hardcover. Condition: As New. 4th. Book is in terrific, like-new shape. Pages have no wear, and all copy is crisp, clean, and UNMARKED. 100% of proceeds go towards promoting literacy in under-served areas of the world. Access codes and supplemental materials are not included.
Published by 306th Bomb Group Historical Association, 1993
Seller: Ground Zero Books, Ltd., Silver Spring, MD, U.S.A.
First Edition
Comb binding. Condition: Very good. [6], 160 pages. Decorative cover. Index. Diary of 1942, 1943, 1944 and 1945. Tabular Data. Appendix covers Pilots, Navigators, Bombardiers, Radar Observers, Ground Officers, Master Sergeants, and Aircraft. There is a Key to Abbreviations. Residue inside the front cover. Russell A Strong served as a navigator with the 306th Bomb Group. He flew in Milton Adam's crew. He also was in Intelligence and Public information for six weeks at Thurleigh [13 Sept 1944 to 1 Nov 1944]. He completed his missions on 26 November 1944. R.A. Strong, became the founder and long-time secretary of the 306th Bomb Group Association and attended the official opening of the American Air Museum at Duxford. This is the second volume in a series of four being issued by the 306th Bomb Group Association to provide its membership with more detailed information about the activities of the four combat squadrons of the 306th Bomb Group. The four diaries were prepared between 1942 and 1945 by the several intelligence officers assigned to the squadrons. In this volume five men actually did the writing at various times. These diaries deal in large measure with the combat phase of squadron life, but include other aspects of events at Thurleigh, Bedfordshire, England, the home of the 306th Bombardment Group from early September 1942 and continuing until after the end of hostilities as the 306th and 305th Groups were charged with the aerial mapping of Europe and North Africa. Appended are lists that have been compiled in more recent years. These lists previously appeared in 306th Echoes, and have been edited and enhanced. The squadron was first activated as the 367th Bombardment Squadron in the spring of 1942, one of the original four squadrons assigned to the 306th Bombardment Group. After training with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, the squadron moved overseas and participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, earning two Distinguished Unit Citations for its efforts. After the war the 367th remained in Europe with the occupation forces until inactivating in 1946. In April, 1942 its personnel moved to Wendover Field, Utah, where it began training with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers. On 1 August 1942, the squadron's ground echelon began its deployment, spending a week at Richmond Army Air Base, Virginia before moving to Fort Dix, New Jersey at the Port of Embarkation. It sailed on the RMS Queen Elizabeth on 30 August, arriving in Scotland on 5 September 1942. The air echelon departed for Westover Field, Massachusetts, and began ferrying their B-17s to England via the North Atlantic ferrying route. The squadron settled into its combat station, RAF Thurleigh, England, in early September. Although several bomber units arrived in England before the 367th, when these units left England to participate in Operation Torch it became, along with its companion squadrons of the 306th Group, the oldest bombardment squadrons of VIII Bomber Command. It few its first combat mission on 9 October 1942 against a steel factory near Lille, France. This was the first mission on which VIII Bomber Command assembled a strike force of over 100 bombers. The squadron operated primarily against strategic targets, including the locomotive factory at Lille, marshalling yards at Rouen, France, and Stuttgart, Germany. The squadron took part in the first strike into Germany by bombers of Eighth Air Force on 27 January 1943 when it struck U-boat yards at Wilhelmshaven. It struck shipbuilding yards at Vegesack, ball bearing plants at Schweinfurt, the aircraft factory at Leipzig, Germany, and similar facilities. On 11 January 1944, the squadron participated in an attack on an aircraft plant in central Germany, near Brunswick. Extensive cloud cover had resulted in the recall of two of the three bombardment divisions involved in the mission and made the rendezvous of the fighter groups scheduled to provide cover in the target area difficult. In contrast, clear weather to the eas.