340th Bombardment Group | 9th and 12th AAF | 486th, 487th, 489th BS | theater-made patches

[walika]

340th Bombardment Group | 9th and 12th AAF
486th, 487th, 488th and 489th Bomb Squadrons

 

Constituted as 30th Bombardment Group (Medium) on 10 Aug 1942 and activated on 20 Aug. Trained with B-25’s for duty overseas. Arrived in the Mediterranean theater in Mar 1943. Assigned first to Ninth AF and later (in Aug 1943) to Twelfth. Served in combat from Apr 1943 to Apr 1945. Engaged chiefly in support and interdictory missions, but sometimes bombed strategic objectives. Targets included airfields, railroads, bridges, road junctions, supply depots, gun emplacements, troop concentrations, marshalling yards, and factories in Tunisia, Sicily, Italy, France, Austria, Bulgaria, Albania, Yugoslavia, and Greece. Also dropped propaganda leaflets behind enemy lines.

 

Participated in the reduction of Pantelleria and Lampedusa in Jun 1943, the bombing of German evacuation beaches near Messina in Jul, the establishment of the Salerno beachhead in Sep, the drive for Rome during Jan-Jun 1944, the invasion of Southern France in Aug, and attacks on the Brenner Pass and other German lines of communication in northern Italy from Sep 1941 to Apr 1945. Received a DUC for the period Apr-Aug 1943 when, although handicapped by difficult living conditions and unfavorable weather, the group supported British Eighth Army in Tunisia and Allied force in Sicily. Received second DUC for the destruction of a cruiser in the heavily defended harbor of La Spezia on 23 Sep 1944 before the ship could be used by the enemy to block the harbor's entrance. Returned to the US, Jul-Aug 1945. Inactivated on 7 Nov 1945.

SQUADRONS. 486th: 1942-1945; 487th: 1942-1945; 488th: 1942-1945; 489th: 1942-1945.

STATIONS. Columbia AAB, SC, 20 Aug 1942; Walterboro, SC, 30 Nov 1942-30 Jan 1943; El Kabrit, Egypt, Mar 1943; Medenine, Tunisia, Mar 1943; Sfax, Tunisia, Apr 1943; Hergla, Tunisia, 2 Jun 1943; Comiso, Sicily, c. 2 Aug 1943; Catania, Sicily, 27 Aug 1943; San Pancrazio, Italy, c. 15 Oct 1943; Foggia, Italy, 19 Nov 1943; Pompeii, Italy, c. 2 Jan 1944; Paestum, Italy, 23 Mar 1944; Corsica, c. 14 Apr 1944; Rimini, Italy, c. 2 Apr-27 Jul 1945; Seymour Johnson Field, NC, 9 Aug 1945.

CAMPAIGNS. Air Combat, EAME Theater; Tunisia; Sicily; Naples-Foggia; Anzio; Rome-Arno; Southern France; North Apennines; Central Europe; Po Valley.

 

 

340th Bombardment Group

 

Theater-made. Incised leather.

 

 

 

Embroidered.

 

 

486th Bombardment Squadron

 

Theater made. Embroidered on wool.

 

 

 

 

487th Bombardment Squadron

 

Theater made. Multi-piece satin/silk squares, hand-stitched forming a checkerboard, hand embroidered emblem in center. (Likely Italian)

 

 

Theater made. Multi-piece chainstitch squares, hand-stitched forming a checkerboard, hand embroidered emblem in center.

 

 

 

 

 

 

489th Bombardment Squadron

 

Theater made. incised leather, hand-painted. (Capri)

 

 

 

 

Sources:

Maurer. Air Force Combat Squadrons of World War II.

Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II.

 

340bg12aaf

486bs340g12aaf

487bs340bg12aaf

489bs340bg12aaf