User:Buckboard/Draft: 91st

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91st Bombardment Group
Activeapril 14, 1942
CountryUnited States
BranchUnited States Army Air Forces
TypeHeavy bombardment group
RoleStrategic bombardment
Size50-60 aircraft, 3,000 personnel
Part ofEighth Air Force
Garrison/HQRAF Bassingbourn, UK

The 91st Bomb Group, (Heavy) was an air combat unit of the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War. A heavy bombardment group, the 91st operated B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft and were known unofficially as "The Ragged Irregulars". The 91st Bomb Group is most noted as the unit in which the bomber Memphis Belle flew.

The 91st Bomb Group conducted 340 bombing missions from England while assigned to the Eighth Air Force. Inactivated at the end of the war, the group was activated in 1947 as a reconnaissance group of the United States Air Force, and then had its lineage and honors bestowed on like-numbered wings of the Strategic Air Command and the Air Force Space Command.


Organization of the 91st Bomb Group (H)[edit]

The 91st Bomb Group, (Heavy) was activated on April 14, 1942, by General Order 31 of the Third Air Force. The wartime staff and organization of the group follows:

Group Commanders of the 91st Bomb Group: 1st Lt. Edward R. Akert (April 15, 1942—May 15, 1942), Col. Stanley T. Wray, (May 15, 1942—May 22, 1943), LtCol. William M. Reid, (May 22, 1943—June 25, 1943), LtCol. Clemens L. Wurzbach (June 25, 1943—December 12, 1943), Col. Claude E. Putnam (December 12, 1943—May 16, 1944), Col. Henry W. Terry (May 17, 1944—May 30, 1945), Col. Donald E. Sheeler (May 30, 1945—June 23, 1945). Col. Sheeler, while Operations Officer, was also in temporary command from November 15, 1944, to December 30, 1944, in the absence of Col. Terry.

Deputy Group Commanders (air echelon commanders): LtCol. Baskin R. Lawrence, Jr. (May 16, 1942—May 1, 1943); LtCol. William M. Reid (May 1, 1943—May 22, 1943), unk May 23, 1943—September 13, 1943, LtCol. Theodore R. Milton (September 13, 1943—October 23, 1944); LtCol. Donald E. Sheeler (October 23, 1944—May 30, 1945), LtCol. Immanuel J. Klette (May 30, 1945—July 1945)

Operations Officers (S-3's): Major Edward P. Meyers (October 15, 1942—December 30, 1942, killed in action), LtCol. Baskin R. Lawrence (January 1943—May 1, 1943), LtCol. David G. Alford (May 23, 1943—February 4, 1944, prisoner of war), Major Charles Lee (February 5, 1944--April 24, 1944, prisoner of war), Lt.Col. Donald E. Sheeler (April 26, 1944—December 1, 1944), LtCol. Marvin D. Lord (December 1, 1944—February 3, 1945, killed in action), Major Karl W. Thompson (February 4, 1945—June 1945)

Four heavy bomb squadrons were constituted May 16, 1942, and assigned to the group:

Support Units for the 91st Bomb Group:

  • Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron (LtCol. Louis H. Magee, Adjutant)
  • 364th Service Squadron
  • 39th Service & Support Group (detachment)
  • 161st Quartermaster Company (detachment)
  • 863rd Chemical Company
  • 982d Military Police Company
  • 1076th Ordnance Company
  • 1204th Quartermaster Company (detachment)
  • 1696th Ordnance Company

Training history and movement overseas[edit]

Established January 28, 1942, and activated on April 15, 1942 at Harding A.A.B., Louisiana, the 91st Bomb Group consisted of a small administrative cadre without subordinate units until May 13, 1942, when it was moved to MacDill A.A.B., Florida. There LtCol. Stanley T. Wray took command of the group, and the four flying squadrons assigned to the group were activated. The 91st received air crews and began phase one training with just three B-17's available. On June 26, 1942, the group (now consisting of 83 officers and 78 enlisted men) was transferred to the Second Air Force and moved to Walla Walla A.A.B., Washington to complete phase two training, with two squadrons operating from satellite fields at Pendleton and Baker Army Air Bases, Oregon.

The 91st received orders to deploy overseas and on August 24, 1942, the ground echelon entrained for Fort Dix, New Jersey, where it remained until September 5, embarking on the RMS Queen Mary. Arriving at Greenock, Scotland, on September 11, the ground echelon moved by train to Kimbolton, a war expansion airfield in the English Midlands.

Part of the air echelon moved on August 24, 1942, to Gowan A.A.B., Idaho, where it received six new B-17 Flying FortressF aircraft. From there it flew by pairs, making frequent stops, to Dow A.A.B., Maine. The remainder of the air crews relocated to Dow by train, arriving September 1. Between September 4 and September 24 the group flew training missions while it received 29 additional B-17's from air depots in Middletown, Pennsylvania; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Denver, Colorado, and conducted phase three training.

The 91st Bomb Group moved by squadrons to the United Kingdom, beginning with the 324th Bomb Squadron on September 25, flying to Gander, Newfoundland. The 324th made a non-stop flight along the North Ferry Route on September 30, landing atPrestwick, Scotland. The 322d Bomb Squadron moved to Gander on September 30, and Prestwick on October 1, followed by one day by the 401st Bomb Squadron. The group lost one of its 35 bombers during transit when a 401st B-17 crashed in fog into a hillside near Cushendall, Northern Ireland, killing 8 of the crew and a flight surgeon.

The 324th Bomb Squadron flew as a unit from Prestwick to Kimbolton on October 1, followed by the 322nd on October 2 and the 401st on October 6. On October 10, the remaining squadron, the 323rd, flew to Gander from Dow. It did not reach Prestwick until October 14, by which time the 91st had changed bases.

VIII Bomber Command had assigned the 91st to Kimbolton intending it to be its permanent base. The base was of war-time construction and had not yet been reconstructed to Class A airfield specifications. Intended as a light or medium bomber field, its runways were not suitable for the combat weights of B-17s fully loaded with bombs and fuel. Three practice missions in as many days indicated to the staff of the 91st that the runway would quickly deteriorate and Colonel Wray immediately consulted Col. Newton Longfellow, VIII BC commander, who suggested Wray inspect the RAF Bomber Command OTU base at RAF Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire (52°06′N 00°03′W / 52.100°N 0.050°W / 52.100; -0.050), to see if it might be suitable.

Wray traveled to Bassingbourn, located four miles north of Royston. Not only was the base more appealing from its closer proximity to London, but it had been constructed in 1938 and was considerably more comfortable, with permanent brick buildings, including barracks for enlisted personnel (in contrast to the Nissen huts at Kimbolton), landscaped grounds with curbed roadways (Kimbolton, like many war-time fields, was noted for muddy conditions); and had already been re-constructed to a Class A airfield.

Wray contacted his staff and ordered them to prepare for immediate relocation. On October 14, without prior approval, the 91st moved itself and all of its equipment to Bassingbourn in one day and took possession of the station.

Combat operations and tactics[edit]

The Memphis Belle, 324th Bomb Squadron

The combat history of the 91st Bomb Group can be ordered into three phases, analagous to the development of the Union Army during the American Civil War. The first phase, from November 4, 1942 to May 1, 1943, saw the 91st develop experience as one of the four "pioneer" B-17 groups, creating doctrine and tactics. The second, from May 1, 1943 to January 1, 1944, had the 91st in a leadership role of the Eighth Air Force at a time when the expanding bomber command struggled to establish air superiority without adequate fighter support. The final phase, from January 1, 1944 to May 27, 1945, was as one part of a massive, systematic campaign supported by a large force of escort fighters that brought to fruition the strategic bombing concept.

First phase of operations

The 91st Bomb Group began combat operations on November 4, 1942, when it received a field order for a mission to bomb the submarine pens at Brest, France, later changed to an attack on the Luftwaffe airfield at Abbeville. Thirty minutes before takeoff the mission was cancelled ("scrubbed" in the parlance of that time) because of poor weather. These circumstances were typical of those encountered daily by all the heavy bomber groups in the autumn of 1942 as they pioneered the concept of strategic bombing by daylight.

On November 4 the Eighth Air Force consisted of just nine groups, two of which had been withdrawn from operations to be transferred to North Africa and another to act as an operational training unit (OTU) for replacement combat crews. Of the six remaining units only the 93rd Bomb Group (a B-24 unit) and the 306th Bomb Group were operational, and the 306th had flown just two missions.

The group's first mission was to Brest, France, on November 7. The target was the Kriegsmarine submarine base, and was the first of 28 missions against the U-boat force in the following eight months. In all eight missions were flown in November 1942, seven of them against the sub pens. The last of these, on November 23, resulted in the disastrous loss of two squadron commanders, the group navigator, the group bombardier, and three of the five airplanes attacking.

In December 1942 VIII Bomber Command issued two-letter squadron indentification codes to be painted on the fuselages of the bombers:

  • 322nd BS - LG
  • 323rd BS - OR
  • 324th BS - DF
  • 401st BS - LL

The 91st was made a part of the 101st Provisional Bomb Wing on January 3, 1943. Its first mission to a target in Germany occurred January 27, and it earned the first of two Distinguished Unit Citations on March 4 when it continued an attack against the marshalling yards at Hamm, Germany, after all the other groups had turned back because of poor weather conditions. On April 17 the group led the Eighth Air Force on its first mission against the German aircraft industry, attacking Bremen. German fighter reaction was intense and sustained, and the Eighth lost twice as many bombers as on any previous mission. The 91st had six B-17s shot down, all from the 401st Bomb Squadron.

Second phase of operations

The second phase of combat operations, coinciding with the implementation of the Pointblank Directive to target German airpower, began in May 1943. The Eighth developed in the next three months into a force of sixteen B-17 groups and began attacking industrial targets deep inside Germany beginning at the end of July. Col. Wray left the 91st on May 22 to become commander of a new wing, the 103rd Provisional Combat Bomb Wing. He was replaced by the group deputy commander, Lt.Col. William Reid, formerly of the 92nd Bomb Group. Lt.Col. Baskin Lawrence, who had been the deputy commander of the 91st from its date of activation, had left the group May 1 to command the 92nd.

On June 25, 1943, a wholesale shifting of command officers between the two groups occurred. Col. Lawrence departed the 92nd to become commander of a new "Pathfinder" group drawn from a squadron of the 92nd, and was replaced by Col. Reid, who left the 91st to command his old group. The 91st received its third commander, Lt.Col. Clemens Wurzbach, who had been Lawrence's deputy commander.

During this transition period the 91st also had its first crews finish their required combat tours and return to the United States, including the crew of the Memphis Belle. Of the original roster of combat crews, 32% completed their tours, 15% were reassigned to other commands, and the rest became casualties. At the end of June it also acquired its most recognizable symbol, the "Triangle A" group tail marking often used in films about B-17s.

On August 17, 1943, the 91st Bomb Group led a mission to bomb the ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt, Germany, losing 10 aircraft. This was the first of several missions between then and October 14, 1943, in which the Eighth Air Force, flying beyond the range of its fighter escorts, suffered severe losses of aircraft and crews. The 91st had 28 aircraft shot down during this period, the most of any group in the Eighth. The remainder of the second phase of operations saw a suspension of deep penetration missions until long-range escort fighters became available.

Col. Wurzbach completed his tour of duty on December 12, 1943, and was replaced by Col. Claude E. Putnam, a former commander of the 324th Bomb Squadron, who returned to his old group from duty as the commander of the 306th Bomb Group.

Final phase of operations

The 91st Bomb Group won its second DUC leading a seven-group task force attacking the Focke Wulf assembly factory at Oschersleben, Germany, on January 11, 1944. This attack marked the renewal of the heavy bomber offensive against targets in all areas of the German Reich. Although losses were heavy (34 from the Oschersleben task force and 60 overall), three targets were struck by over 600 bombers and a group of P-51 Mustangs was part of the escort force.

From February 20 to February 25, 1944, known as "Big Week", the United States Strategic Air Forces conducted Operation Argument, a campaign against the German aircraft industry with the goal of achieving air superiority over Europe by drawing the German fighter force into combat. 800 to 1000 bombers, escorted by 700 to 900 fighters, struck multiple targets daily from both England and Italy. The 91st flew all five days, and on February 24 attacked Schweinfurt for the third time.

The first attack by the 91st on Berlin came on March 6, followed by half a dozen more in the next two months. On May 12 the Eighth Air Force began a costly campaign against oil and synthetic oil production facilities that continued to the end of the war. On May 17, Col. Putnam completed his tour as commanding officer of the 91st Bomb Group and Col. Henry W. Terry took command, which he would retain through the end of hostilities in Europe.

In addition to bombing strategic targets, often at great loss in aircraft and crews, the 91st also made tactical strikes in support of the Allied landings in France, in the battles for Caen and St. Lo, during the German winter counteroffensive, and during the Allied offensive across the Rhine River.

Throughout the spring of 1944 the 91st received replacement B-17's that were no longer painted in olive drab camouflage. The bomber force became almost completely "silver" in color by July 1944, and the 1st Combat Bomb Wing, of which the 91st was a part, adopted the use of a red empennage and wingtips to identify its groups during assembly for missions. The group did retain its "Triangle A" tail marking as well.

The intensity of operations during this phase is reflected by the 100 B-17's lost by the 91st Bomb Group during 1944, compared to 84 in 1943, despite the diminution of the Luftwaffe during the spring and summer. Radar-directed flak became very proficient in defending critical targets and the fighter force hoarded its pilots and fuel for occasional mass interceptions of the bombers.

The 91st Bomb Group experienced its final aircraft loss on April 17, 1945, and flew its last mission, to Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, on April 25. The 91st had been alerted for 500 combat missions, of which 160 were scrubbed or recalled and 340 completed. Immediately after VE Day, it flew three days of operations to rescue Allied POWs incarcerated at Stalag Luft I in Barth, Germany, as part of Operation Revival, bringing out 2,032 prisoners.

Campaigns[edit]

B-17F The Careful Virgin, 323rd Bomb Squadron, completed 80 missions and transferred to Operation Aphrodite
  • Air Offensive, Europe
  • Normandy
  • Northern France
  • Rhineland
  • Ardennes-Alsace
  • Central Europe

Casualties[edit]

The 91st Bomb Group had at least 392 B-17's assigned to it at some point of the war. Of these 40 were transferred to other commands, 37 were retired as unsuitable for further operations, and 71 were on hand at the end of hostilities. The rest were lost: 197 in combat, 37 written off, and 10 in training crashes. Of the combat losses, the 401st and 323rd Squadrons each lost 55, the 322nd Squadron lost 49, and the 324th Squadron 38.

Approximately 5,200 crewmen flew combat missions for the 91st. 19% were killed or missing (887 KIA and 123 MIA) and 18% (959) became prisoners of war.

Post-war history[edit]

The air echelon left Bassingbourn on May 27, 1945, and moved to Drew AAB, Tampa, Florida. The ground echelon sailed on the RMS Queen Elizabeth to New York on June 24. The group reunited on July 2, to prepare for transfer to the Pacific Theater, but many members had been transferred to other units and no further training was conducted before the war ended. The group was inactivated on November 7, 1945.

Following the war the group was redesignated the 91st Reconnaissance Group, assigned to the Strategic Air Command, and activated on July 1, 1947 at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. After the United States Air Force became a separate service, the 91st was Redesignated the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Group on November 10, 1948, and made a part of the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing. It operated a variety of aircraft, including B-17's, RB-17's, B-29's and RB-29's, and B-50's. On July 6, 1950, it was redesignated the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Group (Medium) and equipped with the jet RB-45C. The group was removed from operations on February 10, 1952, when its squadrons were assigned directly to the wing, and inactivated on May 28, 1952.

Post war group commanders: Col. Frank L. Dunn, 1948; LtCol. Robert S. Kittel, November 10, 1948; Col. Charles R. Greening, June 24, 1949; Maj. James I. Cox, August 23, 1949; Col. Jean R. Byerly, October 1, 1949; Col. Lewis E. Lyle, November 25, 1950; Col. Joseph A. Preston, August 1951-May 28, 1952.

Its lineage, honors, and history have been bestowed on the 91st Space Wing. (See 91st Space Wing for wing history)

Significant members of the 91st Bomb Group[edit]

Lt. Crumm was an original member of the group and flew eleven of its first seventeen missions. He and his crew were the first to return from combat, assigned on February 14, 1942, to return to the United States to prepare a training manual for bomber crews. Crumm later commanded B-29s in the Pacific and eventually became a major general in the United States Air Force. He died in the mid-air collision of two B-52 bombers on July 6, 1967, returning from a mission to South Vietnam.
  • M/Sgt. Rollin L. Davis, 323rd Bomb Squadron
M/Sgt. Davis was a maintenance line chief in charge of B-17 42-31909, nicknamed Nine-O-Nine, which completed 140 missions between February 22, 1944 and the end of the war, at least 126 in a row without turning back because of mechanical failure, for which Sgt. Davis received the Bronze Star.
  • LtCol. Immanuel J. Klette, 324th Bomb Squadron
Colonel Klette flew 91 bomber missions as a co-pilot and pilot with the 306th Bomb Group, and as a command pilot with the 91st. Over 30 of his missions were as group, wing, division, or air force mission commander. His 91 sorties are the most by any Eighth Air Force pilot in World War II.
  • Capt. Robert K. Morgan, 324th Bomb Squadron
Captain Morgan, an original member of the group, piloted the Memphis Belle in combat and returned it to the United States.

91st Bomb Group in film and literature[edit]

  • Bert Stiles, Serenade to the Big Bird, a 1944 memoir
  • John Hersey, The War Lover, a 1959 novel and film (the novel uses the fictional base "Pike Rilling" as its locale and an unnamed group, but all details of the novel are taken directly from 91st BG daily records)
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