Assigned 8th AAF: July 1943
Wing/Command Assignment
VIII BC, 4BW, 402 PCBW July 1943
VIII BC, 3 BD, 13 CBW 13 Sep 1943
3 BD, 13 CBW 8 Jan 1944
3 AD, 13 CBW 1 Jan 1945
Combat Aircraft:
B-17F
B-17G
Stations
FRAMLINGHAM 14 July 1943 to 4 August 1945
Group COs
Col. Edgar M. Wittan 26 Jan 1943 to 15 May 1944
Col Frederick W. Ott 15 May 1944 to 6 Sep 1944
Col. Joseph A. Moller 6 Sep 1944 to 21 May 1945
Lt. Col George W. Von Arb 23 May 1945 to 26 Jun 1945
First Mission: 12 Aug 1943
Last Mission: 20 Apr 1945
Missions: 300
Total Sorties: 8,725
Total Bomb Tonnage: 19,059 Tons
Aircraft MIA: 144
Major Awards:
Distinguished Unit Citations:
17 August 1943: Regensburg (all 4BW groups)
14 October 1943: Schweinfurt
Claims to Fame
Highest claims of enemy aircraft destroyed by bomb group on one mission on the
date of 10 October 1943.
Hewitt Dunn of the 390th BG was the only man to fly 100 missions
Early History:
Activated 26 January 1943 at Geiger Field Washington. Formation did not begin
until late February 1943. Training at Geiger until 6 June 1943 when the Group
moved to Great Falls AAB, Montana. The aircraft went overseas on the 4th of
July 1943 taking the northern ferry route from Iceland to Prestwick, where the
first aircraft arrived on the 13th of July 1943. The ground unit left for Camp
Shanks, NY on the 4th of July 1943 and sailed on the USS James Parker on the
17th of July 1943, and they arrived in liverpool on the 27th of July 1943.
Subsequent History:
Redeployed States in June/August 1945. the aircraft left from Framlingham on
the 25th and 26th of June 1945. the ground unit sailed from Greenock on the
Queen Elizabeth on the 5th of August 1945 and arrived in New York on the 11th
of August 1945. The group was established at Sioux Falls AAFd South Dakota and
inactivated there on the 28th of August 1945. The unit was reactivated as a
Titan missile wing in 1962 with its headquarters at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizonia.
