Need Mission Lists For 44th, 93rd, & 389 Bomb Groups

[Old MacDonald]

(Not sure I'm posting in correct forum; moderator please move if necessary)

Need 1942-1943 mission lists for the three main 8th Air Force B-24 bomb groups in existence at that time: the 44th, 93rd, and 389th Bomb Groups. Specifically looking for the:

• date,
  
• target,
  
• # aircraft,
• # lost
  
• for each mission during this period.

Have already checked many website and dozens of books (expected to find it in one of Freeman's books, but did not), but can find only pieces of this information--not all of it.

Can you point me in the right direction? Thanks much!

 

[Tony Kambic]

For the 389th BG, try: The Sky Scorpions The Story of the 389th Bomb Group in WWII, by Paul Wilson and Ron Mackay. 2006 Schiffer Publications

 

[Old MacDonald]

Hi Tony

Thanks for the suggestion. I have that book in my personal library and it's literally the first place I looked. Unfortunately it lists only the date and target, but does not include the number of sorties or losses for each mission. This is what I was referring to in my original question--a number of sources have part of t information, usually the date and target. None that I've found include the number of sorties or losses per mission. Nonetheless, I appreciate your trying to help.

 

[fubar57]

I have the 44th BG "Roll of Honor & Casualties" PDF It has missions but only the aircraft lost and casualties. 400+ pages long. The 93rd BG PDF isn't so comprehensive, more of a photo album and 95pgs long.

 

[Old MacDonald]

Hi FUBAR,

Thanks. I too have the 44th ROH; in fact I was a contributor to it oh so long ago. Will Lundy lived about two miles from me back then. You're right; like the Schiffer histories of the 389th and 44th, only dates and targets are included. Will has some losses included in the text, but in most cases no info on number of aircraft participating.

 

[YGBSM]

Online, the best site for mission info is: Research

For a book, the best is The Mighty Eighth War Diary by Roger Freeman. It's out of print but used copies are still floating around out there.

 

[Old MacDonald]

Hi YGBSM (great acronym!)

Thanks for your suggestion. I've had that book since it was originally published and checked it before posting here. Unfortunately it includes only aggregate data, which is not broken out by bomb group in most cases. I've also checked all Roger's other books and none of them have what I need either.

 

[YGBSM]

Did you try the "Research" link I posted above? It links to the "Eighth Air Force Historical Society" website and allows you to search mission records by group, date, target type, etc.

Here is a snippet from the mission log of the 44th Bombardment Group (found by clicking on "Groups" and then picking it from the menu):

Clicking on the dates links to specifics regarding each mission.

I've also attached the source document that this website uses, THE ARMY AIR FORCES IN WORLD WAR II: COMBAT CHRONOLOGY, which is the companion work to the seven-volume The Army Air Forces in World War II. Both of these were produced by the Center for Air Force History and as such are official histories.

The website above is nice because it allows contextual searches whereas you'd have to compile the same information manually from the document (the issue you mentioned earlier).