346th Bombardment Group

Heavy bomber training unit The group was first activated at Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah in September 1942, with the 502d, 503d, 504th and 505th Bombardment Squadrons assigned The following month, it moved to Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas, where it began operating as an Operational Training Unit (OTU). The Army Air Forces (AAF) OTU program involved the use of an oversized parent unit to provide cadres to "satellite groups". Initially, the group's 503d and 504th Squadrons were equipped with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, but by the end of the year, the group was entirely equipped with the Consolidated B-24 Liberator. In response, the group's squadrons lost their aircraft and the training mission was concentrated in group headquarters in October 1943. Ultimately, The AAF adopted a functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit, which would be manned and organized specifically for the mission. The group trained with Boeing B-29 Superfortress at Dalhart and at Pratt Army Air Field, Kansas until late June 1945, when it departed the United States for the Pacific Theater. After the war the group participated in several show-of-force missions over Japan and for a time ferried Allied prisoners of war from Okinawa to the Philippine Islands. It served with the occupation forces until it was inactivated in June 1946. ==Lineage==

• Constituted as the 346th Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 3 September 1942 : Activated on 7 September 1942 : Inactivated on 1 April 1944 • Redesignated 346th Bombardment Group, Very Heavy on 4 August 1944 : Activated on 18 August 1944 : Inactivated on 30 June 1946 Assignments • II Bomber Command (attached to 46th Bombardment Operational Training Wing after 26 February 1943), 7 September 1942 – 1 April 1944 • II Bomber Command (attached to 17th Bombardment Operational Training Wing), 18 August 1944 • 316th Bombardment Wing, 31 July 1945 – 30 June 1946 Components • 461st Bombardment Squadron, 18 August 1944 – 30 June 1946 • 503d Bombardment Squadron, 7 September 1942 – 1 April 1944 • 504th Bombardment Squadron, 7 September 1942 – 1 April 1944 • 505th Bombardment Squadron, 7 September 1942 – 1 April 1944 • 32d Photographic Laboratory (Bombardment Group, Very Heavy), c. 18 August 1944 – c. 30 June 1946 Stations • Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah, 7 September 1942 • Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas, 3 October 1942 • Dyersburg Army Air Base, Tennessee, 26 February 1943 – 1 April 1944 • Dalhart Army Air Field, Texas, 18 August 1944 • Pratt Army Air Field, Kansas, 18 January – 29 June 1945 • Kadena Airfield, Okinawa 7 August 1945 – 30 June 1946 Aircraft flown • Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942 • Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 1942–1943 • Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 1944-1946 ==Campaign and service streamers==