381st Bomber Group

8th Air Force 381st BG

Squadrons of the 381st BG

532nd Bombardment Squadron - Heavy
533rd Bombardment Squadron - Heavy
534th Bombardment Squadron -Heavy
535th Bombardment Squadron - Heavy

Assigned 8th AAF: May 1943

Wing/Command Assignment

VIII BC, 1 BW, 101 PCBW: June 1943
VIII BC, 1 BD, 1 CBW: 13 Sep 1943
1 BD, 1 CBW 8 Jan 1944
1 AD, 1 CBW 1 Jan 1945

Combat Aircraft:

B-17F
B-17G

Stations

RIDGEWELL 31 June 1943 to 24 June 1945 (Air ech Bovingdon

Group COs

Col. Joseph J. Nazzaro 5 Jan 1943 to 9 Jan 1944
Col. Harry P. Leber Jr. 9 Jan 1944 to 6 Feb 1945
Lt. Col. Conway S. Hall 6 Feb 1945 to June 1945

First Mission: 22 June 1943
Last Mission: 25 Apr 1945
Missions: 296
Total Sorties: 9,035
Total Bomb Tonnage: 22,160 Tons
Aircraft MIA: 131

Major Awards:

Distinguished Unit Citations:
8 October 1943: Bremen
11 Jan 1943 to all 1 BD groups

Claims to Fame

Highest losses of all groups on first Schweinfurt mission on 17 August 1943

Early History:

Activated 3 November 1942 at Gowen Field, Idaho. Training did not commence until unit established at Pyote AAB, Texas on 5 January 1943. Their final training at Pueblo Colorado was conducted on 16 April 1943 to 8 May 1943. The ground unit moved to Camp Kilmer, NJ. on the 12th of May 1943 and embarked on the Queen Elizabeth on the 27th of May 1943 and started there move to the United Kingdom on the 15th of May 1943, via the Selfridge Field in Bangor, Gander to Prestwick.

Subsequent History:

Redeployed to the States on May/June 1945. The majority of the aircraft left the England on the 24th of May 1945. the ground units sailed on the Queen Elizabeth on the 24th on June 1945, and arrived in New York on the 29th of June 1945. the group established at Camp Kilmer and later assembled at Sioux Falls AAFd, South Dakota where the group was inactivated on the 28th of August 1945.