On the south side of the road.

Base surmounted by free-standing rectangular black marble tablet. It is inscribed in English in yellow lettering and bears the insignia of the 8^th Air Force and the 92^nd Bomber Group and the group’s tail code “Triangle B”. Inscribed text on the monument are commemoration message, the four associated units, followed by the dedication message.

Podington airfield was originally built between 1940 and 1941 to accommodate two Royal Air Force (RAF) bomber squadrons. On 18 April 1942, it was made available to the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) 8th Air Force. Podington was assigned USAAF Station Number 109.

Podington remained vacant until 23 September when the 92nd Bombardment Group (Heavy) moved into Podington from RAF Alconbury to allow the 482nd Bomb Group to be formed there. The 92nd was the oldest group in the 8th Air Force, having been the first USAAF bomber group to make the transatlantic crossing to the UK in July 1942.

The 92nd Bomb Group was known as "Fame's Favored Few", and it was assigned to the 40th Combat Wing, at RAF Thurleigh. The group tail code was a "Triangle B". Its operational squadrons were:

• 325th Bombardment Squadron (NV)
• 326th Bombardment Squadron (JW)
• 327th Bombardment Squadron (UX)
• 407th Bombardment Squadron (PY)

Lockheed/Vega B-17G-10-VE Flying Fortress Serial 42-39958 of the 92d Bomb Group. This aircraft suffered severe damage during a mission to Hamburg Germany on 4 November 1944 attacking the Harburg oil complex. It was written off after it landed safely.

B-17s of the 92d Bomb Group on a mission over Nazi-occupied Europe. Visible is Lockheed/Vega B-17G-70-VE Flying Fortress Serial 44-8579

From Podington, the group flew almost 300 operational missions over Nazi-Occupied Europe. Missions were flown to Wilhelmshaven, a tire plant at Hanover, airfields near Paris, an aircraft factory at Nantes, and a magnesium mine and reducing plant in Norway.

Although handicapped by weather conditions, enemy fire, and insufficient fighter protection, the 92nd bombed aircraft factories in central Germany on 11 January 1944 and received a Distinguished Unit Citation for the mission.

The group took part in the intensive campaign of heavy bombers against the German aircraft industry during Big Week, 20–25 February 1944. After that, it attacked V-weapon sites in France; airfields in France, Germany, and the Low Countries, and industrial targets in France, Germany, and Belgium, making concentrated strikes on oil and transportation facilities after October 1944.

In addition to strategic missions, the 92nd performed some interdictory and support operations, assisting the Normandy invasion in June 1944 by hitting gun emplacements, junctions, and marshaling yards in the beachhead area, supporting ground forces at Saint-Lô during the breakthrough in July 1944, bombing gun positions and bridges to aid the airborne assault on the Netherlands in September 1944, participating in the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944-January 1945, by attacking bridges and marshaling yards in and near the battle area and bombing airfields near the landing zone to cover the airborne assault across the Rhine in March 1945.

After V-E Day, the 92nd Bomb Group Moved to Istres Air Base, France in June 1945 where the unit transported troops from Marseilles to Casablanca for return to the United States. The group was inactivated in France on 28 February 1946 where the personnel demobilized and B-17 aircraft were sent to storage.

Source of information: www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk, Imperial War Museum War Memorials Register, en.wikipedia.org

Source of photos: www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk

WE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER

"FAMES FAVORED(sic) FEW"

THE 92nd BOMBARDMENT GROUP (H)

UNITED STATES 8th ARMY AIR FORCE

STATION 109 PODDINGTON

1943 TO 1945

IN MEMORY OF THOSE BRAVE AIRMEN AND SUPPORT GROUPS WHO GAVE

THEIR LIVES AND WHO SERVED DURING WORLD WAR II FOR THE LIBERATION

OF EUROPE. THE GROUP FLEW 308 MISSIONS, 274 FROM PODINGTON AIRFIELD.

325TH B.S. 326TH B.S. 327TH B.S. 407TH B.S.

DEDICATED JULY 3rd 1999

92nd BOMB GROUP MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION