The group's World War II predecessor unit, the 51st Fighter Group. was activated in January 1941, nearly a year before American entered World War II. It was one of the first groups deployed from the United States after the Attack on Pearl Harbor, traveling west to India via Australia and Ceylon. It has never returned to the United States. Later, during the Korean War, the group's aircraft were some of the first United States Air Force fighters to engage in combat operations over South Korea, frequently engaging enemy fighters in air-to-air combat.