The 330th Bombardment Group ("Empire Busters") was a bomber group of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It was formed on 1 July 1942 at Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah. Initially, the group was equipped with the Consolidated B-24 Liberator, and served as a training unit within the United States until April 1944. On 1 April 1944, the group re-formed as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress-equipped unit as part of the 314th Bombardment Wing and trained for deployment to the Pacific Theater against Japan.
The group moved to North Field, Guam in 1945 as part of the Twentieth Air Force, flying its first combat mission on 12 April 1945. The Group received two Distinguished Unit Citations for incendiary raids on the homeland islands of Japan. The Group returned to the United States in late 1945, and was inactivated on 3 January 1946. Its lineage and honors were carried by the 330th Aircraft Sustainment Wing until it was permanently inactivated on 1 July 2010.
Lineage and honors Upon activation 6 July 1942, the 330th Bombardment Group (Heavy) was assigned to Second Air Force as a Consolidated B-24 Liberator Replacement Training Unit (RTU). The Group performed this training at Alamogordo Army Airfield in New Mexico, then later at Biggs Field near El Paso, Texas. On 1 April 1944, the Group was redesignated as the 330th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy), assigned to the Second Air Force and was designated as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress operational bomb group, being assigned to the 314th Bombardment Wing. The Group was assigned to Walker AAFB, Kansas, for equipping and training.
The Group began its deployment to North Field, Guam in early 1945, and was assigned to the XXI Bomber Command of the Twentieth Air Force. It entered combat on 12 April 1945 with an attack on Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The Group received two Distinguished Unit Citations for incendiary raids on the homeland islands of Japan. The 330th Bombardment Group returned to the United States during November and December 1945, and was inactivated on 3 January 1946.
On 27 June 1949, the unit was redesignated as the 330th Bombardment Group (Medium), activated and assigned to the United States Air Force Reserve. On 1 May 1951, the unit was ordered to active duty and its personnel transferred to Korea; and the unit (less personnel) was inactivated on 16 June 1951. On 14 June 1952 the unit was redesignated as the 330th Troop Carrier Group (Medium), but was inactivated on 14 July 1952.
The unit is credited with the American Theater, Air Offensive – Japan, and the Western Pacific campaigns.
History When activated in 1942, the Group functioned as an RTU, training B-24 crews in both New Mexico and Texas. In April 1944 on being designated as an operation bomber group, it was assigned to the 20th Air Force. The Group consisted of the 457th, 458th and the 459th Bomb Squadron; the 26th Photo Lab, activated in April 1944 at Walker Army Air Field, near Victoria, Kansas, also became part of the Group.
Two months later its cadres split, part of the Group remaining "on line" at Walker and part setting up manning headquarters at Dalhart, Texas. After a rapid filling up of both echelons, they were reunited at Walker AAF in August 1944. The newly assigned air crews joined them in late September and early October 1944. As a complete bomb group, they were ready for their brief period of intensive flight and ground training in slight B-29 Superfortresses. The Group's advanced ground echelon left Walker AAF by train on 7 January 1945 for the Fort Lawton Staging Area in Seattle, Washington. On 17 January 1945, they left on a 30-day journey on the Army transport Ship Howell Lykes en route to Guam. The air crews and the aircraft mechanics support technicians would not join them until mid-March.
Guam 1945 The Group's ground personnel arrived in the Port of Agana, Guam on 18 February 1945. The 854th Engineer Aviation Battalion was still busy putting the finishing touches on the parking aprons and taxiways for the 330th, which it had been working on since late November 1944. There were two other bomb groups of the 314th Wing just settling into North Field; the 19th Bomb Group and the 29th Bombardment Group had been there for several weeks. The 330th's area of the airfield was still mainly jungle. While the 845th continued work, the ground echelon along with the 502nd Engineering Squadron of the 89th Air Service Group (ASG) began the detailed work of making the airfield operational.
The air crews continued to commute between Walker Army Air Field and Batista (Cayuga) Field in Cuba, to sharpen their combat training. Once back in Kansas in early March, they picked up their new Boeing B-29 Superfortresses and headed to Guam via Mather Field, California, Hawaii and Kwajalein. The first 330th aircraft set down at North Field, Guam on 25 March 1945.
The 330th first flew against the Empire of Japan on 12 April 1945, before its last squadron arrived. Its forty-seventh and final bombing strike was in the air at the hour the Japanese surrender was announced on 15 August 1945. The result was a bomb group with the lowest overall abort rate on the ground, and the highest over-the-target rate of any bomb group in the entire 20th Air Force. The 330th BG flew 1,320 combat sorties, 18,978 combat hours and had dropped of high explosives and incendiary bombs on its targets.
Aircraft The sixty or so aircraft that made up the 330th were divided among three Bombardment Squadrons (BS):
457th Bombardment Squadron commanded by LtCol Lindsay H. Vereen 458th Bombardment Squadron commanded by Maj Elmer E. Ambrose 459th Bombardment Squadron commanded by LtCol Robert W. Ryder
On their vertical stabilizers they wore a square black box unit identification mark with a large capital letter K superimposed. This was to assist with identifying squadron aircraft out of a crowded sky to form up on during the daylight missions. In late summer the 'K' was infilled with a bright orange–yellow paint for better recognition. In late summer in 1945, it was ordered that all aircraft would have their undersides painted a glossy black. The intention was to mask them from enemy searchlights.
Nose art
As it was part of the 314th Wing, the 330th used the "City of ..." style for naming its aircraft. This was a large diameter Navy Blue globe with a bright orange/yellow footprint of North America. Within this would be a thick white flagpole with a wavy white "City of..." flag attached depicting either the hometown of the Aircraft Commander or one of the crewmen whose name was drawn out of a hat. They were allowed to also have other nose art on the starboard side but "bloodthirsty" art was forbidden for fear that if the aircraft was shot down, subsequent Japanese propaganda would reinforce the belief that they were flown by "barbarians" and potentially harm future downed airmen. The marketing idea behind the “City of” logo would be to have the aircraft and her crew visit their named city after completing their requisite 30 missions. This Bond Tour of their city would be to raise funds for the continued war.
Missions The 330th Bomb Group (BG) arrived in the middle of an intensive bombing campaign by the Twentieth Air Force with the strategic objective of knocking the Japanese aircraft industry out of the war. To date, this campaign did not appear to be very successful since several major plants, such as the Nakajima Musashino Aircraft Plant north of Tokyo and the Mitsubishi Plant near Nagoya, seemed to be little damaged as a result of persistent daylight precision raids by B-29s flying in formation. A major reason was the weather which hindered both assembling in formation at a remote point and then flying to the target, which might be covered in clouds or haze making visual bombing difficult or impossible.
On a typical daylight mission, aircraft flew individually, one minute apart, from Guam to a predesignated "rallying" point about off the coast of Japan. There, they would form up on a "lead" aircraft and proceed in smaller formations of 10 aircraft or so over the target. They would then drop when they witnessed the "lead" aircraft drop, then return individually to Guam. The aircraft flew thousands of miles for 12 or more hours, and had to conserve as much fuel as possible in order to make it back to base or to Iwo Jima. Flying individually gave the pilots the ability to allow for particular conditions.
On a daylight mission, squadron visibility was the key to a successful mission – the reason for the large tail letters and individual aircraft numbers on fuselages. For some missions, it was imperative that the aircraft commander (AC) found his designated squadron and proceeded over the target at the briefed time, the briefed altitude, and hit his target. If he could not find his particular formation, he would join another group and bomb their target.
On a typical night mission, several 'Pathfinder' B-29s took off first. The rest of the squadron's aircraft took off 10–15 minutes later. Instead of 'rallying' off the coast of Japan, each aircraft would have its own pre-assigned altitude and heading over the target. Minutes before the rest of the squadron was due over the target, the 'Pathfinders' would drop incendiaries, marking it for the rest to drop on.
Whether on a daylight or nighttime mission, if the primary target was obscured, the bombers would either drop by radar or attempt to bomb a predesignated secondary target.
April 1945
Mission: 1 Date: 12 April 1945 Target: Hodogaya (Yokohama) Chemical Plant Bomber Command Mission: 65 Code Name: Lunchroom # 1
Twenty B-29s were scheduled to participate in this mission with each carrying eight general-purpose bombs of Composition B high explosive. The B-29s took off in the early morning hours of 12 April. One B-29 was late in taking off, never made it to the assembly point in time and later dropped its bombs on a target of opportunity (TO). Two others aborted. Two formations were formed from the remaining 17 B-29s, consisting of 12 aircraft and 5 aircraft. The larger formation, at an altitude of up to , was off the briefed heading on its bomb run and had to make a second run with visibility at in haze. The smaller formation attacked the plant on a different heading. Japanese flak was described as meager and inaccurate and there was absolutely no fighter opposition. Thirteen aircraft landed back at Guam late that evening while three were diverted and landed safely at Harmon Airfield.
Bomb results were excellent; all the main buildings in the 330th's target area were damaged or destroyed, comprising 73% of the target roof area. Losses were two aircraft. One ditched in the ocean with the loss of four crew; and the other crashed and caught fire on landing at Agana after suffering damage trying to land at North Field on instruments, only one crewman surviving. As a result, a second beacon was added at North Field to guide aircraft in instrument landings.
Mission: 2 Date: 13–14 April 1945 Target: Tokyo Artificial Chemical Fertilizer Plant Bomber Command Mission: 67 Code Name: Perdition # 1
This mission, classified as a precision night mission, was a three-wing effort by the 73rd, 313th and 314th Bomb Wings (BWs) using combination loads of HE and incendiary bombs. The 330th BG contributed 16 aircraft that deposited 47.5 tons on or near its aiming point (AP) described as the Tokyo Artificial Chemical Fertilizer Plant. The reported burned out area was estimated as . Antiaircraft fire was intense and a B-29 from the 458th Bomb Squadron was one of seven lost during the mission. It was hit over Tokyo and went down in Tokyo Bay.
Mission: 3 Date: 15–16 April 1945 Target: Kawasaki, Kanagawa Bomber Command Mission: 68 Code Name: Brisket # 1