WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE 389TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP

This site is dedicated to the men of the 389th Bomb Group and its attached support units, USAAF Station 114, Hethel, England, 1943 to 1945. The combat units of the 389th were the 564th, 565th, 566th, and 567th Bomb Squadrons. Attached units included 463rd Sub Depot Class I, 48th Station Complement Squadron, 2032nd Engineer Aviation Fire Fighting Platoon, 1750th Ordnance Supply & Maintenance Company, 1215th Quartermaster Company Service Group, 874th Chemical Company, 79th Service Squadron, 327th Service Group Detachment A, 18th Weather Squadron, Weather Detachment 114, 24th Mobile Training Unit, 1200th Military Police Company (Aviation), 209th Finance Section, 255th Medical Dispensary Company, 1080th Signal Company Detail A, 5th Station Complement Squadron Detail A, and 19th Station Gas Defense Detail.

The 389th Bomb Group was the third B-24 heavy bomber unit assigned to the Eighth Air Force. It flew 317 combat missions between July 1943 and April 1945, most of which were from its permanent base in England; however, its first missions were from a temporary base near Bengasi, Libya, and additional missions were flown out of a temporary base near Massicault, Tunis.

The 389th bombed strategic and tactical targets in Italy, Rumania, Greece, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Norway, Austria, Poland, and Czechoslovakia, and provided air support for the invasions of Sicily and Normandy, garnering credit for nine campaigns in the European Theater of Operations. Its greatest claim to fame was Operation TIDAL WAVE on August 1, 1943, the low-level mission against Hitler’s oil refineries in Ploesti, Rumania. For its role it this action the 389th was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, and one of its pilots KIA, Lt Lloyd H. Hughes, received the Medal of Honor.

The group not only delivered bombs to Fortress Europa in every model of B-24, it delivered fuel and supplies to Patton’s 3rd Army in France, and supplies to the ground and airborne troops engaged in the massive Rhine crossing known as Operation VARSITY on March 24, 1945. This 389th paid a heavy toll in casualties on this low-altitude supply drop.

Designated the Pathfinder Squadron in the spring of 1944, the 564th Squadron was at the vanguard of radar bombing, providing Pathfinder crews and aircraft for all of the 2nd Bomb Division Groups. In August 1944 the 564th Bomb Squadron was judged on efficiency the best in the European Theater of Operation.

Casualties of the 389th Bomb Group and its attached units include: 715 Killed in Action and Line of Duty; 447 Prisoners of War; 110 Interned; 58 shot down evaded capture and returned to England; almost 900 Purple Hearts were awarded.

For more details choose topics from the "HISTORY" navigation tab at top of page.