379th Bomber Group

VIII BC, 1 BW, 103 PCBW: May 1943
VIII BC, 1 BD, 41 CBW: 13 Sep 1943
1 BD, 41 CBW 8 Jan 1944
1 AD, 41 CBW 1 Jan 1945

B-17F
B-17G

KIMBOLTON 20 May 1943 to 12 July 1945 (Air ech Bovingdon 24 Apr 43 to 21 May 1943

Col. Maurice A. Preston 26 November 1942 to 10 October 1944
Col. Lewis E. Lyle 11 Oct 1944 to 5 May 1945
Lt. Col. Lloyd C. Mason 6 May 1945 to 22 May 1945
Lt. Col. Horace E. Frink 23 May 1945 to 25 June 1945

First Mission: 29 May 1943
Last Mission: 25 Apr 1945
Missions: 330
Total Sorties: 10,492
Total Bomb Tonnage: 26,460 Tons
Aircraft MIA: 141

Distinguished Unit Citations:
28 May 1943 to 31 July 1944: operations this period
11 Jan 1944 to all 1 BD units

Flew more sorties than any other bomb group in the 8th AF
Dropped a greater bomb tonnage than any other group
Lower abortive rate than any other group in action from 1943.
Pioneered the 12-plane formation that became Standard during 1944
"Ol Gappy" a B-17G flew 157 missions, probably more than any other in the 8th AF

Activated 26 November 1942 at Gowen Field, Idaho. The Group assembled at Wendover Field Utah on December 2nd 1942. They trained there until the 2nd of March 1943. Then moved to Sioux City AAB Iowa on 3 February 1943 until their departure in 9 April 1943. The ground unit moved for final processing at Camp Douglas, Wis, and then to Camp Shanks, New York. They sailed on the Aquitania on the 10th of May 1943, and arrived at Clyde on the 18th of May 1943. The Aircraft left Sioux City on the 9th of April 1943 for Bangor Me. via Kearney, Nebraska, and Selfridge, Michigan. They commenced overseas movement on the 15th of April 1943 by the North Atlantic ferry route.

Scheduled to transport US troops from Europe to Casablanca. The unit moved to Casablanca in early June with the last aircraft flown back to the States and the Group inactivated as Casablanca on the 25th July 1945. The unit was activated once again as a Strategic Air Command wing and assigned the first B-52H aircraft in 1962.