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Constituted as 485th Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 14 Sep 1943 and activated on 10 Sep. Trained with B-24's. Moved to the Mediterranean theater, Mar-Apr 1944, with the air echelon receiving additional training in Tunisia before joining the ground echelon in Italy. Assigned to Fifteenth AF. Entered combat in May 1944 and engaged primarily in flying long-range missions to targets in Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Rumania, and Yugoslavia, bombing marshalling yards, oil refineries, airdrome installations, heavy industry, and other strategic objectives. Received a DUC for combating intense fighter opposition and attacking an oil refinery at Vienna on 26 Jun 1944. Also carried out some support and interdiction operations. Struck bridges, harbors, and troop concentrations in Aug 1944 to aid the invasion of Southern France. Hit communications lines and other targets during Mar and Apr 1945 to support the advance of British Eighth Army in northern Italy. Returned to the US in May 1945. Redesignated 485th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) in Aug 1945. Equipped with B-29's. Assigned to Strategic Air Command on 21 Mar 1946. Inactivated on 4 Aug 1946.
Squadrons. 506th: 1946. 828th: 1943-1946. 829th: 1943-1946. 830th: 1943-1946. 831st: 1943-1945.
Stations. Fairmont AAFld, Neb, 20 Sep 1943-11 Mar 1944; Venosa, Italy, Apr 1944-15 May 1945; Sioux Falls AAFld, SD, 30 May 1945; Sioux City AAB, Iowa, 24 Jul 1945; Smoky Hill AAFld, Kan, 8 Sep 1945-4 Aug 1946.
Commanders. Col Walter E Arnold Jr, 27 Sep 1943; Col John P Tomhave, c. 29 Aug 1944; Col John B Cornett, 17 Feb 1945; Lt Col Douglas M Cairns, 23 Mar ~94~-unkn; Lt Col Richard T Lively, 6 Aug 1945; Col John W White, 15 Sep 1945; Col Walter S Lee, 1946-Aug 1946.
Campaigns. American Theater; Air Combat, EAME Theater; Air Offensive, Europe; Rome-Arno; Normandy; Northern France; Southern France; North Apennines; Rhineland; Central Europe; Po Valley.
Decorations. Distinguished Unit Citation: Vienna, Austria, 16 Jun 1944.
Data from Air Force Combat Units of World War II By Maurer, Maurer, Published 1986
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Historical Artifacts: We are looking for photos, documents and other types of artifacts including uniforms, medals, insignia, gear, manuals, and training material. We accept electronic/scans or originals of pictures and paper records. A General Order could be an award document that contains information on many servicemen. Special Orders may contain transfers or other information. Flight records, accident reports, maintenance logs, after action reports, pilot encounter reports, diaries and biorgraphies; all of these types of documents help us support or mission: preserving your history! Contact us today for instructions on sending us this material. Contact Today
Are you an AAC, AAF or USAF Veteran, family member, historian or WW2 enthusiast? We Need YOU! Contact us today to see how you can help the Army Air Corps Library and Museum, a Texas Not-For-Profit Corporation. We need your help! We are looking for volunteers that can help us with the following tasks. Typing and Transcriptionists: One of our big projects is extracting data from the thousands of documents we have and putting this data into a database where we can display the information on a website such as this one. We also need assistance with retyping unit history documents.
