During World War II, its predecessor unit, the 351st Bombardment Group was a VIII Bomber Command B-17 Flying Fortress unit in England. Assigned to RAF Polebrook in early 1943, the group's 504th Bomb Squadron made 54 consecutive missions on June 1943 to January 1944 without losses. Two members of the 351st Bombardment Group, Lt. Walter E. Truemper and S/Sgt. Archibald Mathies, were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on a mission to Leipzig, Germany, 20 February 1944.