Training in the United States The
417th Bombardment Group was activated in the spring of 1943 at
Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma with the
672d,
673d,
674th, and
675th Bombardment Squadrons assigned. The
group drew its initial
cadre from the
46th and
416th Bombardment Groups. Once assigned, the 417th's key personnel travelled to
Orlando Army Air Base in mid-April where they received combat training from the
Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics. The first
Douglas A-20 Havocs arrived to equip the group in mid-May along with some DB-7 export models of the Havoc. Initial training of the group was conducted by the 46th Bombardment Group, the Operational Training Unit at Will Rogers Field. Once training was completed The 417th departed the San Francisco Port of Embarkation by ship on New Year's Day 1944.
Combat in the Southwest Pacific with Col. Howard S. Elmore, commander of the 417th Bombardment Group in one of the group's A-20 Havocs in the Southwest Pacific Theater The group arrived in New Guinea in late January 1944, where it became part of
Fifth Air Force. It began combat in March, operating in support of ground forces on New Guinea and striking
airfields, bridges, personnel concentrations, installations, and shipping in the area. Most sorties were flown at low level, since Japanese
flak was not very intense. During these low level bombing operations, it was found that there was little need for a
bombardier. Consequently, the bombardier was often replaced by additional forward-firing machine guns mounted in a faired-over nose. The A-20's heavy firepower, maneuverability, speed and bombload made it an appropriate weapon for pinpoint strikes against aircraft, hangars, and supply dumps. In formation, their heavy forward firepower could defeat shipboard anti-aircraft defenses and at low level the A-20s could skip their bombs into the sides of transports and
destroyers with deadly effect. Some A-20s had their heavy forward-firing armament supplemented by clusters of three Bazooka-type rocket tubes underneath each wing. These tubes each held an M8, T-30 spin-stabilized rocket. These rocket launcher tubes turned out to be heavy and complicated, and were generally more trouble than they were worth and were not often used. The unit operated from
Noemfoor from September to December 1944, attacking airfields and installations on
Ceram,
Halmahera, and western New Guinea. While en route, the convoy transporting the ground echelon endured two Japanese air attacks. The group received a
Distinguished Unit Citation for attacking Japanese convoys at
Lingayen between 30 December 1944 and 2 January 1945, an action that not only impaired enemy shipping and supply strength, but also helped to clear the way for the American invasion of Luzon. During these attacks the group sank 36,000 tons of shipping including a freighter, a
destroyer escort and several transports. Until June 1945 the 417th supported ground forces and continued to attack enemy airfields, transportation, and installations on
Luzon,
Cebu,
Negros, and
Mindanao. The group flew its last missions in July, dropping propaganda leaflets to Japanese troops on Luzon. After the Philippines were secured, the group turned its attention to Japanese targets on
Formosa in early 1945. It moved to Okinawa in August 1945 and to
Itami Air Base, Japan in November, where it was inactivated on 15 November 1945. ==Lineage==