400th Bombardment Group
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Use American English|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox military unit
|unit_name=400th Bombardment Group
(later 400th Tactical Missile Wing)
|image=B-24 front quarter top.jpg
|image_size=300
|caption=B-24 Liberator as flown by the 400th Group
|dates=1943–1944
|country={{USA}}
|branch={{air force|USA}}
|type=
|role= heavy bomber training
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|identification_symbol=165px
|identification_symbol_label=400th Bombardment Group emblem "Duke the Spook"
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The 400th Tactical Missile Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last active as the 400th Bombardment Group, a World War II Consolidated B-24 Liberator Replacement Training Unit. The unit was disbanded in 1944 in a general reorganization of Army Air Forces training units. It was reconstituted as a missile wing in 1985, but has not been active since then.
History
The group was activated as the 400th Bombardment Group, at Pyote Army Air Base, Texas on 1 March 1943, but made four moves before the end of the year. it was composed of the 608th, 609th, 610th and 611th Bombardment Squadrons.Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 683-684 It served as an Operational Training Unit (OTU) for Consolidated B-24 Liberator units until December.Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 683Maurer, Combat Units, p. 285
The OTU program involved the use of an oversized parent unit to provide cadres to “satellite groups"Craven & Cate, Introduction, p. xxxvi The OTU program was patterned after the unit training system of the Royal Air Force. It then assumed responsibility for training these new groups and oversaw their expansion with graduates of Army Air Forces Training Command schools to become effective combat units.Goss, p. 74Greer, p. 601 Phase I training concentrated on individual training in crewmember specialties. Phase II training emphasized the coordination for the crew to act as a team. The final phase concentrated on operation as a unit.Greer, p. 606
In December, the group moved to Charleston Army Air Base, South Carolina, where it became a Replacement Training Unit (RTU). Like OTUs, RTUs were oversize units, however their mission was to train individual pilots and aircrews. By the beginning of 1944, most (90%) of the AAF's combat units had been activated and almost three quarters of them had deployed overseas. With the exception of special programs, like forming Boeing B-29 Superfortress units, training “fillers” for existing units became more important than unit training.Goss, pp. 74-75 With this mission change, the 400th Group and its components were reassigned from Second Air Force to First Air Force.
However, the Army Air Forces was finding that standard military units like the 400th, which were assigned personnel and equipment based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were not proving well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit, which was manned and equipped based on the station's requirements.Goss, p. 75 Groups like the 400th Group serving as RTUs disbanded, and along with operational and supporting units at Charleston, was used to form the 113th AAF Base Unit (Bombardment (Heavy)).See Mueller, p. 89 (showing simultaneous disbanding and organization of units).
The group was reconstituted in July 1985 as the 400th Tactical Missile Wing, but has not been active since.Department of the Air Force/MPM Letter 662q, 19 Sep 85, Subject: Reconstitution, Redesignation, and Consolidation of Selected Air Force Tactical Squadrons
Lineage
=Assignments=
=Components=
- 608th Bombardment Squadron: 1 March 1943 – 10 April 1944Maurer, Combat Units, p. 683
- 609th Bombardment Squadron: 1 March 1943 – 10 April 1944
- 610th Bombardment Squadron: 1 March 1943 – 10 April 1944
- 611th Bombardment Squadron: 1 March 1943 – 10 April 1944
=Stations=
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- Pyote Army Air Base, Texas, 1 March 1943
- Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona, April 1943
- Pueblo Army Air Field, Colorado, c. 2 May 1943
- Salina Army Air Field, Kansas, 31 July 1943 – 19 September 1943
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- Alamogordo Army Airfield, New Mexico, 19 September 1943
- Charleston Army Air Field, South Carolina, 15 December 1943 – 10 April 1944
{{col-end}}
=Aircraft=
=Awards and campaigns=
| class="wikitable" | |||
| style="background:#efefef;"
! Campaign Streamer ! Campaign ! Dates ! Notes | |||
| 200px | American Theater without inscription | 1 March 1943 – 10 April 1944 | 400th Bombardment Group |
References
=Notes=
{{Reflist}}
=Bibliography=
{{Air Force Historical Research Agency}}
- {{cite book |editor=Craven, Wesley F |editor2=Cate, James L|url=http://media.defense.gov/2010/Nov/05/2001329891/-1/-1/0/AFD-101105-019.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220184358/http://media.defense.gov/2010/Nov/05/2001329891/-1/-1/0/AFD-101105-019.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 December 2016|access-date=17 December 2016 |title=The Army Air Forces in World War II|volume=VI, Men & Planes|year=1955|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago, IL|oclc=704158| lccn=48003657}}
- : {{cite book|last=Goss|first=William A. |editor=Craven, Wesley F. |editor2=Cate, James L. |url= https://media.defense.gov/2010/Nov/05/2001329890/-1/-1/0/AFD-101105-012.pdf|access-date=17 December 2016 |title=The Army Air Forces in World War II|volume=VI, Men & Planes|year=1955|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago, IL|oclc=704158| lccn=48003657|chapter=The Organization and its Responsibilities, Chapter 2 The AAF}}
- : {{cite book|last=Greer|first=Thomas H.| editor=Craven, Wesley F.|editor2=Cate, James L.|url= https://media.defense.gov/2010/Nov/05/2001329890/-1/-1/0/AFD-101105-012.pdf |access-date=December 17, 2016 |title=The Army Air Forces in World War II|volume=VI, Men & Planes|year=1955|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago, IL|oclc=704158| lccn=48003657|chapter=Recruitment and Training, Chapter 18 Combat Crew and Unit Training}}
- {{cite book|editor=Maurer, Maurer|title=Air Force Combat Units of World War II|orig-year= 1961|url= http://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330256/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-044.pdf|archive-url= https://archive.today/20210115181723/https://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330256/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-044.pdf|url-status= dead|archive-date= 15 January 2021|access-date= 17 December 2016|edition=reprint|year=1983|publisher= Office of Air Force History|location=Washington, DC|isbn=0-912799-02-1|lccn=61060979}}
- {{cite book|editor=Maurer, Maurer|title=Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II|orig-year=1969|url= http://media.defense.gov/2010/Dec/02/2001329899/-1/-1/0/AFD-101202-002.pdf|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161220180455/http://media.defense.gov/2010/Dec/02/2001329899/-1/-1/0/AFD-101202-002.pdf|url-status= dead|archive-date= 20 December 2016|edition= reprint|year=1982|publisher=Office of Air Force History|location=Washington, DC|isbn=0-405-12194-6|oclc=72556|lccn=70605402}}
External links
{{USAAF 1st Air Force World War II}}
{{USAAF 2d Air Force World War II}}
Category:Military units and formations established in 1985