397th Bombardment Wing

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397th Bombardment Wing
Distinguished Unit Citation
Insignia
397th Bombardment Wing emblem (approved 30 October 1963)[1]

The 397th Bombardment Wing is an inactive

Dow Air Force Base
, Maine, where it was inactivated on 25 April 1968.

It was originally organized as the 397th Bombardment Group, a World War II United States Army Air Forces combat organization. It deployed to Western Europe with Ninth Air Force as a medium bombardment unit equipped with Martin B-26 Marauders. It returned to the United States during December 1945, being inactivated on 6 January 1946.

The 397th Bombardment Wing was organized in 1963 as a component organization of Strategic Air Command's deterrent force during the Cold War. It was inactivated when Dow closed.

In early 1984 the group and wing were consolidated into a single unit, but have not been active since.

History

World War II

Martin B-26C-45-MO Marauder Serial 42-107832 of the 598th Bomb Squadron.
Martin B-26B-55-MA Marauder Serial 42-96142 of the 596th Bombardment Squadron.

Constituted as 397th Bombardment Group (Medium) on 20 March 1943. Activated on 20 April 1943. Trained with B-26's. Moved to RAF Gosfield England, March–April 1944, and assigned to Ninth Air Force, however. no sooner had they arrived than they were moved on to RAF Rivenhall. The group's identification marking was a yellow diagonal band across both sides of the vertical tailplane.

Over the next few days, more than 60 'bare metal' B-26s were to be seen on the Rivenhall hardstands. Although fresh from the training grounds in south-eastern United States, and having only reached the UK early in April. the 347th undertook its first combat mission on 20 April: an attack on a

V-1
site.

During its tenure of Rivenhall the 397th undertook 56 bombing missions, 32 of them attacks on bridges. Other targets were enemy airfields, rail junctions, fuel and ammunition stores, V-weapon sites and various military installations in France and the Low Countries. During these missions a total of 16 B-26s were missing in action and several others wrecked in crash-landings at the base.

Early in August, officially on the 5th, the 397th transferred from Rivenhall to RAF Hurn in Hampshire, to give the Marauders a better radius of action as the break-out of the Allied forces from the Normandy beachhead meant that potential targets were receding.

Although moving from Rivenhall, the group arrived without ceasing operations and flew 72 missions from Hurn before moving to the Advanced Landing Ground at Gorges, France (A-26) on 19 August, with the last departures on the 30th and 31st. Three Marauders were lost during the month's stay.

On the continent, the 397th struck enemy positions at

St Malo and Brest and bombed targets in the Rouen area as Allied armies swept across the Seine and advanced to the Siegfried Line
. The group began flying missions into Germany in September, attacking such targets as bridges, defended areas, and storage depots.

The 397th struck the enemy's communications during the

Distinguished Unit Citation for a mission on 23 December 1944 when the group withstood heavy flak and fighter attack to sever a railway bridge at Eller, a vital link in the enemy's supply line across the Moselle
.

The group continued to support the Allied drive into Germany until April 1945, being stationed at Venlo, the Netherlands (Y-55) on VE-Day. It returned to the United States during December 1945 – January 1946, being inactivated at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey on 6 January 1946.

Strategic Air Command

Emblem of the 4038th Strategic Wing

On 1 August 1958,

cruise missiles
, The 4038th Airborne Missile Maintenance Squadron was activated in November to maintain these missiles.

In 1962, in order to perpetuate the lineage of many currently inactive bombardment units with illustrious World War II records, Headquarters SAC received authority from Headquarters USAF to discontinue its Major Command controlled (MAJCON) strategic wings controlling combat squadron, which could not carry a permanent history or lineage, and to activate Air Force controlled (AFCON) units to replace them, time which could carry a lineage and history. As a result, the 4038th SW was replaced by the 397th Bombardment Wing, Heavy (397th BW), which assumed its mission, personnel, and equipment on 1 February 1963.[1]

In the same way the

596th Bombardment Squadron, one of the unit's World War II historical bomb squadrons, replaced the 341st BS. The 860th Medical Group, 57th Munitions Maintenance Squadron and the two air refueling squadrons were reassigned to the 397th. Component support units were replaced by units with numerical designation of the newly established wing. Under the Dual Deputate organization,[8] all flying and maintenance squadrons
were directly assigned to the wing, so no operational group element was activated. Therefore, the history, lineage and honors of the 397th Bombardment Group were temporarily bestowed upon the newly established wing upon activation.

The 397th Bomb Wing continued to conduct strategic bombardment training and air refueling operations to meet operational commitments of

Indochina. The 397th Bombardment Wing was inactivated on 25 April 1968[1]
and its aircraft were reassigned to other SAC units. As part of the inactivation, Dow was closed.

Lineage

397th Bombardment Group

  • Constituted as the 397th Bombardment Group (Medium) on 20 March 1943
Activated on 20 April 1943
Resesignated 397th Bombardment Group, Medium c. April 1944
Inactivated on 6 January 1946[9]
  • Consolidated on 31 January 1984 with the 397th Bombardment Wing as the 397th Bombardment Wing[10]

397th Bombardment Wing

  • Constituted as the 397th Bombardment Wing, Heavy on 15 November 1962
Activated on 15 November 1962 (not organized)
Organized on 1 February 1963
Inactivated on 25 April 1968[1]
  • Consolidated on 31 January 1984 with the 397th Bombardment Group[10]

Assignments

Components

At
Otis Air Force Base
, Massachusetts

Stations

Aircraft

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Ravenstein, p. 213
  2. ^ Strategic Air Command General Order 44, 29 July 1958
  3. ^ "Factsheet 820 Strategic Aerospace Division". Air Force Historical Research Agency. 10 November 2007. Archived from the original on 30 October 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  4. ^ "Abstract (Unclassified), Vol 1, History of Strategic Air Command, Jan–Jun 1957 (Secret)". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  5. ^ Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 422–423
  6. ^ "Abstract (Unclassified), History of the Strategic Bomber since 1945 (Top Secret, downgraded to Secret)". Air Force History Index. 1 April 1975. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  7. ^ "Factsheet 6 Air Division". Air Force Historical Research Agency. 10 April 2007. Archived from the original on 30 October 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  8. ^ Under this plan, flying squadrons reported to the wing Deputy Commander for Operations and maintenance squadrons reported to the wing Deputy Commander for Maintenance
  9. ^ Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 283–284
  10. ^ a b Department of the Air Force/MPM Letter 539q, 31 January 1984, Subject: Consolidation of Units
  11. ^ a b c Station Designators in the UK from Anderson, Capt. Barry (1985). Army Air Forces Stations: A Guide to the Stations Where U.S. Army Air Forces Personnel Served in the United Kingdom During World War II (PDF). Maxwell AFB, AL: Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
  12. ^ a b c d Station Designators on the European Continent from Johnson, 1st Lt. David C. (1988). U.S. Army Air Forces Continental Airfields (ETO) D-Day to V-E Day (PDF). Maxwell AFB, AL: Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 January 2016.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

Bibliography

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

Further reading