The 4th Reconnaissance Group is an inactive

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

unit. It was last assigned to

Thirteenth Air Force The Thirteenth Air Force (Air Forces Pacific) (13 AF) was a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It was last headquartered at Hickam Air Force Base on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. 13 AF has never been stat ...

and was stationed at

Clark Field Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educate ...

, Philippines. It was inactivated on 15 January 1946. The unit operated P-38/F-4 Lightning photo-reconnaissance aircraft in the

Pacific Theater The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

over a wide area. The group, based successively on New Caledonia, Espiritu Santo, Guadalcanal, and Morotai, flew reconnaissance missions over enemy territory to supply air force units with target and damage- assessment photographs and to provide army and navy units with intelligence on Japanese troop concentrations, installations, shore defenses, supply routes, and shipping. It also produced maps of Allied and enemy-held territory and prepared navigation charts for US units. During the last three months of the war the group photographed Japanese positions and installations on Mindanao and Borneo to aid US and Australian operations.

History

Lineage

* Constituted as 4th Photographic Group on 14 July 1942 : Activated on 23 July 1942 : Redesignated 4th Photographic Reconnaissance and Mapping Group on 15 May 1943 : Redesignated 4th Photographic Group (Reconnaissance) in November 1943 : Redesignated 4th Reconnaissance Group on 4 May 1945 : Inactivated on 15 January 1946 : Disbanded on 6 March 1947 * Reconstituted on 31 July 1985 and redesignated 534th Combat Crew Training GroupDepartment of the Air Force/MPM Letter 648q, 31 July 1985, Subject: Reconstitution, Redesignation, and Consolidation of Selected Air Force Organizations (not active)

Assignments

Second Air Force The Second Air Force (2 AF; ''2d Air Force'' in 1942) is a USAF numbered air force responsible for conducting basic military and technical training for Air Force enlisted members and non-flying officers. In World War II the CONUS unit defended ...

, 23 July – 24 October 1942 *

, 22 November 1942 – 15 January 1946

Components

17th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron 17 (seventeen) is the natural number following 16 and preceding 18. It is a prime number. Seventeen is the sum of the first four prime numbers. In mathematics 17 is the seventh prime number, which makes seventeen the fourth super-prime, as ...

, 23 July 1942 – 15 January 1946 *

18th Combat Mapping Squadron The 918th Air Refueling Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 11th Bombardment Wing at Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma. The 918th's predecessor, the 18th Combat Mapping Squadron, was active during Worl ...

(1942–46) * 19th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 23 July 1942 – 15 January 1946 * 20th Reconnaissance Squadron, 23 July 1942 – 15 January 1946 * 38th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 23 July 1942 – 15 January 1946

Stations

* Colorado Springs AAFd.,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

23 July – 24 October 1942 *

Plaine Des Gaiacs Airfield Plaine Des Gaiacs Airfield is a former World War II airfield on New Caledonia in the South Pacific. It is located at Plaine Des Gaiacs near the village of Pouembout. The airfield was also known as De Gaiacs and was named for the Gaiac tree that ...

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...

, 22 November 1942 * Pekoa Airfield,

Espiritu Santo Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census. Geography The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region o ...

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group ...

, 22 January 1943 *

Carney Airfield Carney Airfield is a former World War II airfield on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. It is located near Koli Point about six miles from Henderson Field, close to the Metapona River to the east and the Naumbu River to the wes ...

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...

, Solomon Islands, 6 May 1944 *

Wama Airfield Leo Wattimena Airport, formerly known as Pitu Airport is a private airport located on the southern coast of Morotai Island, North Maluku, Indonesia. History World War II Morotai island was the final island invasion in Netherlands New Guinea be ...

Morotai Morotai Island ( id, Pulau Morotai) is an island in the Halmahera group of eastern Indonesia's Maluku Islands (Moluccas). It is one of Indonesia's northernmost islands. Morotai is a rugged, forested island lying to the north of Halmahera. It ha ...

Netherlands East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

, 12 December 1944 *

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

, Philippines, September 1945-15 January 1946

Aircraft

F-5 Lightning The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive tw ...

F-10 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. .