Constituted as 93rd Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 28 Jan 1942. Activated
on 1 Mar 1942. Prepared for combat with B-24's. Engaged in antisubmarine
operations over the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, May-Jul
1942.
Moved to England, Aug-Sep 1942, and assigned to Eighth AF. Entered
combat on 9 Oct 1942 by attacking steel and engineering works at Lille.
Until Dec 1942, operated primarily against submarine pens in the Bay of
Biscay. A large detachment was sent to North Africa in Dec 1942, the group
receiving a DUC for operations in that theater, Dec 1941-Feb 1943, when,
with inadequate supplies and under the most difficult desert conditions,
the detachment struck heavy blows at enemy shipping and communications.
The detachment returned to England, Feb-Mar 1943, and until the end of Jun
the group bombed engine repair works, harbors, power plants, and other
targets in France, the Low Countries, and Germany. A detachment returned
to the Mediterranean theater, Jun-Jul 1943, to support the invasion of
Sicily and to participate in the famous low-level attack on enemy oil
installations at Ploesti on 1 Aug. Having followed another element of the
formation along the wrong course to Ploesti, the 93rd hit targets that had
been assigned to other groups, but it carried out its bombing of the vital
oil installations despite heavy losses inflicted by attacks from the
fully-alerted enemy and was awarded a DUC for the operation. Lt Col
Addison E Baker, group commander, and Maj John L Jerstad, a former member
of the group who had volunteered for this mission, were posthumously
awarded the Medal of Honor for action in the Ploesti raid: refusing to
make a forced landing in their damaged B-24, these men, as pilot and
co-pilot of the lead plane, led the group to bomb the oil facilities
before their plane crashed in the target area. After the detachment
returned to England in Aug 1943, the group flew only two missions before
the detachment was sent back to the Mediterranean to support Fifth Army at
Salerno during the invasion of Italy in Sep 1943. The detachment rejoined
the group in Oct 1943, and until Apr 1945 the 93rd concentrated on
bombardment of strategic targets such as marshalling yards, aircraft
factories, oil refineries, chemical plants, and cities in Germany. In
addition it bombed gun emplacements, choke points, and bridges near
Cherbourg during the Normandy invasion in Jun 1944; attacked troop
concentrations in northern France during the St Lo breakthrough in Jul
1944; transported food, gasoline, water, and other supplies to the Allies
advancing across France, Aug-Sep 1944; dropped supplies to airborne troops
in Holland on 18 Sep 1944; struck enemy transportation and other targets
during the Battle of the Bulge, Dec 1944-Jan 1945; and flew two missions
on 24 Mar 1945 during the airborne assault across the Rhine, dropping
supplies to troops near Wesel and bombing a night-fighter base at
Stormede. Ceased operations in Apr 1945. Returned to the US, May-Jun
1945.
Redesignated 93rd Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) in Jul 1945. Assigned
to Strategic Air Command on 21 Mar 1946. Trained with B-29's. Redesignated
93rd Bombardment Group (Medium) in May 1948. Converted to B-50 aircraft in
1949. Inactivated on 16 Jun 1952.
Squadrons. 328th: 1942-1952. 329th: 1942-1952. 330th: 1942-1952. 409th:
1942-1946.
Stations. Barksdale Field, La, 1 Mar 1942; Ft Myers, Fla, 15 May-2 Aug
1942; Alconbury, England, 7 Sep 1942; Hardwick, England, 6 Dec 1942-19 May
1945; Sioux Falls AAFld, SD, Jun 1945; Pratt AAFld, Kan, 24 Jul 1945;
Clovis AAFld, NM, 13 Dec 1945; Castle Field, Calif, 21 Jun 1946-16 Jun
1952.
Commanders. 1st Lt Robert M Tate, 1 Mar 1942; Col Edward Timberlake Jr,
26 Mar 1942; Lt Col Addison E Baker, 17 May 1943; Col Leland G Fiegel, 9
Aug 1943; Lt Col Harvey P Barnard Jr, 27 Sep 1944; Col William R Robertson
Jr, 5 Dec 1944; Lt Col Therman D Brown, 6 Apr 1945; Maj Jacob A Herrmann,
29 Jul 1945; Lt Col William W Amorous, 6 Aug 1945; Col Henry W Dorr, c. 5
Oct 1945-unkn; Lt Col Kenneth Grunewald, 1946; Maj Arthur R Pidgeon, 1946;
Maj Loyd D Griffin, 1946; CWO Steve Stanowich, 1946; Capt Joe W Moore Jr,
Oct 1946; Capt Allen Milnes, 1946-unkn; Lt Col John C Thrift, Aug 1947;
Col Glendon P Overing, 1 Sep 1948; Lt Col Colin E Anderson, 3 Nov 1949;
Col John E Dougherty, 1 Dec 1949; Brig Gen Robert H Terrill, Feb 1951; Col
Richard H Carmichael, 16 Apr 1951; Col John E Dougherty, 19 Oct 1951-16
Jun 1952.
Campaigns. Antisubmarine, American Theater; Air Combat, EAME Theater;
Egypt-Libya; Air Offensive, Europe; Tunisia; Sicily; Naples-Foggia;
Normandy; Northern France; Rhineland; Ardennes-Alsace; Central Europe.
Decorations. Distinguished Unit Citations: North Africa, 17 Dec 1942-20
Feb 1943; Ploesti, Rumania, 1 Aug 1943.
Insigne. Shield: Azure, in front of a bend parti per bend sable and
argent between two globes of the last with latitude and longitude lines of
the second, the one in chief bearing a wreath vert and the one in base
bearing a cross of four arrows, points out of the first, gules, or and of
the fifth, a lightning flash bend sinisterwise or. (Approved 4 Sep
1953.) Data from Air Force Combat Units of World War II By Maurer, Maurer, Published 1986 |
