346th Bombardment Group

History

Heavy bomber training unit

The group was first activated at Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah in September 1942, with the 502d, 503d, 504th and 505th Bombardment Squadrons assigned The following month, it moved to Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas, where it began operating as an Operational Training Unit (OTU). The Army Air Forces (AAF) OTU program involved the use of an oversized parent unit to provide cadres to "satellite groups". Initially, the group's 503d and 504th Squadrons were equipped with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, but by the end of the year, the group was entirely equipped with the Consolidated B-24 Liberator.

With the Liberator, the mission changed to acting as a Replacement Training Unit (RTU). In response, the group's squadrons lost their aircraft and the training mission was concentrated in group headquarters in October 1943. Ultimately, The AAF adopted a functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit, which would be manned and organized specifically for the mission. The 346th Group and its squadrons were inactivated on 1 April 1944, along with support organizations at Dyersburg Army Air Base, Tennessee, and replaced by the 223d AAF Base Unit (Combat Crew Training Station, Bombardment, Heavy)

Very heavy bomber operations

The group was reactivated at Dalhart Army Air Field, Texas in August 1944 as a very heavy bomber unit. The group trained with Boeing B-29 Superfortress at Dalhart and at Pratt Army Air Field, Kansas until late June 1945, when it departed the United States for the Pacific Theater.

The group did not arrive at its combat station, Kadena Airfield, on Okinawa until 7 August 1945 and the war ended before it could participate in combat operations, After the war the group participated in several show-of-force missions over Japan and for a time ferried Allied prisoners of war from Okinawa to the Philippine Islands. It served with the occupation forces until it was inactivated in June 1946.

Lineage

• Constituted as the 346th Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 3 September 1942 : Activated on 7 September 1942 : Inactivated on 1 April 1944
• Redesignated 346th Bombardment Group, Very Heavy on 4 August 1944 : Activated on 18 August 1944 : Inactivated on 30 June 1946

Assignments

• II Bomber Command (attached to 46th Bombardment Operational Training Wing after 26 February 1943), 7 September 1942 – 1 April 1944
• II Bomber Command (attached to 17th Bombardment Operational Training Wing), 18 August 1944
• 316th Bombardment Wing, 31 July 1945 – 30 June 1946

Components

• 461st Bombardment Squadron, 18 August 1944 – 30 June 1946
• 462d Bombardment Squadron, 18 August 1944 – 30 June 1946
• 463d Bombardment Squadron, 18 August 1944 – 30 June 1946
• 502d Bombardment Squadron, 7 September 1942 – 1 April 1944
• 503d Bombardment Squadron, 7 September 1942 – 1 April 1944
• 504th Bombardment Squadron, 7 September 1942 – 1 April 1944
• 505th Bombardment Squadron, 7 September 1942 – 1 April 1944
• 32d Photographic Laboratory (Bombardment Group, Very Heavy), c. 18 August 1944 – c. 30 June 1946

Stations

• Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah, 7 September 1942
• Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas, 3 October 1942
• Dyersburg Army Air Base, Tennessee, 26 February 1943 – 1 April 1944
• Dalhart Army Air Field, Texas, 18 August 1944
• Pratt Army Air Field, Kansas, 18 January – 29 June 1945
• Kadena Airfield, Okinawa 7 August 1945 – 30 June 1946

Aircraft flown

• Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942
• Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 1942-1943
• Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 1944-1946

Campaign and service streamers

References

Notes

Bibliography

References

1. Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', pp. 605-608
2. Maurer, ''Combat Units'', pp.224-225
3. Craven & Cate, Introduction, p. xxxvi
4. Like the OTUs, RTUs were oversized units, but their mission was to train individual [[aircrew]]s, rather than units. However, the AAF was finding that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible [[tables of organization]] were not well adapted to the training mission.Goss, p. 75
5. ''See'' Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', pp. 605-608. (end of squadron replacement training mission in October 1943 and no aircraft assigned after 1943).
6. Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 568-569
7. Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 569-570
8. ''See'' Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', pp. 568 -570 (redesignation of component squadrons)
9. Lineage in Maurer, ''Combat Units'', pp.224-225, except as noted.
10. (4 October 2007). "Factsheet 17 Air Division". Air Force Historical Research Agency.
11. (October 12, 2007). "Factsheet 316 Air Division". Air Force Historical Research Agency.
12. Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 605
13. Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 606
14. Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 607
15. Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 607-608