467th Bombardment Group Memorial
Details:
On the garden on the west side of the road. The memorial is placed at the foot of a signpost beside the large tree and a bench.
A square bronze plaque set onto the top of a short two-step stone base. Engraved on the plaque are the dedication message, the 8th Air Force and 467th BG insignias, and a B24 Liberator depiction. The inscription on the plaque is written in English.
RAF Rackheath airfield was opened on 11 March 1944 and was used by the 467th Bombardment Group (Heavy), arriving from Wendover AAF Utah. The 467th was assigned to the 96th Combat Bombardment Wing, and the group tail code was a "Circle-P". Its operational squadrons were:
- 788th Bombardment Squadron (X7)
- 789th Bombardment Squadron (6A)
- 790th Bombardment Squadron (Q2)
- 791st Bombardment Squadron (4Z)
The group flew the Consolidated B-24 Liberator as part of the Eighth Air Force's strategic bombing campaign. The 467th began operations on 10 April 1944 with an attack by thirty aircraft on an airfield at Bourges in central France.
In combat, the unit served chiefly as a strategic bombardment organization, attacking the German navy harbor at Kiel, chemical plants at Bonn, textile factories at Stuttgart, power plants at Hamm, steelworks at Osnabrück, the aircraft industry at Brunswick, and other objectives.
In addition to strategic operations, it was engaged occasionally in support and interdiction missions. It bombed shore installations and bridges near Cherbourg on D-Day, 6 June 1944. It struck enemy troops and supply concentrations near Montreuil on 25 July 1944 to assist the Allied drive across France.
In September, over two weeks the bombers flew gasoline from Rackheath to a forward base at Clastres in France for use by the US mechanized forces. Attacked German communications and fortifications during the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944-January 1945. To assist the Allied assault across the Rhine in March 1945 it attacked enemy transportation.
The group flew its last combat mission on 25 April 1945 and then returned to the US to Sioux Falls AAF South Dakota during June and July 1945. Subsequently the 467th was redesignated as the 467th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) with Boeing B-29 Superfortresses in preparation for the planned invasion of Japan. The 467th was inactivated on 4 August 1946 and the airfield was returned to the Royal Air Force.
Source of information: www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk, Imperial War Museum War Memorials Register, en.wikipedia.org
Source of photos: Imperial War Museum War Memorials Register
Monument Text:
BATTLE OF NORMANDY
467TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP (H)
SEPT. 1943 JUNE 1945
DEDICATED 8 OCTOBER 1983
TO THE MEMORY OF OUR COMRADES WHO DIED
IN TRAINING AND IN 212 COMBAT MISSIONS
FLOWN IN B-24 LIBERATOR BOMBERS FROM
STATION 145, RACKHEATH, NORFOLK, ENGLAND
FROM 10 APRIL 1944 TO 25 APRIL 1945,
AND TO ALL ASSIGNED OR ATTACHED TO
THE 467TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP (HEAVY).
BATTLE OF EUROPE
Inscribed on the left-hand side:
BATTLE OF NORTHERN FRANCE
Inscribed on the right-hand side:
BATTLE OF GERMANY
Commemorates:
Units:
467th Bomber Group, Heavy
788th Bomber Squadron, 467th Bomber Group, Heavy
789th Bomber Squadron, 467th Bomber Group, Heavy
790th Bomber Squadron, 467th Bomber Group, Heavy
791st Bomber Squadron, 467th Bomber Group, Heavy
8th Air Force
US Army Air Corps
Wars:
WWII
Other images :