383d Bombardment Group
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The 383d Bombardment Group is a former
United States 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 ...
unit. It was last stationed at
Camp Anza Camp Anza was a United States Army installation, in what is now Riverside, California, during World War II. Construction began on July 3, 1942, and was completed on February 15, 1943. The camp was named after Juan Bautista de Anza, an early explor ...
, California, where it was deactivated on 4 January 1946. 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 ...
was active from 1942 to 1944 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. It was reorganized as a very heavy bomber unit and trained for deployment overseas. However, it arrived at its overseas station too late to see combat, and returned to the United States, where it was deactivated.


History


Heavy bomber training unit

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 ...
was first activated at
Salt Lake City Army Air Base Salt Lake City International Airport is a civil-military airport located about west of Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States. The airport is the closest commercial airport for more than 2.5 million people and is within a 30-minu ...
in November 1942, with the 540th, 541st, 542d and 543d Bombardment Squadrons assigned.Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 646Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', pp. 646-647Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 647Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', pp. 647-648 Its
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 ...
moved to
Rapid City Army Air Base Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade''. ...
a little over a week later, where it began to equip as a
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 ...
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) the following year.Maurer, ''Combat Units'', p. 270 OTUs were oversized parent units that provided cadres to "satellite groups"Craven & Cate, Introduction, p. xxxvi In October 1943, the group moved to
Peterson Field Peterson Space Force Base, previously Peterson Air Force Base, Peterson Field, and Army Air Base, Colorado Springs, is a U.S. Space Force Base that shares an airfield with the adjacent Colorado Springs Municipal Airport and is home to the Nor ...
, Colorado, where it flew
Consolidated B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...
and changed its mission to become a Replacement Training Unit (RTU). Like OTUs, RTUs were oversized units, but their mission was to train individual
aircrew Aircrew, also called flight crew, are personnel who operate an aircraft while in flight. The composition of a flight's crew depends on the type of aircraft, plus the flight's duration and purpose. Commercial aviation Flight deck positions ...
s. However, the AAF was finding that standard military units like the 383d, which were 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 well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit, which was manned and equipped for the specific training mission. As a result, the 383d Group, its elements and supporting units were inactivated or disbanded and replaced by the 214th AAF Base Unit (Combat Crew Training School, Heavy), which was simultaneously organized at Peterson.


B-29 operations

However, the unit was reactivated on 28 August as the 383d Bombardment Group, Very Heavy and programmed as a
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 ...
group for the
Pacific Theater The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
at
Dalhart Army Air Field Dalhart Army Air Base is a former World War II military airfield complex near the city of Dalhart, Texas. It operated three training sites for the United States Army Air Forces from 1943 until 1945. The majority of the namesake city of Dalhart, ...
, Texas. Shortages of B-29s for training caused the group to remain in the United States for almost a year until finally it deployed to
Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...
in August 1945 to be part of
Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Force ...
in the Pacific. However, the war ended before the group could enter combat. Reassigned to
Twentieth Air Force The Twentieth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) (20th AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming. 20 AF's primary mission is Interco ...
in September 1945, the group flew a few training missions from Okinawa until being returned to the United States for demobilization in December. The 383d Bomb Group was inactivated on 3 January 1946.


Lineage

* Constituted as the 383d Bombardment Group (Heavy)' on 28 October 1942 : Activated on 3 November 1942 : Inactivated on 1 April 1944 * Redesignated 383d Bombardment Group, Very Heavy : Activated on 28 August 1944 : Inactivated on 3 January 1946


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 ...
, 3 November 1942 – 1 April 1944 (attached to
17th Bombardment Operational Training Wing 17 (seventeen) is the natural number following 16 and preceding 18. It is a prime number. Seventeen is the sum of the first four prime numbers. In mathematics 17 is the seventh prime number, which makes seventeen the fourth super-prime, as s ...
12 November 1942 – c. 26 October 1943) * II Bomber Command, 28 August 1944 (attached to 17th Bombardment Operational Training Wing) * 313th Bombardment Wing, 12 September 1945 * Unknown 19 December 1945 – 3 January 1946


Stations

* Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah, 3 November 1942 * Rapid City Army Air Base, South Dakota, 12 November 1942 *
Geiger Field Spokane International Airport is a commercial airport located approximately west-southwest of downtown Spokane, Washington, United States. It is the primary airport serving the Inland Northwest, which consists of 30 counties and includes areas ...
, Washington, 20 June 1943 * Peterson Field, Colorado 26 October 1943 – 1 April 1944 *
Dalhart Army Air Field Dalhart Army Air Base is a former World War II military airfield complex near the city of Dalhart, Texas. It operated three training sites for the United States Army Air Forces from 1943 until 1945. The majority of the namesake city of Dalhart, ...
, Texas 28 August 1944 *
Walker Army Air Field Walker Army Airfield (also known as Victoria-Pratt Airfield o Walker-Hays Airfield is an abandoned airfield located north of Interstate 70 in Ellis County, 1 mile northwest of Walker, Kansas or 3 miles northeast of Victoria, Kansas. Walker Arm ...
, Kansas 14 January–11 August 1945 *
Tinian Tinian ( or ; old Japanese name: 天仁安島, ''Tenian-shima'') is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Together with uninhabited neighboring Aguiguan, it forms Tinian Municipality, one of th ...
, Mariana Islands, 12 September–19 December 1945 *
Camp Anza Camp Anza was a United States Army installation, in what is now Riverside, California, during World War II. Construction began on July 3, 1942, and was completed on February 15, 1943. The camp was named after Juan Bautista de Anza, an early explor ...
, California 2–3 January 1946


Components

* 540th Bombardment Squadron, 3 November 1942 – 1 April 1944 * 541st Bombardment Squadron, 3 November 1942 – 1 April 1944 * 542d Bombardment Squadron, 3 November 1942 – 1 April 1944 * 543d Bombardment Squadron, 3 November 1942 – 1 April 1944 * 876th Bombardment Squadron, 28 August 1944 – 29 December 1945Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 794 * 880th Bombardment Squadron, 28 August 1944 – 3 January 1946Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 796 *
884th Bombardment Squadron The 884th Bombardment Squadron is a former United States Army Air Forces unit. It was an early Boeing B-29 Superfortress unit, but was inactivated in the spring of 1944 when the Army Air Forces reorganized its very heavy bomber units. It was r ...
, 28 August 1944 – 29 December 1945Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 797 * 38th Photographic Laboratory, 28 August 1944 – 3 January 1946


Aircraft flown

* Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress * Consolidated B-24 Liberator * Boeing B-29 Superfortress


Notes


References


Bibliography

* ** * * {{USAAF 8th Air Force UK Bombardment groups of the United States Army Air Forces Military units and formations established in 1942