493d Bombardment Group

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493d Bombardment Group
(later 493d Air Expeditionary Group)
493bg-b17.jpg
493d Bombardment Group Boeing B-17G [note 1]
Active1942–1945
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States
BranchFlag of the United States Air Force.svg  United States Air Force
Role Bombardment
Nickname(s)Helton's Hellcats [1]
Engagements European Theater of Operations
Insignia
493d Bombardment Group emblem [2] 493dbombgroup-emblem.jpg

The 493d Bombardment Group is a former United States Army Air Forces unit that was assigned to the 92d Bombardment Wing during World War II. It the last bombardment group to be assigned to Eighth Air Force. It flew combat missions in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany until shortly before V-E Day, then returned to the United States for inactivation. In 2002, the group was converted to provisional status as the 493d Air Expeditionary Group and assigned to Air Mobility Command to activate or inactivate as needed.

United States Army Air Forces Aerial warfare branch of the United States army from 1941 to 1947

The United States Army Air Forces, informally known as the Air Force,or United States Army Air Force, was the aerial warfare service of the United States during and immediately after World War II (1939/41–1945), successor to the previous United States Army Air Corps and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force of today, one of the five uniformed military services. The AAF was a component of the United States Army, which in 1942 was divided functionally by executive order into three autonomous forces: the Army Ground Forces, the Services of Supply, and the Army Air Forces. Each of these forces had a commanding general who reported directly to the Army Chief of Staff.

A group is a military aviation unit, a component of military organization and a military formation. The terms group and wing differ significantly from one country to another, as well as between different branches of a national defence force.

Eighth Air Force Numbered air force of the United States Air Force responsible for strategic bomber forces

The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces Strategic – Global Strike, one of the air components of United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). The Eighth Air Force includes the heart of America's heavy bomber force: the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, the B-1 Lancer supersonic bomber, and the B-52 Stratofortress heavy bomber aircraft.

Contents

History

World War II

Initial activation and training in the United States

The 493d Bombardment Group was first activated at McCook Army Air Field, Nebraska, with the 860th, 861st, 862d and 863d Bombardment Squadrons assigned. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] The 863d Squadron was a former antisubmarine unit that had become surplus when the Navy assumed its mission, and was used to form the cadre for the group and its squadrons. [7] The group's formation was delayed by an administrative error that caused some of the unit's personnel to report to Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona instead of to McCook. It was not until January that all personnel were at McCook. By this time, the group had transferred on paper to Elveden Hall, England. The ground personnel of the group in the United States had been used to form Boeing B-29 Superfortress units being activated by Second Air Force, while the group's air echelon remained in Nebraska to conduct training on their assigned Consolidated B-24 Liberators. Meanwhile, Eighth Air Force formed a new ground echelon for the group in England from other units assigned to the 3d Bombardment Division. This ground echelon moved to the group's combat station, RAF Debach, in April 1944. [1] Additional officers and men, chiefly from the 34th Bombardment Group training at Blythe Army Air Base, California, were assigned to the Group in February and March.[ citation needed ] The group's air echelon departed for England via the northern ferry route on 1 May, while a small ground component left McCook and sailed from Boston, Massachusetts on the SS Brazil (1928) on 12 May 1944. [3] [1]

McCook Army Air Field airport

McCook Army Airfield was activated on 1 April 1943. It is located nine miles (14 km) northwest of McCook, a city in Red Willow County, Nebraska, United States and is southwest of North Platte, Nebraska. It was constructed in 1943. The 2,100-acre (8.5 km2) site is bordered on all sides by level farm ground.

860th Bombardment Squadron

The 860th Bombardment Squadron is a former United States Army Air Forces unit that was assigned to the 493d Bombardment Group during World War II. It was part of the last bombardment group to be assigned to Eighth Air Force. It flew combat missions until V-E Day, then returned to the United States for inactivation. In 1985, the squadron was consolidated with the 660th Bombardment Squadron, a Strategic Air Command unit that flew Boeing B-47 Stratojets during the Cold War. Although the two squadrons were consolidated as the 967th Airborne Warning and Control Squadron, they have never been active under that designation.

361st Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron

The 361st Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last was assigned to the 451st Air Expeditionary Group, stationed at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. It was inactivated on 1 September 2014.

Combat in Europe

B-24s of the 493d Bomb Group at Debach B-24-493bg-debach.jpg
B-24s of the 493d Bomb Group at Debach

The group was established at Debach by mid-May and flew its first combat mission on D-Day, 6 June 1944, making it the last in Eighth Air Force to become operational. It continued to fly Liberators until 24 August 1944, when it was withdrawn from combat to convert to Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, along with other units of the 93d Bombardment Wing, as Eighth Air Force concentrated all its Liberators in the 2d Bombardment Division. It resumed combat missions with the B-17 on 8 September 1944. [1] The squadron concentrated its attacks on military and industrial targets in Germany, attacking an ordnance depot in Magdeburg, factories near Frankfurt, and a synthetic oil manufacturing plant at Merseburg. It also attacked lines of communications, including a railroad tunnel at Ahrweiler, bridges at Irlich, and marshalling yards near Cologne. [3]

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Bomber aircraft by Boeing

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, the Boeing entry outperformed both competitors and exceeded the air corps' performance specifications. Although Boeing lost the contract because the prototype crashed, the air corps ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation. From its introduction in 1938, the B-17 Flying Fortress evolved through numerous design advances, becoming the third-most produced bomber of all time, behind the four-engined B-24 and the multirole, twin-engined Ju 88.

Magdeburg Place in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

Magdeburg is the capital city and the second largest city of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the Elbe River.

Frankfurt Place in Hesse, Germany

Frankfurt is a metropolis and the largest city of the German federal state of Hesse, and its 746,878 (2017) inhabitants make it the fifth-largest city of Germany after Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, and Cologne. On the River Main, it forms a continuous conurbation with the neighbouring city of Offenbach am Main, and its urban area has a population of 2.3 million. The city is at the centre of the larger Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, which has a population of 5.5 million and is Germany's second-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr Region. Since the enlargement of the European Union in 2013, the geographic centre of the EU is about 40 km (25 mi) to the east of Frankfurt's central business district. Like France and Franconia, the city is named after the Franks. Frankfurt is the largest city in the Rhine Franconian dialect area.

The group was occasionally diverted from the strategic bombing campaign to attack tactical targets. It supported Operation Overlord, the Normandy invasion, striking artillery batteries, airfields and bridges. It struck enemy ground forces south of Caen and during Operation Cobra, the breakout at St Lo. It bombed German fortifications to support Operation Market Garden, airborne attacks attempting to secure a bridgehead across the Rhine in the Netherlands, and attacked communications during the Battle of the Bulge. Toward the end of the war, it also supported Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine in Germany. [3]

Operation Overlord Successful invasion of Nazi-held northern Europe in World War II

Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings. A 1,200-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than two million Allied troops were in France by the end of August.

Caen Prefecture and commune in Normandy, France

Caen, is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department. The city proper has 108,365 inhabitants, while its urban area has 420,000, making Caen the largest city in former Lower Normandy. It is also the third largest municipality in all of Normandy after Le Havre and Rouen and the third largest city proper in Normandy, after Rouen and Le Havre. The metropolitan area of Caen, in turn, is the second largest in Normandy after that of Rouen, the 21st largest in France.

Operation Cobra conflict

Operation Cobra was the codename for an offensive launched by the First United States Army seven weeks after the D-Day landings, during the Normandy Campaign of World War II. The intention was to take advantage of the distraction of the Germans by the British and Canadian attacks around Caen, in Operation Goodwood and break through the German defenses that were penning in his troops, while the Germans were unbalanced. Once a corridor had been created, the First Army would then be able to advance into Brittany, rolling up the German flanks once free of the constraints of the bocage country. After a slow start the offensive gathered momentum and German resistance collapsed as scattered remnants of broken units fought to escape to the Seine. Lacking the resources to cope with the situation, the German response was ineffectual and the entire Normandy front soon collapsed. Operation Cobra, together with concurrent offensives by the British Second Army and the Canadian First Army, was decisive in securing an Allied victory in the Normandy Campaign.

In February 1945, the 862d Squadron replaced the 3d Scouting Force, and its crews were distributed to the other squadrons of the group. The squadron returned to group control in May. The squadron flew its last combat mission against marshalling yards near Nauen on 20 April 1945, although it flew food-dropping missions in early May, dropping more than 450 tons of supplies. At war's end, the 493d had flown 47 Missions with the Liberator and 110 with the Flying Fortress. It claimed the destruction of 11 enemy aircraft, but lost 41 in combat. [1] The squadron air echelon departed Debach on 30 June, while the ground echelon sailed for home aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth on 6 August 1945. In late August, the squadron assembled at Sioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota, where it was inactivated on 28 August 1945. [4] [3]

Nauen Place in Brandenburg, Germany

Nauen is a small town in the Havelland district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is chiefly known for Nauen Transmitter Station, the world's oldest preserved radio transmitting installation.

RMS <i>Queen Elizabeth</i> ocean liner which was operated by the Cunard Line

The RMS Queen Elizabeth was an ocean liner operated by Cunard Line. With Queen Mary she provided weekly luxury liner service between Southampton in the United Kingdom and New York City in the United States, via Cherbourg in France.

Expeditionary unit

In June 2002, the group was converted to provisional status as the 493d Air Expeditionary Group and assigned to Air Mobility Command to activate or inactivate as needed for contingency operations. [8] There is no indication in unclassified sources that the unit has been active.

Air Mobility Command Major command of the United States Air Force responsible for air mobility forces

Air Mobility Command (AMC) is a Major Command (MAJCOM) of the U.S. Air Force. It is headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, east of St. Louis, Missouri.

Lineage

Activated on 1 November 1943
Inactivated on 28 August 1945 [9]

Assignments

Components

Stations

Aircraft

Campaigns

Campaign StreamerCampaignDatesNotes
Streamer EAMEC.PNG Air Combat, EAME Theater1 January 1944–11 May 1945493d Bombardment Group [3]
Streamer EAMEC.PNG Normandy6 June 1944–24 July 1944493d Bombardment Group [3]
Streamer EAMEC.PNG Northern France25 July 1944–14 September 1944493d Bombardment Group [3]
Streamer EAMEC.PNG Rhineland15 September 1944–21 March 1945493d Bombardment Group [3]
Streamer EAMEC.PNG Ardennes-Alsace16 December 1944–25 January 1945493d Bombardment Group [3]
Streamer EAMEC.PNG Central Europe22 March 1944–21 May 1945493d Bombardment Group [3]

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848th Strategic Missile Squadron

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References

Notes

Explanatory notes
  1. ↑ Aircraft is Boeing B-17G-85-BO Flying Fortress, serial 43-38395
Citations
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Freeman, p. 262
  2. ↑ Watkins, pp. 122-123
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 362-363
  4. 1 2 3 Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 785
  5. 1 2 Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 785-786
  6. 1 2 Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 786
  7. 1 2 3 Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 786-787
  8. 1 2 3 DAF/XPM Letter 303s, 12 June 2002, Subject: Air Mobility Command Expeditionary Units
  9. ↑ Lineage through 1945 in Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 362-363
  10. ↑ "Factsheet 13 Strategic Missile Division". Air Force Historical Research Agency. 4 October 2007. Archived from the original on 30 October 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  11. 1 2 Station number in Anderson.
  12. ↑ Station information in Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 362-363, except as noted.

Bibliography

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates  public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/ .

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