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93rd Bombardment Group

Constituted as 93rd Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 28 Jan 1942. Activated on 1 Mar 1942. Prepared for combat with B-24's. Engaged in antisubmarine operations over the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, May-Jul 1942.

Moved to England, Aug-Sep 1942, and assigned to Eighth AF. Entered combat on 9 Oct 1942 by attacking steel and engineering works at Lille. Until Dec 1942, operated primarily against submarine pens in the Bay of Biscay. A large detachment was sent to North Africa in Dec 1942, the group receiving a DUC for operations in that theater, Dec 1941-Feb 1943, when, with inadequate supplies and under the most difficult desert conditions, the detachment struck heavy blows at enemy shipping and communications. The detachment returned to England, Feb-Mar 1943, and until the end of Jun the group bombed engine repair works, harbors, power plants, and other targets in France, the Low Countries, and Germany. A detachment returned to the Mediterranean theater, Jun-Jul 1943, to support the invasion of Sicily and to participate in the famous low-level attack on enemy oil installations at Ploesti on 1 Aug. Having followed another element of the formation along the wrong course to Ploesti, the 93rd hit targets that had been assigned to other groups, but it carried out its bombing of the vital oil installations despite heavy losses inflicted by attacks from the fully-alerted enemy and was awarded a DUC for the operation. Lt Col Addison E Baker, group commander, and Maj John L Jerstad, a former member of the group who had volunteered for this mission, were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for action in the Ploesti raid: refusing to make a forced landing in their damaged B-24, these men, as pilot and co-pilot of the lead plane, led the group to bomb the oil facilities before their plane crashed in the target area. After the detachment returned to England in Aug 1943, the group flew only two missions before the detachment was sent back to the Mediterranean to support Fifth Army at Salerno during the invasion of Italy in Sep 1943. The detachment rejoined the group in Oct 1943, and until Apr 1945 the 93rd concentrated on bombardment of strategic targets such as marshalling yards, aircraft factories, oil refineries, chemical plants, and cities in Germany. In addition it bombed gun emplacements, choke points, and bridges near Cherbourg during the Normandy invasion in Jun 1944; attacked troop concentrations in northern France during the St Lo breakthrough in Jul 1944; transported food, gasoline, water, and other supplies to the Allies advancing across France, Aug-Sep 1944; dropped supplies to airborne troops in Holland on 18 Sep 1944; struck enemy transportation and other targets during the Battle of the Bulge, Dec 1944-Jan 1945; and flew two missions on 24 Mar 1945 during the airborne assault across the Rhine, dropping supplies to troops near Wesel and bombing a night-fighter base at Stormede. Ceased operations in Apr 1945. Returned to the US, May-Jun 1945.

Redesignated 93rd Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) in Jul 1945. Assigned to Strategic Air Command on 21 Mar 1946. Trained with B-29's. Redesignated 93rd Bombardment Group (Medium) in May 1948. Converted to B-50 aircraft in 1949. Inactivated on 16 Jun 1952.

Squadrons. 328th: 1942-1952. 329th: 1942-1952. 330th: 1942-1952. 409th: 1942-1946.

Stations. Barksdale Field, La, 1 Mar 1942; Ft Myers, Fla, 15 May-2 Aug 1942; Alconbury, England, 7 Sep 1942; Hardwick, England, 6 Dec 1942-19 May 1945; Sioux Falls AAFld, SD, Jun 1945; Pratt AAFld, Kan, 24 Jul 1945; Clovis AAFld, NM, 13 Dec 1945; Castle Field, Calif, 21 Jun 1946-16 Jun 1952.

Commanders. 1st Lt Robert M Tate, 1 Mar 1942; Col Edward Timberlake Jr, 26 Mar 1942; Lt Col Addison E Baker, 17 May 1943; Col Leland G Fiegel, 9 Aug 1943; Lt Col Harvey P Barnard Jr, 27 Sep 1944; Col William R Robertson Jr, 5 Dec 1944; Lt Col Therman D Brown, 6 Apr 1945; Maj Jacob A Herrmann, 29 Jul 1945; Lt Col William W Amorous, 6 Aug 1945; Col Henry W Dorr, c. 5 Oct 1945-unkn; Lt Col Kenneth Grunewald, 1946; Maj Arthur R Pidgeon, 1946; Maj Loyd D Griffin, 1946; CWO Steve Stanowich, 1946; Capt Joe W Moore Jr, Oct 1946; Capt Allen Milnes, 1946-unkn; Lt Col John C Thrift, Aug 1947; Col Glendon P Overing, 1 Sep 1948; Lt Col Colin E Anderson, 3 Nov 1949; Col John E Dougherty, 1 Dec 1949; Brig Gen Robert H Terrill, Feb 1951; Col Richard H Carmichael, 16 Apr 1951; Col John E Dougherty, 19 Oct 1951-16 Jun 1952.

Campaigns. Antisubmarine, American Theater; Air Combat, EAME Theater; Egypt-Libya; Air Offensive, Europe; Tunisia; Sicily; Naples-Foggia; Normandy; Northern France; Rhineland; Ardennes-Alsace; Central Europe.

Decorations. Distinguished Unit Citations: North Africa, 17 Dec 1942-20 Feb 1943; Ploesti, Rumania, 1 Aug 1943.

Insigne. Shield: Azure, in front of a bend parti per bend sable and argent between two globes of the last with latitude and longitude lines of the second, the one in chief bearing a wreath vert and the one in base bearing a cross of four arrows, points out of the first, gules, or and of the fifth, a lightning flash bend sinisterwise or. (Approved 4 Sep 1953.)

Data from Air Force Combat Units of World War II By Maurer, Maurer, Published 1986


Veteran Roster

Roster of personnel of the 93rd Bombardment Group in World War II.

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