The 395th Bombardment Group is an inactive
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
unit. It was part of
Second Air Force
The Second Air Force (2 AF; ''2d Air Force'' in 1942) is a USAF numbered air force responsible for conducting basic military and technical training for Air Force enlisted members and non-flying officers. In World War II the CONUS unit defended ...
, serving as a
heavy bomber
Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually bombs) and longest range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the larges ...
training unit from February 1943 until it was deactivated on 1 April 1944 in a reorganization of
Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
training units..
History
The 395th Bombardment Group was organized at
Ephrata Army Air Base
Ephrata Municipal Airport is a public use airport located southeast of the central business district of Ephrata, a city in Grant County, Washington, United States. It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 ...
, Washington on 16 February 1943.
[ The group drew its original ]cadre
Cadre may refer to:
*Cadre (military), a group of officers or NCOs around whom a unit is formed, or a training staff
*Cadre (politics), a politically controlled appointment to an institution in order to circumvent the state and bring control to th ...
from the 34th Bombardment Group. Its original components were the 588th, 589th, 590th and 591st Bombardment Squadrons.[Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 675][Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 676] The group
A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together.
Groups of people
* Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity
* Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...
served as an Operational Training Unit
Royal Air Force Operational Training Units (OTUs) were training units that prepared aircrew for operations on a particular type or types of aircraft or roles.
OTUs
; No. 1 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit RAF (1 OTU): The Unit was formed in ...
(OTU) for Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...
units preparing for overseas deployment. The OTU program was patterned after the unit training system of the Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
. It involved the use of an oversized parent unit to provide cadres to "satellite groups"[Craven & Cate, Introduction, p. xxxvi] The parent unt then assumed responsibility for their training and oversaw their expansion with graduates of Army Air Forces Training Command
The United States Army Air Forces during World War II had major subordinate Commands below the Air Staff level. These Commands were organized along functional missions. One such Command was the Flying Training Command (FTC). It began as Air Corp ...
schools to become effective combat units. The 398th, 401st and 447th Bombardment Groups were formed at Ephrata during the group's period as an OTU there. A detachment of the group, referred to as the 395th Heavy Bombardment Crew Detachment, conducted Phase I training, acting, in effect, as a fifth squadron of the group. Phase I training concentrated on individual training in crewmember specialties.[Greer, p. 606] The 589th and 590th Squadrons conducted Phase II training, each being organized as a provisional group for this purpose.[ This phase emphasized the coordination for the crew to act as a team. The final phase (Phase III) concentrated on operation as a unit.][
In late September 1943, the 483d Bombardment Group was formed at Ephrata. The cadre for this group was provided by the 21st Antisubmarine Squadron, which moved from the Gulf Coast when the ]Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
took over antisubmarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are typic ...
operations from the Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
. While the 483d Group was organizing, the 21st Squadron was attached to the 395th Group.[
In October 1943, the group and its squadrons moved to ]Ardmore Army Air Field
Ardmore Army Air Field, later Ardmore Air Force base was an installation of the United States Army and later Air Force. It was named after the nearby city of Ardmore, Oklahoma but was actually located closer to the town of Gene Autry, Oklahoma. I ...
, Oklahoma, where its mission changed to acting as a Replacement Training Unit (RTU).[ Like OTUs, RTUs were oversized units, but their mission was to train individual ]pilots
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
or aircrews. By this time most of the AAF's combat units had been activated and almost three quarters of them had deployed overseas. With the exception of special programs, like forming Boeing B-29 Superfortress
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...
units, training “fillers” for existing units became more important than unit training. However, the AAF found that standard military units like the 395th Group, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization
A table of organization and equipment (TOE or TO&E) is the specified organization, staffing, and equipment of units. Also used in acronyms as 'T/O' and 'T/E'. It also provides information on the mission and capabilities of a unit as well as the un ...
were not proving well adapted to the training mission, particularly the training of replacements. Accordingly, the AAF adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit. The group was deactivated on 1 April 1944,[ along with its components and support elements at Ardmore, and replaced by the 222nd AAF Base Unit (Combat Crew Training Station, Bombardment, Heavy).
]
Lineage
* Constituted as the 395th Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 29 January 1943
: Activated on 16 February 1943
: Deactivated on 1 April 1944[
]
Assignments
* II Bomber Command
The II Bomber Command is a disbanded United States Air Force unit. It was established in September 1941, shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor to command heavy bomber units assigned to Second Air Force. Following the entry of the United St ...
, 1 February 1943 – 1 April 1944
Components
* 21st Antisubmarine Squadron (later 818th Bombardment Squadron): attached 28 September 1943 – October 1943
* 588th Bombardment Squadron: 16 February 1943 – 1 April 1944[
* 589th Bombardment Squadron: 16 February 1943 – 1 April 1944][
* 590th Bombardment Squadron: 16 February 1943 – 1 April 1944][
* 591st Bombardment Squadron: 16 February 1943 – 1 April 1944][
]
Stations
* Ephrata Army Air Base, Washington, 16 February 1943
* Ardmore Army Air Field, Oklahoma, 25 October 1943 – 1 April 1944[
]
Aircraft
* Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress[
]
Campaign
References
Notes
Bibliography
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{{USAAF 2d Air Force World War II
Bombardment groups of the United States Army Air Forces
Military units and formations established in 1943