93rd
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The Scrapbook Archives - Hardwick, Norfolk
93rd Bomb Group
The focus of this scrapbbook is the 93rd Bombardment Group, stationed at Hardwick, Norfolk
Hardwick's first American aircraft were the B-25 Mitchells of the 310th Bombardment Group (September to November 1942), but the B-24 crews of the 93rd Bombardment Group (Heavy) which followed made it their base for the rest of the war and achieved fame on various counts. It was the oldest B-24 group in the Eighth; it flew more missions than any other bomb group in the Eighth; 'Boomerang' (sic) was the first 8AF B-24 to fly 50 missions; dubbed 'The Travelling Circus', it was the Eighth's most travelled group; it flew on the Ploesti raid and two of the five Medals of Honor awarded after that epic operation went posthumously to 93rd BG pilots(one of them the group's CO), and the first of its two Distinguished Unit Citations was the first awarded to an 8th AF group. This was for operations in North Africa, December 1942 to February 1943.
Until the end of the war the group raided a wide spread of targets in Europe, including the build-up to and support of the invasion of France. It flew petrol to France for the army when a shortage developed. The 93rd flew a total of 391 combat missions, including 41 from North Africa, and lost 140 Liberators in action.
All photographs supplied by the Second Air Division Memorial Library and private collectors. In addition, some 93rd photographs reproduced from Ted's Travelling Circus by Carroll Stewart (NE: Sun/World, 1996)
There are several good histories of the 93rd Bomb Group available for use in the 2nd Air Division Memorial Library, in addition to the standard histories of the 2nd Air Division and the 8th Air Force. Among those histories are:
Story of the 93rd BG
Stewart, C: Ted's Travelling Circus
Information about the individual bases from George H. Fox's 8th Air Force Remembered: An illustrated guide to the memorials, memorabilia and main airfields of the US 8th Air Force in England in WW2 (London: ISO Publications, 1991).
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Created 10 August 2007
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