316th Operations Group 316th Operations Group The 316th Operations Group (316 OG) was the flying component of the Air Force District of Washington 316th Wing, stationed at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. Its World War II predecessor unit, the 316th Troop Carrier Group was a highly decorated C-47 Skytrain unit that served with Ninth and Twelfth Air Force in the European and the Mediterranean theaters. As part of Operation Avalanche, the Allied invasion of Italy, the 316th dropped paratroops over the beachhead south of the Sele River on the night of 14 September 1943. Later during Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of France,
Operation Downfall Operation Downfall Operation Downfall was the proposed Allied plan for the invasion of Japan near the end of World War II. The planned operation was cancelled when Japan surrendered following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet declaration of war, and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. The operation had two parts: Operation Olympic and Operation Coronet. Set to begin in November 1945, Operation Olympic was intended to capture the southern third of the southernmost main Japanese island, Kyūshū, with the recently captured island of Okinawa to be used as a staging area. Later, in the spring of 1946,