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Page 130 of the 306th Bomb Group unit history.
Many of the 8th Air Force Groups produced an unofficial unit history in the months after the war ended in Europe but before they were redeployed out of the ETO (European Theater of Operations).
Resembling a college yearbook, unit histories were an unofficial – and often tongue-in-cheek – record of the unit’s time based in the UK. They include photo montages showing different aspects of base life. Often the servicemen in the photos are unnamed. The American Air Museum hopes that by adding unit histories to the website as individual pages, the men in the photos will be identified and associated to their person entries. Many included lists of personnel and a mailing address, providing a means for servicemen to keep in contact with each other after the war. These lists are now incredibly useful records of where US airmen in England in 1945 called their home.
Assigned 369BS/306BG [WW-H] Westover 16/8/42; Thurleigh 25/8/42 as JOAN OF ARC; transferred 340BS/97BG Biskra 20/1/43; Missing in Action Tunis 1/2/43 with Bob Coulter, Co-pilot: Wikle, Navigator: Blair, Bombardier: Birk, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: E.H. Smith, Radio Operator: Hansen, Ball turret gunner: Nease, Waist gunner: C.D. Hooks, Waist gunner: Fitzgerald,Tail gunner: Knight; coll with FW190. Missing Air Crew Report 3516. FLAMING MAYME.
Service
Units
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Group
Constituted as 306th Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 28 Jan 1942. Activated on 1 Mar 1942. Trained for combat with B-17's. Moved to England, Aug-Sep 1942, and assigned to Eighth AF Eighth Air Force in September 1942 Station 111 Thurleigh. During combat,...
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Group
The 97th Bomb Group flew the Eighth Air Force's first heavy bomber mission from the UK when they bombed a marshalling yard at Rouen on 17 August 1942. Just a month later though the Group were reassigned to the Twelfth Air Force and left England for the...
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Places
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Military site : airfield
Built for RAF use in 1941-42, Thurleigh was initially used by RAF Bomber Command before being handed over to the Eighth Air Force. Its runways and hardstandings were improved, and the B-17s of the 306th Bomb Group began using the base. It was their...
Events
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