466th Bombardment Group

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= 466th Bombardment Group


caption= 466th Bombardment Group Insignia
dates= 1943 - 1945
country= United States
allegiance=
branch= United States Army Air Forces
type=
role= Bombardment
size=
command_structure= Eighth Air Force
current_commander=
garrison= European Theatre of World War II
ceremonial_chief=
colonel_of_the_regiment=
nickname=
patron=
motto=
colors=
march=
mascot=
battles=
anniversaries=The 466th Bombardment Group was a World War II United States Army Air Forces combat organization. It served primarily in the European Theatre of World War II.

History

Operational Units

* 784th Bomb Squadron (T9)
* 785th Bomb Squadron (2U)
* 786th Bomb Squadron (U8)
* 787th Bomb Squadron (6L)

Aircraft Flown

* Consolidated B-24 Liberator

Stations Assigned

* Alamogordo AAFld, NM 1 Aug 1943 - 31 Aug 1943, 24 Nov 1943 - Feb 1944
* Kearns, UT 31 Aug 1943 - 24 Nov 1943
* Topeka AAFld, KS 5-13 Feb 1944 - 7 Mar 1944
* RAF Attlebridge, England 7 Mar 1944 - 6 Jul 1945
* Sioux Falls AAFld, SD 15 Jul 1945 - 25 July 1945
* Pueblo AAB, CO 25 Jul 1945 - 15 Aug 1945
* Davis-Monthan Field, AZ 15 Aug-17 Oct 1945, 15 Aug-17 Oct 1945

Operational History

World War II

Constituted as 466th Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 19 May 1943 and was activated on 1 August 1943 at Alamogordo AAFd, New Mexico. Started training at Kearns Field in Utah at the end of August 1943, remaining there until the 24th of November 1943 when the unit moved back to Alamogordo AAFd. In February 1944 the moved to Topeka Kansas, and then a week after arrival began the trip overseas to England.

The ground units sailed from New York on the Queen Mary on the 28th of February 1944. The air unit took the southern ferry route. Arrived at RAF Attlebridge England, in Mar 1944, and assigned to Eighth Air Force. The 466th was assigned to the 96th Combat Bombardment Wing, and the group tail code was a "Circle-L".

The 466th began operations on 22 March 1944 by participating in a daylight raid on Berlin. The group operated primarily as a strategic bombardment organization, attacking such targets as marshalling yards at Liege, an airfield at St Trond, a repair and assembly plant at Reims, an airfield at Chartres, factories at Brunswick, oil refineries at Bohlen, aircraft plants at Kempten, mineral works at Hamburg, marshalling yards at Saarbrucken, a synthetic oil plant at Misburg, a fuel depot at Dulmen, and aero engine works at Eisenach.

Other operations included attacking pillboxes along the coast of Normandy on D-Day (6 June 1944), and afterwards striking interdictory targets behind the beachhead; bombing enemy positions at St Lo during the Allied breakthrough in July 1944; hauling oil and gasoline to Allied forces advancing across France in September; hitting German communications and transportation during the Battle of the Bulge, Dec 1944-Jan 1945; and bombing the airfield at Nordhorn in support of the airborne assault across the Rhine on 24 March 1945.

The 466th flew last combat mission on 25 April 1945, striking a transformer station at Traunstein. During combat operations, the 785th Bomb Squadron flew 55 consecutive missions without loss. The group flew 232 combat missions, 5,762 sorties dropping 12,914 tons of bombs. 47 aircraft were lost in combat.

The group redeployed to the United States during June/July 1945. The air echelon departed Attlebridge in mid June of 1945. The ground units sailed from Greenock on the Queen Mary on the 6th of June 1945. They arrived in New York on the 11th of July 1945. The group was then established in Sioux Falls AAF South Dakota in July and was redesignated the 466th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) in August 1945 and was equipped with B-29 Superfortresses. The group was transferred to Pueblo Colorado, and then later to Davis Monthan Field, Arizona for superfortress training and programmed for deployment to the Pacific Theater.

With the end of the war the Group was inactivated on 17th October 1945.

ee also

* Eighth Air Force

References

* Freeman, Roger A. (1978) Airfields of the Eighth: Then and Now. After the Battle ISBN 0900913096
* Freeman, Roger A. (1991) The Mighty Eighth The Colour Record. Cassell & Co. ISBN 0-304-35708-1
* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0892010924.

External links