The 44th Bomb Group in World War II: The Flying Eight-balls over Europe in the B-24 - Hardcover

The 44th Bomb Group in World War II; The "Flying Eight-Balls" over Europe in the B-24

Hardcover. Zustand: Very good. Zustand des Schutzumschlags: Very good. Presumed First Edition, First printing. The format is approximately 8.75 inches by 11.25 inches. 272 pages. Illustrated dust jacket. Illustrated endpapers. Illustrations. Index. During World War II, the 44th Bombardment Group was the first B-24 Liberator heavy bombardment group of VIII Bomber Command stationed in England. Colonel Leon W. Johnson, while commander of the 44th Bombardment Group, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Ploesti Raid on 1 August 1943. Ron Mackay's involvement with military aviation began during WWII. The local Coastal Command airfield at his birthplace of Wick in Scotland provided a wealth of RAF and USAAF designs with which to stimulate his interest that was subsequently sustained by National Service in the RAF. A working knowledge of German has expanded his field of study into the Luftwaffe. To date, he has published over 25 books covering the aforementioned Allied and Axis Air Forces that include several co-authored examples. The 44th Bomb Group, which flew the B-24 Liberator, was the "pioneer" unit for what evolved from the "Mighty Eighth's" 2nd Bomb Wing into a full-scale Bomb (and later Air) Division. The Group amassed an impressive 343 missions and won two Distinguished Unit Citations between November 1942 and April 1945, dropping nearly 19,000 tons of ordnance in the process including the legendary August 1943 Ploesti mission. These statistics were achieved at a material cost of around 200 aircraft, and a human cost of some 2,000 airmen MIA, as the 8th USAAF focused its strategic bombing campaign in the face of determined Luftwaffe opposition. The 44th Bombardment Group was one of the relatively small number of Eighth Air Force bomber units to fly the B-24 Liberator throughout the war in Europe. The unit had been formed at the start of 1941, training with the B-24. After a short period operating as a combined training unit and anti-submarine patrol unit, the 44th began to prepare for the move to Europe in August 1942, and by October had reached Shipham, Norfolk. This would remain the units main base from then until the end of the war in Europe, although a number of detachments would serve elsewhere. The 44th began operations in November 1942, attacking targets across much of occupied Europe, reaching as far as Romania and Sicily, as well as attacking targets in Germany. The first detachment was made in June 1943, when a large part of the group moved to North Africa, to support the invasion of Sicily. While there the unit took part in Operation Tidal Wave (1 August 1943), the low-level attack on the Ploesti oil fields, winning a Distinguished Unit Citation for its part in that raid (the unit's second). This first detachment returned to England at the end of August, but the group was only together for a short period of time, for a second detachment left for North Africa in September, this time to support the landings at Salerno. The group finally came back together in November 1943, and remained in action until April 1945. Its main targets were enemy airfields, oil installations and railway marshaling yards. During that period the 44th took part in the "Big Week" operations of 20-25 February 1944, designed to knock out the German aircraft industry, in the operations to support the D-Day landings, including raids on Caen and the German positions at St. Lo. During the failed attack at Arnhem the 44th flew supply drop missions, while in December 1944-January 1945 it took part in the Battle of the Bulge, attacking German communication links in and behind the battlefield. The group also flew missions to support the final Allied advance into Germany. Artikel-Nr. 90399

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