92nd BOMBARDMENT GROUP

YB-40 History

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   This is the 92nd Bombardment Group (Heavy) Historical Campaign. A list of YB-40 Missions from May 29, 1943 until July 29 1943 is detailed below. Each date includes the target, number of B-17’s and YB-40’s dispatched, and losses suffered.

YB-40 MISSIONS

May 08 1943

First YB-40’s arrive in England and are assigned to 327th Sqn / 92ndBG(H)

 

May 29 1943

1st Heavy Bombardment Wing 147 B-17s attack St Nazaire with 277-2000 pound bombs [8 YB-40’s dispatched one lost]  B-17’s 7 shotdown, 1 ditched, 1 write off; 58 damaged.

 

June 15, 1943

VIII Bomber Command 155 B-17’s recalled before reaching France.

( Target Lemans 4 YB-40’s dispatched)

 

June 22, 1943

1st and 4th Heavy Bombardment Wings 183 out 224 B-17’s  attack a synthetic rubber plant at Huls with 422 tons of bombs [11 YB-40’s dispatched 1 lost] 15 B-17’s lost, 75  damaged. Wango Wango First Lieutenant Andrew F Bilek a/c B-17 25735 UXB hit by AA shortly after the target, last seen going down under control near Dutch Border crew all killed. First YB-40 lost in action.

 

June 25, 1943

1st Heavy Bombardment Wing 149 out of 190 B-17’s, due to extremely poor visibility over northweatern Europe, attack targets of opportunity and targets of last resort , including a convoy at sea [7 YB-40’s dispatched] 15 B-17’s lost and 39 damaged. ( Target Hamburg, Two YB-40’s aborted, Two enemy aircraft claimed)

 

June 26, 1943

1st Heavy Bombardment Wing 123 B-17’s assigned to attack Villacoublay Airdrone; only 17 attack aircraft-industry plant at Villacoublay or Poissy Aerodrone, secondary targets. 5 YB-40’s dispatched] (Two enemy aircraft claimed) 

 

June 28, 1943

1st and 4th Heavy Bombardment Wing 158 out of 185 B-17’s attack St Nazaire with 300 tons of bombs [6 YB-40’s dispatched] 8 B-17’s lost and 57 damaged. (One enemy aircraft claimed)

 

June 29, 1943

1st Heavy Bombardment Wing 146 B-17’s sent to attack Villacoublay and Tricqueville Airdrones bring their bombs home after finding both targets covered by solid cloud cover [2 YB 40’s dispatched] 14 B-17’s damaged. (1 YB-40 aborted)

 

July 4, 1943

1st Heavy Bombardment Wing 166 B-17’s attack aircraft industry targets in Le Mans and Nantes with more than 404 tons of bombs. 7 B-17’s lost, 54 damaged, and one write off. (YB-40’s dispatched Nantes 2 and Le Mans 1)

 

July 10 1943

1st Heavy Bombardment Wing 34 of 116 B-17’s attack Caen Airdrome with 74 tons of bombs[5 YB-40’s dispatched] 1 B-17’s lost, 33 damaged.

 

July 14, 1943

1st Heavy Bombardment Wing  101 of 111 B-17’s attack Villacoublay Airdrome with 232 tons of bombs [5 YB-40’s dispatched]  2 B-17’s lost, 68 damaged, one damaged plane ditches in the channel. (The last mission as a group)

 

July 17, 1943

VIII Bomber Command 205 B-17’s recalled from a raid on Hannover due to weather;  33 attacks targets of opportunity [2 YB-40’s dispatched] 52 damaged, one write off after a forced landing and one ditched in the Channel.

 

July 24, 1943 BLITZ WEEK

1st Heavy Bombardment Wing 167 B-17’s plus 4th Heavy Bombardment Wing 41 B-17’s {long range with Tokyo Tanks} attack a nitrate plant near Heroya and the naval base at Trondheim, Norway with 495tons of bombs; 84 additional long range B-17’s from 4th Heavy Bombardment Group abort an attack on Bergen , Norway due to cloud cover [1 YB-40 dispatched]   64 B-17’s damages including one write off, and another crashs lands in Sweden where the crew is interned.  Longest mission to date 1900 mile round trip

July 26, 1943

1st Heavy Bombardment Wing 50 B-17’s and attack Hannover with 134 tons of bombs [2 YB-40’s dispatched] 14 B-17’s lost, 1 written off on return to base, and two ditched in the Channel.

 A YB-40 pilot from the 92nd BG(H) becomes crazed from a head wound received during a fighter attack over the target. Flying Officer John C. Morgan, the co-pilot, flies the plane, in formation, with one hand, while restraining the struggling pilot for two hours, until another crewman can relieve the situation. Morgan is awarded the Medal of Honor. AIR WAR EUROPA Chronology1942-45 Eric Hammel Page 158.

It is commonly believed that this is account inspired Lieutenant Jessie Bishops’s Medal Of Honor action in the movie “Twelve o’Clock High!”

 

July 28, 1943

1st Heavy Bombardment Wing 182 B-17’s assigned to attack Kassel, 58 attack the Fiesler aircraft factory. (2 YB-40’s dispatched)

First use of jettisionable belly tanks (unpressurized fiberglass models normally used for ferry flights). This allows P-47’s of 4th Fighter Group to penetrate German Airspace.

First use of of German 21cm rockets by twin engine fighters, highly inaccurate but capable of destroying a B-17 with a single hit.

 

July 29, 1943

1st Heavy Bombardment Wing 91 B-17’s out of 167 attack Kiel with 315 tond of bombs and 767,000 leaflets [2 YB-40’s dispatched] 6 B-17’s lost and 63 damaged of which one is written off.

Total sorties 60, losses 2, aborts 3

 

YB-40's of the 92nd Bomb Group