394th Bombardment Group

394th Bombardment Group
394th Bombardment Group Insignia
Active	1943–1946
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army Air Forces
Role	Bombardment
Part of	Ninth Air Force
Garrison/HQ	European Theatre of World War II

The 394th Bombardment Group is an inactive United States Army Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the XII Fighter Command stationed at Fliegerhorst Kitzingen (R-6), Germany. It was inactivated on 15 February 1946

During World War II the unit was deployed to Western Europe and fought in combat with Ninth Air Force as a B-26 Marauder medium bomber group. The 394th received a Distinguished Unit Citation for its work during the period 7-9 August 1944 when it made a series of attacks against heavily-defended targets in France, destroying four rail bridges and devastating an ammunition dump.

History

Components

• 584th Bomb Squadron (K5)
• 585th Bomb Squadron (4T)
• 586th Bomb Squadron (H9)
• 587th Bomb Squadron (5W)

Stations

• MacDill Field, Florida, March 5, 1943
• Ardmore AAFld, Oklaholma, July 12, 1943
• Kellogg Field, Michigan, August 19, 1943 – February 15, 1944
• RAF Boreham (USAAF Station 161), England c. March 11, 1944 161
• RAF Holmsley South (USAAF Station 455), England, July 24, 1944 455

• Tour en Bessin Airfield (A-13), France, August 25, 1944
• Orleans/Bricy Airfield (A-50), France, September 18, 1944
• Cambrai/Niergnies Airfield (A-74), France, October 8, 1944
• Venlo Airfield (Y-55), Netherlands, May 2, 1945
• Fliegerhorst Kitzingen (R-6), Germany, September 1945 – February 15, 1946

Aircraft

• Martin B-26 Marauder

Operations

B-26 Marauders of the 394th Bomb Group at still-unfinished Boreham Airfield, March 14, 1944.

Martin B-26G-5-MA Marauder Serial 43-34373 of the 587th Bomb Squadron.

Fitting 500 pound bombs to load on Martin B-26B-55-MA Marauder, Serial 42-96213 (586th BS). This aircraft was shot down by AAA March 22, 1945. MACR 13040.

Loading bombs on Martin B-26G-1-MA Marauder Serial 43-34194 of the 584th Bomb Squadron.

Constituted as 394th Bombardment Group (Medium) on February 15, 1943. Activated on March 5, 1943. Trained with B-26's. Moved to RAF Boreham England, February–March 1944, and assigned to Ninth Air Force. Their group marking was a white diagonal band across the fin and rudder.

When the first Martin B-26 Marauders of the Group arrived some hardstands and buildings were still being built. Operations commenced only 12 days after the majority of the group arrived with the initial mission being flown on March 23.

In the weeks that followed, the 394th was repeatedly sent to attack bridges in occupied France and the Low Countries, which led to its dubbing itself 'The Bridge Busters'. A total of 96 missions, on which 5,453 tons of bombs were dropped, were flown from Boreham before the 394th was moved on July 24 to RAF Holmsley South in the New Forest due to the urgent requirement of IX Bomber Command to extend the radius of action of part of its Martin B-26 Marauder force.

There was no break in operations at this critical period when the St Lo offensive was underway. The 394th received a Distinguished Unit Citation for its work during the period August 7–9, when it made a series of attacks against heavily-defended targets, destroying four rail bridges and devastating an ammunition dump.

It was during a bridge attack on August 9 that the Lead B-26. piloted by Captain Darrell Lindsey, was hit by flak and the right engine set alight. Although knowing that the fuel tanks were likely to catch fire and explode, Lindsey did not waver from leading the bomb run or order his crew to bail out until after bombs had been released. The bombardier offered to lower the nosewheel so that Lindsey might escape through the nose hatch but, knowing the likelihood of his losing control if this was done, Lindsey ordered the bombardier to jump. Lindsey did not escape before the aircraft crashed.

The award of a posthumous Medal of Honor was the only occasion that this highest US award for bravery went to a Ninth Air Force bomber crewman living in the ETO. All told, six 394th B-26s were lost in operations from Holmsley South. The group's aircraft began to move to the airfield at Tour-en-Bessin in France (A-13) on August 21 and the last personnel left Holmesley South on the 31st.

On the continent the group hit strong points at Brest and then began to operate against targets in Germany. Took part in the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944 – January 1945, by hitting communications to deprive the enemy of supplies and reinforcements. Bombed transportation, storage facilities, and other objectives until the war ended; also dropped propaganda leaflets.

By VE-Day, the 394th was based at Venlo (Y-55) in the southeastern Netherlands. The group remained in the theater to serve with United States Air Forces in Europe as part of the army of occupation at Kitzingen, Germany. It was transferred, without personnel and equipment, to the United States on February 15, 1946 and was inactivated on March 31, 1946.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

• Freeman, Roger A. UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now 1994. After the Battle, 1994. ISBN 0-90091-380-0.
• Freeman, Roger A. The Ninth Air Force in Colour: UK and the Continent-World War Two. After the Battle, 1996. ISBN 1-85409-272-3.
• Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
• Ziegler, J. Guy. Bridge Busters, the Story of the 394th Bomb Group of the 98th Bomb Wing, 9th Bomb Division, 9th Air Force. New York: Ganis and Harris, 1949.
• Johnson, David C. (1988), U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO), D-Day to V-E Day; Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.