98th Bomb Group
Group
The 98th trained for bombardment missions with B-24 Liberators during the first half of 1942.
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344th Bomb Squadron
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B-24D-CO Liberator 41-11819 "Raunchy" of 344th Bombardment Squadron, 98th Bombardment Group. Lost on the August 1,1943 low-level mission to Ploesti, Romania. She was hit by AAA over the target and exploded at an altitude of 150 feet and crashing into a field. Pilot Samuel R Neeley, 8 KIA, 2 POW MACR 169.
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B-24 Liberator #41-23656 'Rowdy Ann' 344th BS, 98th BG, 9th AF and crew. Shown with Ed Clendenin, standing 4th from left. Harry Gillett (512th Squadron CO) is kneeling 2nd from right.
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Captain John S. Young in the cockpit of a production line B-24 Liberator at the Consolidated Vultee Plant at Fort Worth, Texas, in 1945. Capt. John S. Young was Col. John R. Kane's copilot on the B-24D, 'Hail Columbia' on Operarion Tidal Wave over Ploesti, Romania, August 1,1943. Col. Kane and Capt. Young successfully bombed their target, White IV, the Astra Romano Oil Refinery, fought their way out of the Ploesti target area, and successfully flew their crippled B-24 back to the British air base at Nicosia, Cyprus, crash landing 'Hail Columbia' at Nicosia.
Established as a B-24 Liberator heavy bomb squadron and trained by Third Air Force. Deployed to Egypt in June 1942 over South Atlantic Transport Route transiting from Morrison Field, Florida though the Caribbean to Brazil; performed trans-Atlantic crossing from Brazil to Liberia, then transited east across central Africa to Sudan. Lastly the group reformed with the ground echelon which traveled by ship around the Cape of Good Hope, joining with air echelon in British Palestine.
Assigned to the newly formed IX Bomber Command, the squadron operated from airfields in Egypt; Libya and Tunisia supporting the British Eighth Army in the Western Desert Campaign. Also staged long-range strategic bombardment of enemy maritime shipping targets in the Mediterranean Sea and Italian ports, also military and industrial targets in Sicily, Italy, and the Southern Balkans, including attacking the Nazi-controlled oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania.
Reassigned to Fifteenth Air Force in southern Italy; continuing strategic bombardment raids on Occupied France; Southern Germany; Austria and targets in the Balkans. In the summer of 1944, the squadron participated in the invasion of southern France, assisted in the Soviet advance into the Balkans, and supported the partisans and guerrillas in Yugoslavia and neighboring countries.
The squadron returned to the United States in May 1945 where it was redesignated as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bombardment squadron and began training for deployment to the Central Pacific Area. Training continued until November when the unit was transferred to Merced Army Air Field, California and reassigned to the 444th Bombardment Group,[3] where it replaced the 678th Bombardment Squadron, which was converted into a reconnaissance unit.[4] The squadron was inactivated at what was now Castle Field in March 1946.[3]
Structure
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Jerome Casper
Military | Captain | 98th Bomb Group
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Robert Gott
Military | Second Lieutenant | 98th Bomb Group
Received the DFC on 15 July 1943 per General Order 1847 -
Alvin Hinkle
Military | Technical Sergeant (2nd Grade) | 98th Bomb Group
Received DFC on 15 July 1942 per General Order 1847 -
John Kane
Military | Colonel | B-24 Command Pilot - 98th Bomb Group Commander | 98th Bomb Group
John Riley Kane (January 5, 1907 – May 29, 1996) was a colonel in the United States Army Air Corps and later the United States Air Force. He received the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Congressional Medal of Honor, in World War II, for his... -
Edward Kutzera
Military | Technical Sergeant (2nd Grade) | 98th Bomb Group
Received DFC on 15 July 1942 per General Order 1847 -
Erhardt Penderson
Military | Second Lieutenant | 98th Bomb Group
Received DFC on 15 July 1942 per General Order 1847 -
Edward Porter
Military | Technical Sergeant (2nd Grade) | 98th Bomb Group
Received DFC on 15 July 1942 per General Order 1847 -
Shuman Shaw
Military | Staff Sergeant (3rd Grade) | 98th Bomb Group
Received DFC on 15 July 1944 per General Order 1847 -
Robert Sternfels
Military | Major | B-24 Command Bomber Pilot | 98th Bomb Group
Lt. Robert Sternfels was a B-24D command bomber pilot in WWII who flew the famous B-24D bomber, 'The Sandman' on the mission Operation Tidal Wave to bomb the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania, August 1, 1943. After enlisting as an Air Force pilot in... -
Willard Stevens
Military | First Lieutenant | 98th Bomb Group
Received DFC 15 July 1942 under General Order 1847 -
41-11825 'Hail Columbia' 'Grumpy' 'Little Chief Big Dog'
B-24 Liberator
This aircraft originally served in the 344th BS as 'HAIL COLUMBIA'. It was 344th CO Col. John R. Kane's personal aircraft until Kane became 98th BG CO and turned it over to Herman "Big-Dog" Lewis. Lewis changed the right side nose art to 'LITTLE-CHIEF... -
41-24026 'Baby'
B-24 Liberator
Flew on 1st Aug 43 Ploesti oil refinery raid piloted by Francis E Weisler, aborting before the target. ... -
41-11768 Kickapoo
B-24 Liberator
B-24 liberator #41-11768, 'Kickapoo', of the 344th Bombing Squadron, 98th Bomb Group, 9th Air Force. This was Lt. John S. Young's second regular aircraft after he lost his first B-24 in theater, which was shot down earlier in 1943 in an air fight near... -
41-23656 Rowdy Ann
B-24 Liberator
B-24 Liberator #41-23656 'Rowdy Ann' 344th BS, 98th BG, 9th AF. Flew on 1st Aug 43 Ploesti oil refinery raid, aborting before the target, pilot Allen B Gaston. A/C Renamed from 'Rowdy II' - Transferred to 376th BG / 512th BS. Returned to the States on... -
41-23795 'Miss Julie' 'Sneezy'
B-24 Liberator
Equipped with radar and was used in a sea search role early in its career and may have been operated by other than the 343rd BS. ...
Connections
People
Aircraft
Citations
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Revisions
| Date | Contributor | Update |
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| 09 August 2018 11:18:49 | Kickapoo | Changes to person associations |
| Sources | ||
Black Sunday - Michael hill |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 12 March 2018 11:29:13 | Kickapoo | Changes to description |
| Sources | ||
Burning Hitler's Black Gold by Robert Sternfels |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 12 March 2018 11:25:20 | Kickapoo | Changes to description and aircraft associations |
| Sources | ||
Burning Hitler's Black Gold by Robert Sternfels |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 10 March 2018 08:32:21 | Kickapoo | Changes to nicknames |
| Sources | ||
Burning Hitler's Black Gold by Robt. Sternfels |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 01 November 2016 02:46:47 | 466thHistorian | Created entry with type, name, motto, description, air forces, aircraft types, unit encompassing associations and media associations |
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12th & 15th Air Forces - Gerard Paloque |
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