Air Force Combat Units of WWII

318 AIR FORCE COMBAT UNITS OF WORLD WAR I11949; Donaldson AFB, SC, 9 Aug 1951-I Feb 1953.COMMANDERS. Maj Elmer F Estrumse,5 Oct 1943; Lt Col Charles D Farr, 13 Mar1944; Lt Col Loren Cornell, 16 May 1944;Col Thomas J Schofield, I Nov 1944; ColHerbert A Bott, 12 Apr 1945; Col FrederickL Moore, 11 Sep 1945; Lt Col JackF Marr, Dec-c. 26 Dec 1945. Col JamesB Henson, I May 1951; Maj Clifford FHarris, c. 15 Dec 1952-1 Feb 1953.CAMPAIGNS. India-Burma; China Defensive;Central Burma; China Offensive.DECORATIONS. Distinguished Unit Citation:China, 5-30 Sep 1945.INSIGNE. None.444th BOMBARDMENT GROUPConstituted as 444th BombardmentGroup (Heavy) on 15 Feb 1943. Activatedon I Mar 1943. Redesignated 444thBombardment Group (Very Heavy) inNov 1943. Trained with B-17, B-3, andB-26 aircraft, and later with B-29's.Moved to India, via Africa, Mar-Apr 1944.Assigned to Twentieth AF on 29 Jun 1944.Flew supplies over the Hump to Chinesebases that its B-29's were to use for stagingattacks on Japan. On 15 Jun 1944 participatedin the first AAF strike on theJapanese home islands since the Doolittleraid in 1942. Bombed transportation centers,naval installations, aircraft plants,and other targets in Burma, China, Thailand,Japan, and Formosa. Conducted adaylight raid against iron and steel worksat Yawata, Japan, in Aug 1944, beingawarded a DUC for the mission. Evacuatedstaging fields in China in Jan 1945but continued operations from India,bombing targets in Thailand and miningwaters around Singapore.Moved to Tinian in the spring of 1945for further operations against targets inJapan. Participated in bombardment ofstrategic objectives and in incendiary raidson urban areas for the duration of the war.Received a DUC for attacking oil storagefacilities at Oshima, bombing an aircraftplant near Kobe, and dropping incendiarieson Nagoya, in May 1945. Strucklight metal industries at Osaka in Julrg45,receiving another DUC for this action.Returned to the US late in 1945. Assignedto Strategic Air Command on 21 Mar 1946.Znactivuted on I Oct 1946.SQUADRONS. 344th: 1945-1946. 409th:1946. 676th: 1943-1946. 677th: 1943-1946. 678th (later 10th) : 1943-1946. '679th: 1943-1944. 825th: 1945.STATIONS. Davis-Monthan Field, Ariz,I Mar 1943; Great Bend AAFld, Kan, 29Jul 1943-12 Mar 1944; Charra, India, 11Apr 1944; Dudhkundi, India, I Jul1944-IMar 1945; West Field, Tinian, 7 Apr-28Sep 1945; Merced AAFld, Calif, 15 Nov1945; Davis-Monthan Field, Ariz, 6 May-1Oct 1946.COMMANDERS. Maj Arthur T[ 21 Snell,28 Mar 1943; Maj Walter W Cross, 17 Apr1943; Col Aha L Harvey, 5 Aug 1943;Col Henry R Sullivan, 22 Apr 1945; ColJames C Selser Jr, 3 Jun 1945-1 Oct 1946.CAMPAIGNS. American Theater; India-Burma; Air Offensive, Japan; China De-'