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Constituted as 498th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) on 19 Nov 1943 and activated on 20 Nov. Equipped with B -29's. Moved to Saipan, Jul-Nov 1944, for duty with Twentieth AF. Flew its first combat missions against Iwo Jima and the Truk Islands. On 24 Nov 1944 participated in the first assault on Japan by B-29's operating from the Marianas. Conducted numerous attacks against industrial targets in Japan, flying in daylight and at high altitude to carry out these missions. Received a DUC for striking an aircraft engine plant at Nagoya on 13 Dec 1944. Began flying missions at night in Mar 1945, operating from low altitude to drop incendaries on area targets in Japan; received second DUC for incendiary raids on urban industries near Kobe and Osaka during Jun 1945. Operations also included strikes against Japanese airfields during the Allied invasion of Okinawa in Apr 1945. Returned to the US in Nov 1945. Assigned to Strategic Air Command on 21 Mar 1946. Inactivated on 4 Aug 1946.
Squadrons. 514th: 1945-1946. 873d: 1943-1946. 874th: 1943-1946. 875th: 1943-1946. 876th: 1943-1944.
Stations. Clovis AAFld, NM, 20 Nov 1943; Great Bend AAFld, Kan, 13 Apr-13 Jul 1944; Isley Field, Saipan, 6 Sep 1944-2 Nov 1945; March Field, Calif, Dec 1945; MacDill Field, Fla, 5 Jan-4 Aug 1946.
Commanders. Lt Col Joseph H West, 11 Dec 1943; Maj Crocker Snow, 20 Jan 1944; Col Wiley D Ganey, 14 Mar 1944; Col Donald W Saunders, 10 Aug 1945-unkn; Col Richard T King Jr, unkn-4 Aug 1946.
Campaigns. American Theater; Air Offensive, Japan; Eastern Mandates; Western Pacific.
Decorations. Distinguished Unit Citations: Japan, 13 Dec 1944; Japan, 1-7 Jun 1945.
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.
