392nd Bombardment Group 1943 - 1945

The 392nd Bombardment Group of the 2nd Air Division, 14th Combat Wing, Station #118, Wendling, England was the fourth oldest and first B-24 "H" Liberator unit to be assigned to the Eighth Air Force, European Theater of operations. From its first combat operation in September 1943 until the last in April 1945, it was to distinguish itself on numerous occasions during the 285 combat missions flown against Nazi Germany. Its aircrews, supported by highly dedicated ground echelon personnel, were to deliver 17,392 tons of bombs on enemy targets by 7,404 individual sorties, ranking high in the top percentile of bombing efficiency of all Eighth Air Force bombardment units. The confirmed 238 enemy aircraft claims and the unit's operational losses of 184 aircraft and 1602 airmen casualties, killed in action, missing in action or wounded, stand as somber statistics on the intensity of air combat to which all men of the 392nd were committed with accreditation to themselves and the unit.

The 392nd had its early beginnings with the formation of the Group by Special Order Number 14, Headquarters Second Air Force, Fort George Wright, Washington, dated 26 January 1943. The cadre forming the unit came primarily from the 34th and 39th Bombardment Groups and the 18th Replacement Wing. The first Commanding Officer was Lieutenant Colonel Irvine A. Rendle of Rawlings, Wyoming who had formerly commanded the 34th Bombardment Group; a flying officer with over eleven years prior experience in all types of aircraft and ability as a proven leader. The first Air Executive Officer was Major Lorin L. Johnson, formerly of the 19th Bombardment Group and a resident of Payson, Utah, selected from Topeka Air Base, Kansas. Major Joseph Bush of Boise, Idaho was chosen as the Ground Executive Officer and the Adjutant, Captain John Fritsche of New York, rounded out the Command Section of personnel selected to head the 392nd. Other operational personnel accompanying Colonel Rendle from the 34th were the Group Operations Officer, Captain Lawrence G. Gilbert; Group Bombardier, First Lieutenant Joseph B. Whittaker of Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania; Group Navigator, First Lieutenant Kenneth I. Paddock and Group S-4 Officer, Captain Harold G. Finch. Major Robert M. Holland, Group Flight Surgeon, Captain Percy B. Caley, Intelligence Officer, Captain Edin Reed, Photo Interpreter and First Lieutenant Elder, Group Communications Officer who joined on 29 April, came from other units and completed the initial cadre of 392nd personnel forming at Davis-Monthan Air Base, Tucson, Arizona.

Initial training began at Davis-Monthan in February and during March 1943 key personnel of the Flying Echelon attended AAFSAT at Orlando, Florida while the Ground Echelon was assembling at Biggs Air Base, El Paso, Texas preparatory for further phase training at Alamogordo, New Mexico. Group training continued there and on 16 July 1943 an Advance Party comprised of Lieutenant Colonel Rendle, Captain Gilbert, Captain Caley and First Lieutenant Elder departed Tokepa Air Base, Kansas for England. Their route of flight took them via New York, Goose Bay, Labrador, Iceland, Scotland and the United Kingdom where they reported to Eighth Air Force Headquarters on 22 April 1943. The Advance Party proceeded from there to the Second Combat Wing Headquarters and, then, to several operational Groups for orientation on combat operations while awaiting arrival of the flying and ground elements of the 392nd.

In the meantime, the Flying Echelon had proceeded to Topeka Air Base under command of Major Johnson and awaited assignment of new B-24 'H' aircraft to ferry to their overseas station from this Aerial Port of Debarkation. On 18 July, the Ground Echelon departed Alamogordo, arriving Camp Shanks on the 20th and 21st of July, and boarding the Queen Mary on 24 July. After an uneventful crossing, the Ground party docked at Greenock, Scotland on 30 July and closed to their overseas base of Wendling, England on 1 August 1943 where they were greeted by the Advanced Party. Wendling, which was to be the home of the 392nd for nearly two years, was located six miles west of the town of East Dereham on Route A-47 toward Swaffham. The airbase was nestled in the gently rolling English country side of East Anglia, approximately one and one-half miles northwest of Wendling and surrounded by the small village parrish of Beeston. The base was identified as Army Air Force Station Number 118.

Back at Topeka Air Base, aircrews of the four bombardment squadrons — the 576th, 577th, 578th and 579th — were awaiting flight departures to Wendling during early August. The 579th Bombardment Squadron was the first unit to receive its nine (9) new B-24s and the first to take-off. As the new Liberators were assigned to fill up their aircraft complement, the remaining squadrons proceeded behind the 579th. The 576th and 579th aircrews were routed to Wendling via Iceland while the 577th and 578th squadron crews flew via Gander Air Base, Newfoundland, direct Scotland on into Wendling. The first aircraft of the 579th arrived their new base on 15 August and all remaining of the original thirty-five (35) aircrews had closed by the 21st. For the next three wdeks, the unit engaged in intensive training for their first baptism in combat operations which was to come against a target at Abbeyville, France on 9 September 1943 and engaged primarily in bombardment of strategic objectives on the European continent until April 1945. Attacked such targets as oil refineries, marshaling yards, railroad viaducts, steel plants, tank factories and gas works..

Participated in the intensive campaign against the German aircraft industry during the "Big Week," 20-25 February 1944.

The Group's outstanding mission was the mission on 24 February 1944 to the Gotha Waggenfabrik at Gotha, Germany, the largest twin engine fighter plant in the Reich. The 392nd ships fought their way into the target and dropped 98 percent of their bombs within 2,000 feet, completely destroying the target. Lt. Col. Lorin L. Johnson was the command pilot for the 392nd and 14th Bombardment Wing formation. The group was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation for destroying an aircraft factory in Gotha, Germany.

The 392nd flew its 100th mission on 6 June 1944-D-Day. The target-The Invasion Beach, France. The 392nd was cited by Maj. Gen. James P. Hodges for a degree of bombing accuracy on its 100 missions consistently better than that of any other unit of the 2nd Air Division.

Bombed airfields and V-weapon launching sites in France prior to the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944, struck coastal defenses and choke-points on D-day in addition to supporting ground forces and carrying out interdictory operations. Hit enemy positions to assist ground forces at St. Lo, France, during the breakthrough in July 1944.

Bombed railroads, bridges and highways to cut off German supply lines during the "Battle of the Bulge" December 1944 - January 1945. Dropped supplies to Allied troops during the airborne landings at Eindhoven and Nijmegen, Holland, in September 1944, and during the airborne assault across the River Rhine in March 1945. Flew last combat mission on 25 April 1945, then carried food to the Dutch.

The group flew 285 combat missions, suffering 1552 casualties including 832 killed in action or line of duty and 184 aircraft lost.

As the curtain rang down on the war for the strategic Bombardment Groups of the Eighth Air Force, the men of Station # 118 at Wendling could reflect back with justifiable pride on the previous nineteen months and sixteen days of combat operations credited to the 392nd since the Liberators took to the air on their first mission, September 9th, 1943. The bombing record of the fourth oldest B-24 Group to be assigned to the Eighth would go down as an excellent one - ranking well above the average in comparison with all other bomber units. But, the persistency and determination with which its aircrews had fought their bombers through to attack some of the toughest targets in Hitler's Nazi Germany had also cost a grisly toll of men and aircraft. Those who never returned would not be forgotten by their comrades who, through God's fortune, did come back from it all.

In June 1945 the group returned to the United States and was inactivated at Charleston AAF in South Carolina in September of the same year.

Redesignated 392nd Bombardment Group (Light) in June 1949. Inactivated on 10 November 1949. In the 1950s, squadrons of this group activated as missile experimental and training units in Strategic Air Command.

SQUADRONS: 576th, 577th, 578th and 579th.

STATIONS: Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona, 26 January 1943 - 28 February 1943; Biggs Field, Texas, 1 March 1943 - 17 April 1943; Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico, 18 April 1943 - 18 July 1943; Wendling Airfield, Norfolk, England, July 1943 - 15 July 1945; Charleston Army Air Field, South Carolina, 25 June - 13 September 1945; Barksdale Field, Louisiana, 30 July 1947 - 10 November 1949.

COMMANDERS: Col. Irvine A. Rendle, 26 January 1943 - 20 June 1944; Col. Lorin L. Johnson, 21 June 1944 - 26 May 1945; Lt. Col. Lawrence G. Gilbert, 27 May 1945 - 13 September 1945.

CAMPAIGNS: Air Offensive Europe; Normandy; Northern France; Rhineland; Ardennes-Alsace; Central Europe. Flew 285 missions between 9 September 1943 and 25 April 1945, and dropped 17,452 tons of bombs. Completed 7,060 sorties., Lost 127 B-24s in combat, 57 in other operations., 144 enemy aircraft claimed as destroyed, 45 probable, 49 damaged. Lost 832 men killed, lost 447 men as prisoners of war, internees and evadees/escapees. Total Casualties 1,602.