417th Bombardment Group

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= 417th Bombardment Group


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dates= 1943 - 1945
country= United States
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branch= United States Army Air Force
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role= Bombardment
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anniversaries=The 417th Bombardment Group is a inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last duty station was at Itami Airfield, Japan, where it was inactivated on 5 November 1945.

History

Lineage

* Constituted as 417th Bombardment Group (Light) on 23 Mar 1943: Activated on 28 Mar 1943: Inactivated on 15 Nov 1945

Stations

* Will Rogers Field, Okla, 28 Mar 1943
* DeRidder AAB, La, 4 Aug-10 Dec 1943
* Cape Sudest, New Guinea, 28 Jan 1944
* Dobodura, New Guinea, 7 Feb 1944
* Saidor, New Guinea, 8 Apr 1944
* Noemfoor, c. g Sep 1944
* Tacloban, Leyte, 6 Dec 1944
* San Jose, Mindoro, 22 Dec 1944
* Okinawa, 17 Aug 1945
* Itami, Japan, c. 1-15 Nov 1945.

Operational history

Trained with A-20Gs in Louuisiana and Oklaholma.

Moved to New Guinea, Dec 1943-Jan 1944, and assigned to Fifth Air Force. Began combat in Mar 1944, operating in support of ground forces on New Guinea and striking airfields, bridges personnel concentrations, installations, and shipping in that area. Most sorties were flown at low level, since Japanese flak was not very intense. During these low level bombing operations, it was found that there was little need for a bomb aimer. Consequently, the bomb aimer was often replaced by additional forward-firing machine guns mounted in a faired-over nose. The A-20's heavy firepower, maneuverability, speed and bombload made it an ideal weapon for pinpoint strikes against aircraft, hangers, and supply dumps.

In formation, their heavy forward firepower could overwhelm shipboard anti-aircraft defenses and at low level the A-20s could skip their bombs into the sides of transports and destroyers with deadly effect. Some A-20s had their heavy forward-firing armament supplemented by clusters of three Bazooka-type rocket tubes underneath each wing. These tubes each held an M8, T-30 4.5-inch spin-stabilized rocket. These rocket launcher tubes turned out to be heavy and complicated, and were generally more trouble than they were worth and were not often used.

Operated from Noemfoor, Sep-Dec 1944, attacking airfields and installations on Ceram, Halmahera, and western New Guinea. Moved to the Philippines in Dec 1944 the end of the New Guinea campaign. Until Jun 1945 supported ground forces and attacked enemy airfields, transportation, and installations on Luzon, Cebu, Negros, and Mindanao.

Received a DUC for attacking Japanese convoys at Lingayen, 30 Dec 1944-2 Jan 1945, action that not only impaired enemy shipping and supply strength, but also helped to clear the way for the American invasion ofLuzon.

Flew its last missions in Jul, dropping propaganda leaflets to Japanese troops on Luzon. After the Philippines were secured, the group turned its attention to Japanese targets on Formosa in early 1945 Moved to Okinawa in Aug 1945 and to Japan in November.

Inactivated on 15 Nov 1945.

References

* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0892010924.

External links