466th Bomber Group

8th Air Force 466th BG

Squadrons of the 466th BG

The Flying Deck

784th Bombardment Squadron - Heavy
785th Bombardment Squadron - Heavy
786th Bombardment Squadron -Heavy
787th Bombardment Squadron - Heavy

Assigned 8th AAF: March 1944

Wing/Command Assignment

2 BD, 96 CBW 7 Mar 1944
2 AD, 96 CBW 1 Jan 1945

Combat Aircraft:

B-24H
B-24J
B-24L
B-24M

Stations

ATTLEBRIDGE 7 March 1944 to 6 July 1945

Group COs

Col. Arthur J. Pierce 17 December 1943 to 1 August 1944
Col. Luther J. Fairbanks 1 August 1944 to 30 October 1944
Col. William H. Cleveland 1 November 1944 to 16 February 1945
Col. Elvin S. Ligon 17 February 1945 to August 1945

First Mission: 22 Mar 1944
Last Mission: 25 Apr 1945
Missions: 232
Total Sorties: 5,762
Total Bomb Tonnage: 12,914 Tons
Aircraft MIA: 47
Other Op Loses: 24

Claims to Fame

785th Bomb Squadron flew 55 consecutive missions without loss.

Early History:

Activated 1 August 1943 at Alamogordo AAFd, New Mexico. Started training at Kearns Field in Utah at the end of August 1943, remaining there until the 24th of November 1943 when the unit moved back to Alamogordo AAFd. Then in February of 1944 the moved to Topeka Kansas, and then a week after arrival began the trip overseas to England. The ground units sailed from New York on the Queen Mary on the 28th of February 1944. The air unit took the southern ferry route.

Subsequent History:

Redeployed to the US June/July 1945. The air echelon departed Attlebridge in mid June of 1945. The ground units sailed from Greenock on the Queen Mary on the 6th of June 1945. They arrived in New York on the 11th of July 1945. The group was then established in Sioux Falls AAFd, in South Dakota. They were then selected for B-29 training and transferred to Pueblo Colorado, and then later to Davis Monthan Field in Arizona. With the end of the war the Group was inactivated on the 17th of October 1945.