| 393rd Bombardment Group | |
|---|---|
 B-17 Flying Fortress as flown by the group | |
| Active | 1943–1944 |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Air Force |
| Role | Heavy bomber training |
The393d Bombardment Group is a disbandedUnited States Air Force unit. It was part ofSecond Air Force, and last stationed atSioux City Army Air Base, Iowa, where it was inactivated on 1 April 1944. DuringWorld War II thegroup was aBoeing B-17 Flying FortressOperational Training Unit, and later aReplacement Training Unit. It was inactivated in April 1944 in a general reorganization ofArmy Air Forces training units.
The393rd Bombardment Group was activated in February 1943 atGeiger Field, Washington, with the580th, 581st, 582nd and 583rd Bombardments assigned as its operational components.[1][2] In March, thegroup moved toGowen Field, Idaho and began to equip withBoeing B-17 Flying Fortresses to act as anOperational Training Unit (OTU).[1] The OTU program involved the use of an oversized parent unit to providecadres to "satellite groups".[3] The OTU program was patterned after the unit training system of theRoyal Air Force. It assumed responsibility for unit training and oversaw their expansion with graduates ofArmy Air Forces Training Command schools to become effective combat units.[4][5] Phase I training concentrated on individual training increwmember specialties. Phase II training emphasized the coordination for the crew to act as a team. The final phase concentrated on operation as a unit.[6] The group was at Gowen for a month before moving toWendover Field, Utah.[1]
The group moved toSioux City Army Air Base, Iowa in June 1943, but only the 582nd Squadron remained there with groupheadquarters. On 3 July, the 581st moved toMitchell Army Air Field, South Dakota and the 583rd toScribner Army Air Field, Nebraska. The following day, the 580th relocated toWatertown Army Air Field, South Dakota.[1][2]
On 1 August 1943, the group moved toKearney Army Air Field, Nebraska, where it was joined by its component squadrons and changed its mission to aReplacement Training Unit (RTU). By 1943 most combat units had been activated and almost three quarters of them had deployed overseas. With the exception of special programs, like formingBoeing B-29 Superfortress units, training "fillers" for existing units became more important than unit training.[7] RTUs were oversized units like OTUs, but their mission was to train individualpilots or aircrews.[8]
In November 1943, the group returned to Sioux City. However, TheArmy Air Forces (AAF) was finding that standard military units like the 393rd, whose manning was based on relatively inflexibletables of organization were proving not well adapted to the training mission, even more so to the replacement mission. Accordingly, the AAF adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit.[9] As a result, the 393rd, along with its components were inactivated and their personnel and equipment were combined with those of support units at Sioux City into the 224th AAF Base Unit (Combat Crew Training Station, Bombardment, Heavy), which assumed the base's training mission.[1][2][10]
| Campaign Streamer | Campaign | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
.png) | American Theater without inscription | 16 February 1943 – 1 April 1944 | [1] |
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
