The 69th Reconnaissance Group is an inactive group of the United States Air Force. It was last active in 2011-2019 when it was stationed at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota where it was a tenant of the 319th Air Base Wing. It was part of Air Combat Command.

The group served in the American and European Theaters of World War II as a reconnaissance unit flying a variety of aircraft until returning to the United States where it was inactivated. It was reactivated in the fall of 2011 as an unmanned aircraft reconnaissance group.

History

The group was activated in the fall of 1941 as the 69th Observation Group with two squadrons assigned. The group flew antisubmarine patrols along the Pacific coast after the Attack on Pearl Harbor.

The group engaged primarily in air to ground training during 1943 and 1944 while it was successively designated 69th Reconnaissance Group and 69th Tactical Reconnaissance Group. It began training with North American F-6 Mustangs in January 1945 for duty overseas. The 69th moved to France in February to March 1945 where it was assigned to Ninth AF. It flew visual and photographic reconnaissance missions to provide intelligence for ground and air units. It was again designated the 69th Reconnaissance Group in June 1945. The group returned to the United States in July and August 1945. There it trained with F-6 Mustangs and Douglas A-26 Invader aircraft. The group was inactivated on 29 July 1946.

The 69th was once again activated on 19 September 2011 to conduct reconnaissance with unmanned aerial vehicles, specifically as the second group level organization with associated reconnaissance squadrons flying the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk.[citation needed] It was inactivated in June 2019 and its personnel and equipment were transferred to the 319th Operations Group, which was simultaneously activated.

Lineage

  • Constituted as 69th Observation Group on 21 August 1941

Activated on 3 September 1941

Redesignated: 69th Reconnaissance Group on 15 April 1943

Redesignated: 69th Tactical Reconnaissance Group on 11 August 1943

Redesignated: 69th Reconnaissance Group on 15 June 1945

Inactivated on 29 July 1946

Activated 19 September 2011

  • Inactivated on 28 June 2019

Assignments

Components

Stations

Paso Robles Airport, California, 3 September 1941 Salinas Army Air Base, California, c. 3 October 1941 San Bernardino Army Air Field, California, December 1941 Ontario Army Air Field, California, c. 1 June 1942 Laurel Army Air Field, Mississippi, November 1942 Esler Field, Louisiana, March 1943 Abilene Army Air Field, Texas, September 1943Esler Field, Louisiana, November 1943 Key Field, Mississippi, January–February 1945 Toul/Ochey Airfield (A-96), France, c. 22 March 1945 Haguenau Airfield (Y-39), France, c. 2 April-c. 30 June 1945 Drew Field, Florida, August 1945 Stuttgart Army Air Field, Arkansas, November 1945 Brooks Field, Texas, December 1945-29 July 1946 Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota – 19 September 2011 – 28 June 2019

Aircraft

Awards

Notes

Explanatory notes

Citations

Bibliography

This article incorporates public domain material from the

  • Johnson, 1st Lt. David C. (1988). (PDF). Maxwell AFB, AL: Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center. Archived from (PDF) on 29 September 2015.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  • Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. Archived from (PDF) on 20 December 2016.
  • Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. Archived from (PDF) on 20 December 2016.