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The 493d 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 that was assigned to the 92d Bombardment Wing during World War II. It the last bombardment
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 ...
to be assigned to
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 Forc ...
. It flew combat missions in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany until shortly before
V-E Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easte ...
, then returned to the United States for inactivation. In 2002, the group was converted to provisional status as the 493d Air Expeditionary Group and assigned to
Air Mobility Command Air Mobility Command (AMC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the U.S. Air Force. It is headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, east of St. Louis, Missouri. Air Mobility Command was established on 1 June 1992, and was formed from elemen ...
to activate or inactivate as needed.


History


World War II


Initial activation and training in the United States

The 493d Bombardment Group was first activated at
McCook Army Air Field McCook Army Airfield was activated on 1 April 1943. It is located nine miles (14 km) northwest of McCook, a city in Red Willow County, Nebraska, United States and is southwest of North Platte, Nebraska. It was constructed in 1943 . Th ...
, Nebraska, with the 860th, 861st, 862d and 863d Bombardment Squadrons assigned.Maurer, ''Combat Units'', pp. 362-363Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 785Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 785-786Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 786Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', pp. 786-787 The 863d Squadron was a former
antisubmarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...
unit that had become surplus when the
Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...
assumed its mission, and was used to form the
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) In political contexts a cadre (, , ) consists of a person recognized as a capable militant within a political ...
for the group and its squadrons. 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 ...
's formation was delayed by an administrative error that caused some of the unit's personnel to report to Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona instead of to McCook. It was not until January that all personnel were at McCook. By this time, the group had transferred on paper to Elveden Hall, England. The ground personnel of the group in the United States had been used to form
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 being activated by
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 defende ...
, while the group's air echelon remained in Nebraska to conduct training on their assigned
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 ...
s. Meanwhile,
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 Forc ...
formed a new ground echelon for the group in England from other units assigned to the
3d Bombardment Division 3-D, 3D, or 3d may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Relating to three-dimensionality * Three-dimensional space ** 3D computer graphics, computer graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data ** 3D film, a ...
. This ground echelon moved to the group's combat station,
RAF Debach Royal Air Force Debach or more simply RAF Debach is a former Royal Air Force station located at Debach, northwest of Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. United States Army Air Forces use Debach was one of the last Eighth Air Force heavy bomber s ...
, in April 1944. Additional officers and men, chiefly from the 34th Bombardment Group training at
Blythe Army Air Base Blythe Airport is seven miles west of Blythe, in Riverside County, California, United States. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a ''general aviation'' facility. History Blythe Airport was estab ...
, California, were assigned to the Group in February and March. The group's air echelon departed for England via the northern ferry route on 1 May, while a small ground component left McCook and sailed from
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, Massachusetts on the on 12 May 1944.


Combat in Europe

The group was established at Debach by mid-May and flew its first combat mission on
D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
, 6 June 1944, making it the last in Eighth Air Force to become operational. It continued to fly Liberators until 24 August 1944, when it was withdrawn from combat to convert to
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 Thea ...
es, along with other units of the 93d Bombardment Wing, as Eighth Air Force concentrated all its Liberators in the
2d Bombardment Division D, or d, is the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''dee'' (pronounced ), plural ''dees''. History The ...
. It resumed combat missions with the B-17 on 8 September 1944. The squadron concentrated its attacks on military and industrial targets in Germany, attacking an ordnance depot in
Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...
, factories near
Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
, and a
synthetic oil Synthetic oil is a lubricant consisting of chemical compounds that are artificially modified or synthesised. Synthetic lubricants can be manufactured using chemically modified petroleum components rather than whole crude oil, but can also be syn ...
manufacturing plant at
Merseburg Merseburg () is a town in central Germany in southern Saxony-Anhalt, situated on the river Saale, and approximately 14 km south of Halle (Saale) and 30 km west of Leipzig. It is the capital of the Saalekreis district. It had a dioces ...
. It also attacked lines of communications, including a railroad tunnel at
Ahrweiler Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler () is a spa town in the German Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate that serves as the capital of the Ahrweiler district. The A61 motorway connects the town with cities like Cologne and Mainz. Formed by the merging of the ...
, bridges at Irlich, and
marshalling yards A classification yard (American and Canadian English (Canadian National Railway use)), marshalling yard ( British, Hong Kong, Indian, Australian, and Canadian English (Canadian Pacific Railway use)) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway ...
near
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
. The group was occasionally diverted from the strategic bombing campaign to attack tactical targets. It supported
Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...
, the Normandy invasion, striking
artillery batteries In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to facil ...
, airfields and bridges. It struck enemy ground forces south of
Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Operation Cobra, the breakout at
St Lo ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...
. It bombed German
fortification A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere ...
s to support
Operation Market Garden Operation Market Garden was an Allied military operation during the Second World War fought in the Netherlands from 17 to 27 September 1944. Its objective was to create a salient into German territory with a bridgehead over the River Rhine, ...
, airborne attacks attempting to secure a bridgehead across the
Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...
in the Netherlands, and attacked communications during the
Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in ...
. Toward the end of the war, it also supported
Operation Varsity Operation Varsity (24 March 1945) was a successful airborne forces operation launched by Allied troops that took place toward the end of World War II. Involving more than 16,000 paratroopers and several thousand aircraft, it was the largest ai ...
, the airborne assault across the Rhine in Germany. In February 1945, the 862d Squadron replaced the 3d Scouting Force, and its crews were distributed to the other squadrons of the group. The squadron returned to group control in May. The squadron flew its last combat mission against marshalling yards near
Nauen Nauen is a small town in the Havelland district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is chiefly known for Nauen Transmitter Station, the world's oldest preserved radio transmitting installation. Geography Nauen is situated within the Havelland Luch gla ...
on 20 April 1945, although it flew food-dropping missions in early May, dropping more than 450 tons of supplies. At war's end, the 493d had flown 47 Missions with the Liberator and 110 with the Flying Fortress. It claimed the destruction of 11 enemy aircraft, but lost 41 in combat. The squadron air echelon departed Debach on 30 June, while the ground echelon sailed for home aboard the on 6 August 1945. In late August, the squadron assembled at
Sioux Falls Army Air Field Sioux Falls Regional Airport , also known as Joe Foss Field, is a public and military use airport three miles northwest of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States. It is named in honor of aviator and Sioux Falls native Joe Foss, who later served a ...
, South Dakota, where it was inactivated on 28 August 1945.


Expeditionary unit

In June 2002, the group was converted to provisional status as the 493d Air Expeditionary Group and assigned to
Air Mobility Command Air Mobility Command (AMC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the U.S. Air Force. It is headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, east of St. Louis, Missouri. Air Mobility Command was established on 1 June 1992, and was formed from elemen ...
to activate or inactivate as needed for contingency operations.DAF/XPM Letter 303s, 12 June 2002, Subject: Air Mobility Command Expeditionary Units There is no indication in unclassified sources that the unit has been active.


Lineage

* Constituted as the 493d Bombardment Group, Heavy on 14 September 1943 : Activated on 1 November 1943 : Inactivated on 28 August 1945 * Redesignated 493d Air Expeditionary Group and converted to provisional status on 12 June 2002


Assignments

*
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 defende ...
, 1 November 1943 *
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 Forc ...
, 1 January 1944 *
93d Combat Bombardment Wing The 93d Bombardment Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the Second Air Force, based at Sioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota. It was inactivated on 28 August 1945. The wing was a command and control ...
, c. 17 April 1944 * 13th Combat Bombardment Wing (later 13th Bombardment Wing), c. March–c. 12 August 1945 *
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 defende ...
, 12–28 August 1945 * Air Mobility Command to activate or inactivate as needed, 12 June 2002


Components

*
860th Bombardment Squadron The 860th Bombardment Squadron is a former United States Army Air Forces unit that was assigned to the 493d Bombardment Group during World War II. It was part of the last bombardment group to be assigned to Eighth Air Force. It flew combat mi ...
, 1 November 1943 – 28 August 1945 * 861st Bombardment Squadron, 1 November 1943 – 28 August 1945 * 862d Bombardment Squadron, 1 November 1943 – 28 August 1945 * 863d Bombardment Squadron, 1 November 1943 – 28 August 1945


Stations

*
McCook Army Airfield McCook Army Airfield was activated on 1 April 1943. It is located nine miles (14 km) northwest of McCook, a city in Red Willow County, Nebraska, United States and is southwest of North Platte, Nebraska. It was constructed in 1943 . The ...
, Nebraska, 1 November 1943 – 1 January 1944 * Elveden Hall (AAF-116),Station number in Anderson. England, 1 January 1944 * RAF Debach (AAF-152), England, 17 April 1944 – 6 August 1945 * Sioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota, c. 13–28 August 1945Station information in Maurer, ''Combat Units'', pp. 362-363, except as noted.


Aircraft

* Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 1943–1944 * Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1943–1945


Campaigns


References


Notes

; Explanatory notes ; Citations


Bibliography

* * * * * ; Further reading * * Freeman, Roger A. (1991) ''The Mighty Eighth: The Colour Record''. Cassell & Co.


External links

{{USAAF 2d Air Force World War II Bombardment groups of the United States Army Air Forces Military units and formations established in 1943 Strategic bombing units and formations