The 456th Bomb Group After World War II

The story of the decommissioning of the 456th is given in the history pages of this site. But the 456th lived on well after the war, as did the 744th Squadron. The following information was received via email in June 2000. 

Although the 456 Bomb Group and 744-747 Squadrons were active as Troop Carrier organizations in the 1950s, none returned to a Bombardment role until February 1963, when the 456 Strategic Aerospace Wing was activated at Beale AFB, California. Only the 744 Bombardment Squadron was activated, flying B-52s. The other two tactical squadrons in the wing were the 903 Air Refueling Sq and the 851 Strategic Missile Sq (therefore, the name Strategic Aerospace Wing, rather than Bombardment Wing -- a while after the missile unit stood down, it became the 456 Bombardment Wing).

I flew B-52s as a copilot, assigned to the 744th from late 1963 to late 1966. My first aircraft commander was a Lt Col Boggs (SAC had a lot of rank in the early 1960s) who flew B-24s out of Italy, although with a different Bomb Group.

B. Shearon

The 456th Strategic Aerospace Wing and 456th Bombardment Wing has a page of information at this link: http://www.strategic-air-command.com/Wings/0456bw.htm.

If you have any thing to add to this part of the 456th's history, please send it along!

The 456th Fighter Interceptor Squadron

From Jerry Landry: "I went to a reunion last May in Merced. The 456th Fighter Interceptor Squadron was based at Castle when I was transferred there. Our motto was "Protector of SAC", and you can imagine how well that went over on a SAC base. We had the reunion in Merced and also at the Castle Air Museum - they have a web site by the way - and we helped purchase a F-106A from the AF. The crew at Castle put her back in shape and she was painted in the squadron commanders colors. Nearly brought a tear to my eyes when I saw her. Interesting the impact something like that has on a person. I managed to bump into a couple of fellows who I remembered and we spent the weekend chewing each others ears off. I was the only one there from the hydraulic shop. One of the guys worked in the sheet metal shop, and the other was an armament officer. All in all, it was a really great weekend. I'm the guy on the right, then Karl Bossi, and Steve Gorkin."

F-106A of the 456th FIS. Note wings of the RB-36 in the background.

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