489th Bomb Group

Media related to 489th Bombardment Group (United States Army Air Forces) at Wikimedia Commons

The 489th Bombardment Group, Heavy was activated as a Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber group on 1 October 1943 at Wendover Field, Utah.[5] Its original squadrons were the 844th, 845th, 846th and 847th Bombardment Squadrons.[6][7][8] Shortly after organizing, key personnel left for training with the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics in Florida, where it flew simulated combat missions in company with the 491st Bombardment Group leadership, which was at a similar point in its training.[9] The group completed combat training and departed Wendover on 3 April 1944.[5] The air echelon flew to the UK via the southern ferry route along the northern coastline of South America and across the Atlantic to Africa before heading North to England.[4] The ground echelon sailed from Boston on board the USS Wakefield on 13 April 1944, reaching Liverpool on 21 April.[10] The group moved to RAF Halesworth, England in May 1944, where it became part of Eighth Air Force.[5]

The group entered combat on 30 May 1944 with an attack on Oldenburg, Germany.[10] It then concentrated on targets striking in France to prepare for Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy. In an attack against coastal defenses near Wimereux, France on 5 June, the group's lead plane was seriously crippled by enemy fire, its pilot was killed, and the deputy group commander, Lt Col Leon Vance, who was commanding the formation, was severely wounded. Although his right foot was practically severed, Vance took control of the plane and led the group to a successful bombing of the target. He flew the damaged Liberator near the English coastline where he ordered the crew to bail out. Under the belief that one wounded crewmember could not jump, Vance ditched the plane in the English Channel and was rescued. For his action during this mission, Vance was awarded the Medal of Honor.[5][note 6]

The group supported the landings in Normandy the following day, and afterward bombed coastal defenses, airfields, bridges, railroads, and V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket launch sites (Operation Crossbow) in the campaign for France. It participated in the saturation bombing of German lines just before Operation Cobra, the breakthrough at Saint-Lô in July. The group dropped food to liberated French and to Allied forces in France during August and September, and carried food and ammunition to the Netherlands later in September.[5] For these missions, a loadmaster from IX Troop Carrier Command directed the drops from the bombers.[11] On other missions, group aircraft flew into Orleans/Bricy Airfield to deliver supplies.[12]

The 489th began flying strategic bombing missions to Germany in July, and engaged primarily in bombing strategic targets such as factories, oil refineries and storage areas, marshalling yards, and airfields in Ludwigshafen, Magdeburg, Brunswick, Saarbrücken, and other cities until November 1944.[5] At that time it was the first group in Eighth Air Force selected for redeployment to the Pacific theater and became non-operational on 14 November 1944 and most of its B-24s were assigned to other groups in England. It was relieved of assignment to the theater on 29 November 1944, and returned to the United States.[4][10]

The 489th Bomb Group returned to Bradley Field Connecticut at the end of December 1944, where most returning personnel were reassigned to other units[4] while the group moved to Lincoln Army Air Field, Nebraska. At Lincoln it again became part of Second Air Force on 22 January 1945, they were informed that previous plans for refresher training had been cancelled and instead the group and its associated 369th Air Service Group were retrained as Boeing B-29 Superfortress combat and support units. However Second Air Force did not receive redesignation orders for the group until 17 March, until which time they were compelled to maintain duplicate rosters and tables of organization, one for a heavy bombardment group of four squadrons, and one for a very heavy bombardment group of three squadrons. The readiness date for the group air echelon was set back from 1 March to 1 August 1945. The group moved to Great Bend Army Air Field, Kansas in mid-February to re-equip with the B-29,[4] and was redesignated the 489th Bombardment Group, Very Heavy in March.[5]

The group was alerted for movement overseas in the summer of 1945, but with the Japanese surrender, the group was inactivated on 17 October 1945.[5]

The Air Force reactivated the group as the Air Force Reserve Command's 489th Bomb Group on 17 October 2015, exactly 70 years after it was inactivated.[3] The 489th operates from Dyess Air Force Base near Abilene, Texas, flying Rockwell B-1 Lancers and is an associate unit of the Regular Air Force's 7th Bomb Wing, operating the same aircraft. The 489th is assigned the 307th Bomb Wing, a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress unit at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. Both the 489th and the 307th are "operationally-gained" by Air Force Global Strike Command when mobilized.[13]

• Second Air Force, 1 October 1943 – April 1944
• 95th Combat Bombardment Wing, 5 April 1944[4]
• 20th Combat Bombardment Wing, 14 August – 29 November 1944[4]
• Second Air Force, 12 December 1944 – 17 October 1945
• 307th Bomb Wing, 17 October 2015 – present[13][15]

Operational squadrons

• 345th Bomb Squadron, 17 October 2015 – present[13]
• 844th Bombardment Squadron, 1 October 1943 – 17 October 1945[6]
• 845th Bombardment Squadron, 1 October 1943 – 17 October 1945[7]
• 846th Bombardment Squadron, 1 October 1943 – 17 October 1945[7]
• 847th Bombardment Squadron, 13 October 1943 – 28 March 1945[8]

Support units

• 489th Maintenance Squadron, 17 October 2015 – Present[13]
• 489th Aerospace Medical Flight, 17 October 2015 – Present[13]
• 1st Photographic Laboratory (Bombardment Group, Very Heavy), 17 March 1944 – 17 October 1945

• Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 1943–1944[5]
• Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 1945[5]
• Rockwell B-1B Lancer, 2015–present[13]

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

• Anderson, Capt. Barry (4 March 2016). 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.
• Blue, Alan G. "Ringmasters: A History of the 491st Bombardment Group (H)" (PDF). AAHS Journal. American Aviation Historical Society. 9 (2). Retrieved 4 January 2018.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.
• Mueller, Robert (1989). Air Force Bases, Vol. I, Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982 (PDF). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-53-6.
• Watkins, Robert (2008). Battle Colors: Insignia and Markings of the Eighth Air Force in World War II. Vol. I (VIII) Bomber Command. Atglen, PA: Shiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7643-1987-7.

• Bodle, Peter (2010). The 489th Bomb Group in Suffolk: A Pictorial History of the USAAF's 489th Bombardment Group at Halesworth, During WWII. Liberator Publishing. ISBN 978-0-956180-34-6.
• Craven, Wesley F; Cate, James L, eds. (1955). The Army Air Forces in World War II (PDF). Vol. VII, Services Around the World. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. OCLC 704158.
• Freeman, Roger A. (1978) Airfields of the Eighth: Then and Now. After the Battle ISBN 0-900913-09-6
• Freeman, Roger A. (2001) The Mighty Eighth: The Colour Record. Cassell ISBN 0-304-35708-1
• Sutherland, Earl (2010). Just an 18 Year Old During World War II. Morrisville NC: LuLu. ISBN 978-1-4357-2027-5.