456th Bombardment Group

Constituted as 456th Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 14 May 1943. Activated on 1 Jun 1943. Trained with B-24s for duty overseas. Moved to Italy, Dec 1943-Jan 1944. Began combat with Fifteenth AF in Feb 1944, operating chiefly against strategic targets until late in Apr 1945. Early operations included attacks against such objectives as marshalling yards, aircraft factories, railroad bridges, and airdromes in Italy, Austria, and Rumania.

Received a DUC for performance at Wiener Neustadt on 10 May 1944: when other groups turned back because of adverse weather, the 456th proceeded to the target and, withstanding repeated attacks by enemy interceptors, bombed the manufacturing center. Helped to prepare the way for and supported the invasion of Southern France during Jul and Aug 1944. At the same time, expanded previous operations to include attacks on oil refineries and storage facilities, locomotive works, and viaducts in France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria, and the Balkans.

Received second DUC for a mission in Hungary on 2 Jul 1944 when the group braved severe fighter attacks and antiaircraft fire to bomb oil facilities at Budapest. In Apr 1945 bombed gun positions, bridges, roads, depots, and rail lines to support US Fifth and British Eighth Army in their advance through Italy. Transported supplies to airfields in northern Italy after V-E Day.

Squadrons

744th: 1943-1945
745th: 1943-1945
746th: 1943-1945
747th: 1943-1945

Stations

Wendover Field, Utah, 1 Jun 1943
Gowen Field, Idaho, 14 Jul 1943
Bruning AAFld, Neb, c. 30 Jul 1943
Kearns, Utah, c. 11 Sep 1943
Muroc AAB, Calif, Oct-Dec 1943
Cerignola, Italy, Jan 1944
Stornara, Italy, Jan 1944-Jul 1945
Sioux Falls AAFld, SD, 1 Aug 1945
Smoky Hill AAFld, Kan, 17 Aug-17 Oct 1945

Commanders

Unkn, 1 Jun-14 Jul 1943
Col Thomas W Steed, 14 Jul 1943
Lt Col Joseph G Russell, 16 Jul 1944
Col Thomas W Steed, Oct 1944
Lt Col Robert C Whipple, c. 19 May 1945-unkn
Col George E Henry, 31 Aug 1945
Col John W White, 4 Sep 1945-unkn

Campaigns

Air Combat, EAME Theater
Air Offensive, Europe
Rome-Arno; Normandy
Northern France
Southern France
North Apennines
Rhineland
Central Europe
Po Valley

Decorations

Distinguished Unit Citations:
Neustadt, Austria, 10 May 1944
Budapest, Hungary, 2 Jul 1944

Insigne. Shield: Azure, a bar gemel debased argent over-all on a pile quarterly of the second and gules four stylized birds counterchanged. (Approved 7 Jul 1953.)

Missing Air Crew Reports

Missing Air Crew Reports also known as MACRs are reports of US aircraft that went down, via enemy action or mechanical issues, behind enemy lines. These reports detailed the aircraft and crew along with their disposition; there were statements and eyewitness reports if available describing what they saw. The majority of these reports were completed in the years following the conclusion of World War II. This was so that the survivors who had become prisoners of war could provide statements of the events of that day. These reports differ from accident reports in that those documented aircraft that crashed on take off or landing; these events happened on allied lines.

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