A bombardment group or bomb group was a unit of organizational command and control
group of the
United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during
World War II. A bombardment group was normally commanded by a
colonel. The table of allowances (TOA) for personnel, aircraft and equipment grew steadily over the course of the war doubling from 35 aircraft in 1941 to 72
in February, 1945. The aircrew end strength reached upwards to two crews per aircraft.
Categories
U.S. bomb groups were numbered and classified into four types: Very Heavy (VH), Heavy (H), Medium (M), and Light (L). Groups which combined bombers of differing categories into a single administrative organization were designated "Composite" groups. Bomber aircraft were assigned to groups by category:
* Very Heavy:
B-29 Superfortress,
B-32 Dominator
* Heavy:
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 ...
,
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 ...
* Medium:
B-25 Mitchell
The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...
,
B-26 Marauder
The Martin B-26 Marauder is an American twin-engined medium bomber that saw extensive service during World War II. The B-26 was built at two locations: Baltimore, Maryland, and Omaha, Nebraska, by the Glenn L. Martin Company.
First used in t ...
* Light:
A-20 Havoc
The Douglas A-20 Havoc (company designation DB-7) is an American medium bomber, attack aircraft, night intruder, night fighter, and reconnaissance aircraft of World War II.
Designed to meet an Army Air Corps requirement for a bomber, it was or ...
,
A-26 Invader
The Douglas A-26 Invader (designated B-26 between 1948 and 1965) is an American twin-engined light bomber and ground attack aircraft. Built by Douglas Aircraft Company during World War II, the Invader also saw service during several major Col ...
(The USAAF also operated two fighter-bombers during the period, the
A-24 and the
A-36. Groups with these two types were first classified as Light Bombers, then Dive Bombers, before being re-classified as Fighters.)
Tables of organization and equipment
Unit organization
The ''tables of organization and equipment'' (
TO&E) for all bombardment groups were roughly the same. In 1942, existing bomb groups were expanded from three to four ''numbered bombardment squadrons''; and most bomb groups created during the war retained this structure - B-29 groups were the exception, having only three squadrons. In addition to the flying squadrons issued
Aircrew Badge
The Aircrew Badge, commonly known as Wings, is a qualification badge of the United States military that is awarded by all five branches of armed services to personnel who serve as aircrew, aircrew members on board military aircraft. The badge ...
s, each group contained a ''group headquarters'', a ''service squadron'', and ''detachments'' for support of aircraft, equipment, and personnel from
quartermaster, aviation ordnance,
military police,
chemical,
signal, and maintenance companies, and from a weather squadron. These support personnel were then pooled and re-distributed among an unofficial service group and detailed for various duties as needed.
The service group provided support and technical sections for the group requirements as a whole: ''Flying control'', ''Ordnance'', ''airfield security'', ''firefighting'', ''
Post Exchange'' (PX), ''Special Services'', ''
Mail'', ''Transportation'' ("
motor pool"), ''Communications'', ''
Radar'', ''
Gunnery instruction'', ''Personal Equipment'', and ''Weather'' (
Meteorology). The service group also had its own
mess
The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...
section. The service group had approximately 30 officers and 300 to 400 enlisted men.
The group headquarters contained sections organized in the traditional
U.S. Army structure: Personnel (
S-1), Intelligence (
S-2), Operations (
S-3), and Supply (
S-4). Including inspectors, headquarters organizations in practice totalled approximately 20 officers, some of whom were also
pilots, and 60 to 80 enlisted men.
Each bomb squadron, in addition to its assigned flight crews, had a ''squadron headquarters'' structured similarly to the group's, and six technical support and maintenance sections supporting its aircraft, equipment, and personnel: ''Mess'', ''Armament'', ''Ordnance'', ''Communications'', ''Medical'', and ''Engineering'' (aircraft maintenance). The ground support members of a bomb squadron numbered 15-20 officers and 250 to 300 enlisted men.
Functionally, bomb groups were divided into an ''air echelon'' (the collective aircrews), and a ''ground echelon'' (all supporting ground personnel within the group, including those in attached Sub Depots). Groups commonly had two deputy commanders, termed the air
executive officer
An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer, o ...
and the ground executive officer, to coordinate these echelons.
Personnel strengths
In 1943, a heavy bomb group had a total complement of 294 officers and 1,487 enlisted men to fly and support 48 heavy bombers; and a medium bomb group had 294 officers and 1,297 enlisted men for 64 medium bombers.
By February 1945, the size of the 125 standardized bomb group establishments had grown to:
The Army Air Forces also employed two composite groups with their own TO&Es: the 28th Bomb Group (15 B-24 and 30 B-25), and the
509th Composite Group
The 509th Composite Group (509 CG) was a unit of the United States Army Air Forces created during World War II and tasked with the operational deployment of nuclear weapons. It conducted the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in ...
(15 B-29 and 5 C-54). 19 heavy groups and one light bomb group were to be converted to very heavy groups for duty against
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, but the war ended before the plan was carried out.
Footnotes
References
* Bowman, Martin W., ''USAAF Handbook 1939–1945'', Stackpole Books (1997),
* Freeman, Roger A., ''The Mighty Eighth War Manual'', MacDonald (1991) pp. 154–155.
* Maurer, Maurer, ''Air Force Combat Units of World War II'', Office of Air Force history (1961).
External links
38th Bomb Group Association100thBG Forum301st Bomb Group Association303rd Bomb Group Associationaka "Hells Angels"
305th Bomb Group306th Bomb Group Historical Association307th Bomb Group Association312th Bomb Group319th Bomb Group320th Bomb Group390th Bomb Group Memorial Museum401st Bomb Group Association463rd Bomb Group Historical SocietyWebsite of 8th Air Forcedivided by Bombardment Divisions/Bombardment Wings/Bombardment Groups/Bombardment Squadrons
* http://452ndbombgroupassociation-deophamgreen.org/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Usaaf Bombardment Group
Bombardment groups of the United States Air Force