323rd Bomber Group

VIII BC, 3 BW May 1943
VIII ASC, 3 BW 15 June 1943

B-26B
B-26C

HORHAM 21 May 1943 to 14 June 1943
EARLS COLNE 14 June 1943 to 27 July 1944

Col. Herbert B. Thatcher 14 August 1942 to 13 November 1943

First Mission: 16 July 1943
Last Mission: 9 October 1943
Missions: 33
Aircraft MIA: 3

None

Flew first 8AF medium level bombing missions with B-26s.

Activated 4 August 1942 at Columbia AAB, SC. The first phase of training commenced at MacDill Field, Florida on the 21st of August 1942. Training was completed with B-26 aircraft. The unit moved to Myrtle Beach Field, SC on the first to the third of November 1942. The first aircraft departed for Bear Field in Indiana in mid February 1943, where new B-26C were assigned as available. The 453rd, 54th and 455th moved to Hunter Field, Ga. in preparation for overseas movement to the United United via the southern ferry route. The 456 BS left in early May of 1943 by the southern ferry route. In June 1943 the ground unit left Myrtle Beach on the 25th of April 1943 and sailed on the Queen Elizabeth on the 5th of May 1943, and arrived in Gourock on the 11th of May 1943.

Assigned to the 9th AF, IX BC on 16 October 1943. Moved to Beaulieu in July 1944 and to France in Late August 1944. Flew tactical missions in support of Allied ground forces. The unit returned to the US on December 1945. Unit was activated as a Tactical Air Command fighter unit as a F-100 unit in the late 1950s, but only in existance for a few years.