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53rd Weapons Evaluation Group

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53rd Weapons Evaluation Group

The 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group is a United States Air Force unit that reports to the 53rd Wing. It is stationed at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. The unit is part of Air Combat Command.

The unit was known as the 475th Fighter Group during World War II, when it operated primarily in the Southwest Pacific Theater. The 475th was perhaps the best known of the theater's Lockheed P-38 Lightning groups since its personnel included the top flying aces in the Pacific: Richard I. Bong (40 kills) and Thomas B. McGuire, Jr. (38 kills), both Medal of Honor recipients.

By the war's end, 38 other pilots from the 475th had achieved ace status in P-38s. The group's commander for 20 months, Colonel Charles H. MacDonald, scored 27 kills in his famous "Putt Putt Maru" and was the seventh-ranking American ace.

The group remained in the Far East until 1949 as part of the occupation forces.

From 1955 to 1956, the group was an Air Defense Command interceptor group stationed at Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport. It was inactivated in 1958 when the United States Air Force withdrew its regular units from this civilian field.

As the 475th Weapons Evaluation Group, then the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group, the group has performed its current mission at Tyndall since 1983.

The 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group is made up of five squadrons and two detachments and conducts the Air Force's air-to-air weapon system evaluation program, known as Combat Archer, and the Air Force's air-to-ground weapon system evaluation program, known as Combat Hammer. It also supports weapons instructor air-to-air training. Unit personnel provide all Air Force aerial target support for United States Department of Defense (DoD) users in the Gulf Ranges and targets for testing at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The group also plans, manages and executes the United States Air Force (USAF) air-to-air Weapons Meet, William Tell.

In 1943 Japanese air strength in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II was powerful, and they were capable of launching large scale attacks against Allied ground forces and installations at any time. On New Guinea, the Japanese had many bases from which to launch their air strikes.[citation needed]

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United States Air Force unit
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