44th Fighter Group Activation Ceremony
HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- Col. Donald Lindberg, 44th Fighter Group commander, passes the 301st Fighter Squadron guidon to the incoming commander, Lt. Col. Kent Furman, during the group's formal activation ceremony April 9, 2010. The 44th Fighter Group traces its lineage to the famed World War II 44th Bombardment Group (Heavy) originally activated in January 1941 at MacDill Army Air Field in Tampa, Fla., and flew the then state-of-the-art B-24 Liberator. Sixty-nine years later, the 44th Fighter Group is the only Air Force Reserve organization to be selected to fly the U.S. Air Force's premier air superiority fighter, the F-22 Raptor. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Joe Laws / Released)