458th Bomb Group
GroupRoger Freeman Collection image text.
The 458th Bomb Group (H) entered combat with the 8th Air Force in February 1944. Based at Horsham St. Faith in England, the combat crews participated in the decisive Campaigns 'Big Week', 'Big B', D-Day and the assault on Germany's oil industry waged by the USAAF up to VE-Day. The group also tested the operational use of 'Azon' radio-controlled bombs. The 458th flew a total of 240 missions, during which over 13,000 tons of ordnance was dropped, and was achieved at the cost of sixty-five crews MIA or involved in operational accidents. In the fall of 1944 the Group ceased bombing missions during to haul petrol to airfields in France as the Allies supply lines could not keep up with the rate at which the armies were moving eastwards.
Browse 458th Bomb Group photographs and other documents in the 2nd Air Division Memorial Library digital archive here: www.2ndair.org.uk/digitalarchive/Dashboard/Index/44
Connections
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Unit stations
Station | Location | Date |
---|---|---|
Based |
Horsham St Faith | 29 January 1944 - 3 June 1945 |
Encompassing
People
Aircraft
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Revisions
This is a much more comprehensive history highlight of the 458th as a unit than what was previously printed. The prior text made it seem like the group came in on the heels of the 457th BG, and only flew diversion missions and gas hauls in late 1944. Please feel free to contact me [email protected].
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database / The Mighty Eighth. A History of the Units, Men and Machines of the US 8th Air Force.' by Roger A. Freeman (1989). 'Air Force Combat Units of World War II' compiled by the Department of the US Air Force, edited by Maurice Maurer (1983). / Units in the UK from ETOUSA Station List, as transcribed by Lt. Col. Philip Grinton (US Army, Retired) and extracted by IWM; air division data from L.D. Underwood, based on the 8th Air Force Strength Report of 6th August 1944, as published in 'The 8th Air Force Yearbook' by Lt. Col. John H Woolnough (1980)