88th Bombardment Group

88th Bombardment Group
88th Bombardment Group
	B-17 Flying Fortress flown by the group
Active	1942–1944
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	heavy bomber training
Motto(s)	Power to Shatter
Insignia
88th Bombardment Group emblem

The 88th Bombardment Group is an inactive

tables of organization

.

History

The 88th Bombardment Group was activated in July 1942 at

399th Bombardment Squadrons as its operational components.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^{[note 2]}

The

Avon Park Army Air Field, Florida in November, becoming part of Third Air Force.^[1]

However, the AAF was finding that standard military units like the 88th Group, whose equipment and manning were based on relatively inflexible

tables of organization were not well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit.^[7] As a result, the group and supporting units at Avon Park were inactivated on 1 May 1944,^[1] and replaced by the 325th AAF Base Unit (Replacement Training, Bombardment, Heavy).^[8]^[9]

Lineage

Constituted as the 88th Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 28 January 1942

Activated on 15 July 1942

Inactivated on 1 May 1944 [1]

Assignments

17th Bombardment Operational Training Wing) after c. 1 November 1942)^[10]

Second Air Force, 6 October 1943 (attached to 17th Bombardment Operational Training Wing)^[10]
III Bomber Command, c. 9 November 1943 – 1 May 1944

Components

316th Bombardment Squadron: 15 July 1942 – 1 May 1944^[2]
317th Bombardment Squadron: 15 July 1942 – 1 May 1944^[3]
318th Bombardment Squadron: 15 July 1942 – 1 May 1944^[4]
399th Bombardment Squadron: 15 July 1942 – 1 May 1944^[5]

Stations

Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah, 15 July 1942
Geiger Field, Washington, 1 September 1942
Walla Walla Army Air Base, Washington, 21 September 1942
Rapid City Army Air Base
, South Dakota, c. 28 October 1942
Walla Walla Army Air Base, Washington, c. 28 November 1942
Avon Park Army Air Field, Florida, c. 9 November 1943 – 1 May 1944^[1]

Aircraft

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942-1944

Campaigns

Campaign Streamer	Campaign	Dates	Notes
	American Theater without inscription	15 July 1942 – 1 May 1944	^[1]

References

Notes

Explanatory notes

^ Approved 7 January 1943.
^ The squadron was constituted as the 9th Reconnaissance Squadron, but was redesignated before being activated. Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp.489-490.

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Maurer, Combat Units, p. 154
^ ^a ^b Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 384-385
^ ^a ^b Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 386
^ ^a ^b Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 388
^ ^a ^b Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 489-490
^ ^a ^b Craven & Cate, Introduction, p. xxxvi
^ Goss, p. 75
^ "Abstract, History Avon Park Army Air Field". Air Force History Index. 1 September 1944. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
^ "Abstract, History Avon Park Army Air Field". Air Force History Index. 1 October 1944. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Factsheet 17 Air Division". Air Force Historical Research Agency. 4 October 2007. Archived from the original on 30 October 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2014.

Bibliography

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

Craven, Wesley F.; Cate, James L., eds. (1955). The Army Air Forces in World War II (PDF). Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
OCLC 704158
. Retrieved 17 December 2016.