The 501st Combat Support Wing traces its lineage and heritage back to the 501st Bombardment Group, Very Heavy, established on 25 May 1944 and activated on 1 June 1944 at Dalhart Army Airfield, Texas. The unit moved to Harvard Army Air Field, NE, on 22 August and started training with the Boeing B-29 Superfortress (B-29B variant), equipped with the APQ-7 Eagle radar for precision high-altitude all-weather bombing. Along with the other three groups of the 315th Bombardment Wing, their mission was to finish taking out the Japanese oil refining, distribution and storage network. Deploying in April 1945 to new airfields built on Guam, crews flew 15 combat missions before the war ended, earning a Distinguished Unit Citation for attacks on Japanese oil targets in the closing days of WW II. The group then flew numerous missions airdropping food and supplies for Allied prisoners of war in POW camps across Japan, Korea, Manchuria and China. The group inactivated on 10 June 1946.
