B 17 Flying Fortress 43-38072 of the 490th BG

Boeing B-17G-75-BO 43-38072 of the 490th BG, 850th Bomb Squadron

490th Bomb Group (Heavy)

Overview and Command Assignments

Assigned to Eighth Air Force: April 1944
Wing & Command Assignments:
- 3rd Bombardment Division (BD), 93rd Combat Bomb Wing (CBW): 7 April 1944
- 3rd Air Division (AD), 93rd CBW: 1 January 1945

Component Squadrons

848th Bombardment Squadron (H)
849th Bombardment Squadron (H)
850th Bombardment Squadron (H): Transferred to 801st BG(P) on 11 May 1944 and reformed in the 490th BG on 12 August 1944.
851st Bombardment Squadron (H)

Combat Aircraft

B-24H Liberator: From block 20
B-24J Liberator: Used until 6 August 1944
B-17G Flying Fortress: From block 80-BO, in combat from 27 August 1944

Station

Eye, Suffolk, England: 26 April 1944 – 24 August 1945 (Air echelon in 28 April – 1 June 1944)

Group Commanding Officers (COs)

Col Lloyd H. Watnee: 30 December 1943 – 25 June 1944
Col Frank P. Bostrom: 26 June 1944 – c. 9 June 1945
Col Gene H. Tibbets: c. 10 June 1945 – c. 9 July 1945

Mission Details

First Mission: 31 May 1944
Last Mission: 20 April 1945
Total Missions: 158 (40 in B-24s)
Total Credit Sorties: 5,060
Total Bomb Tonnage: 12,407.4 tons (including 8.9 tons of leaflets, etc.)
Aircraft Missing in Action (MIA): 22
Other Operational Losses: 32
Enemy Aircraft Claims: 4 destroyed, 0 probably destroyed, 1 damaged

Claims to Fame

Lowest MIA Losses: The 490th Bomb Group recorded the lowest MIA losses of any Eighth Air Force bomb group in combat over an extended period.

History and Deployment

Activated: 1 October 1943 at Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah.
Training: Conducted at Mountain Home Army Air Field, Idaho, from December 1943 to April 1944.
Deployment to UK:
- Ground echelon left for Camp Shanks, New York, on 11 April 1944, and sailed on Nieu Amsterdam on 15 April 1944, arriving in Clyde, Scotland, on 25 April 1944.
- Air echelon began overseas movement on 12 April 1944, taking the southern ferry route through Florida, Trinidad, Brazil, Dakar, and Marrakech to the UK.

Redeployment and Inactivation

Redeployment to the USA: July/August 1945.
- Aircraft left Eye on 6 and 8 July 1945.
- Ground echelon sailed from Southampton on Queen Elizabeth on 26 August 1945, arriving in New York on 1 September 1945.
- Personnel received 30 days R&R.
- The group was reestablished at Drew Field, Florida, on 3 September 1945, and was inactivated there on 7 November 1945.

Aircraft Markings and Color Schemes

B-24H/J Liberators (April – August 1944)

Original Paint Scheme:
- Dark Olive Drab and Neutral Gray factory finish, although some natural metal-finish B-24Js were assigned before operations began.
- Square T Group Marking:
  - Painted on the outer surfaces of the tail fins, 48 inches square with a 40-inch high letter “T”.
  - On the upper surface of the right wing, the marking measured 78 inches by 57 inches, with the letter being 48 inches high.
  - Colors on camouflaged aircraft were Insignia Blue or black on white, and white on black for bare metal finish.
  - Sometimes, the “T” on a bare metal finish was created by masking it when paint-sprayed.
- Call Letters: 12 inches high, painted below the tail number in yellow on olive drab and in black on bare metal. The squadrons used letters in alphabetical order from “A” without exclusions.
High-Visibility Markings (introduced late June 1944):
- The top third of the fin and rudder was painted red (in practice, the top 48 inches).
- Natural metal aircraft had the remainder of the fin and rudder left unpainted, while camouflaged aircraft had this painted white.
- The 24-inch high call letter was painted in black lower on the fin, accompanied by a symbol where appropriate:
  - 848th Bomb Squadron: A bar before the letter.
  - 849th Bomb Squadron: No symbol.
  - 851st Bomb Squadron: A plus sign before the letter.
  - The 850th Bomb Squadron was transferred for special duties and did not fly combat in the 490th BG with B-24s.
- The Square T marking was eventually removed from the right wing on most of the group’s B-24s.

B-17G Flying Fortresses (August 1944 – August 1945)

Natural Metal Finish: All combat aircraft were in natural metal finish.
Group Marking:
- The top third of the vertical tail was painted red, extending down 52 inches, approximately 6 inches above the top central rudder hinge.
- For unknown reasons, the tail number was removed, and the 24-inch high individual aircraft call letter was positioned to the rudder end of the tail number’s original location.
- The tail number was repainted in 10-inch high figures above the call letter.
- Squadron symbols were painted adjacent to call letters in bold strokes:
  - 851st Bomb Squadron: Plus sign, occupying an area approximately 12 inches square.
  - 848th Bomb Squadron: Bar, approximately 18 inches long by 12 inches, more a block than a bar.
  - The 850th Bomb Squadron reformed in the 490th BG had a black block marking similar to the 848th but positioned after the call letter.
- Combat Bomb Wing Markings:
  - The 490th BG’s B-17s carried the 93rd Combat Bomb Wing’s red stripes around wings and tailplane, to standard dimensions and positions:
    - 48 inches wide, placed at the outer wing section join.
    - 36 inches on the horizontal tail surfaces, halfway along the elevator.
- In mid-May 1945, the group painted 48-inch squadron codes with call letters under the left wing as follows:
  - 848th Bomb Squadron: 7W
  - 849th Bomb Squadron: W8
  - 850th Bomb Squadron: 7Q
  - 851st Bomb Squadron: S3