006. History World War II The wing's first predecessor was activated in July 1942 as the 5th Photographic Group at what would become Peterson Field, Colorado with the 21st, 22d, 23d and 24th Photographic Mapping Squadrons assigned, although neither the group nor any of its squadrons would become operational until January 1943. However, by the time the group moved overseas in August 1943, only the 23d and 24th Squadrons remained assigned. 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. The unit operated primarily with Lockheed F-5 Lightnings, ranging as far as Germany and Poland. It also flew night photographic missions with its Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress and North American B-25D Mitchell aircraft. The 5th Group provided photographic coverage for landing areas for Operation Shingle, the Allied landings at Anzio. The unit provided road and rail target reconnaissance for the United States Fifth Army and British Eighth Army and performed bomb damage assessment photography to measure the success of allied bombing. 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. Closer to home, it performed similar missions for Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France in August. The group earned a Distinguished Unit Citation in September when it secured intelligence of Luftwaffe installations in the Balkans that enabled fighter aircraft to destroy large numbers of Luftwaffe fighters and transports. The group remained