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| A26B from the 552nd B.S. named "Stinky" | ||
| profile from the 553rd B.S. | profile from the 554th B.S. | profile from the 555th B.S. |
On 1 December, 1942 at MacDill Field, Florida the 386th Bombardment Group (M) was activated and Lt. Colonel Lester J. Maitland was named Commanding Officer.
Although in existence only a few days less than three years, the men of the 386th attained the most outstanding record of all B-26 Groups in the European Theatre of Operations in terms of number of successful sorties flown, tonnage of bombs dispatched and enemy aircraft destroyed while maintaining the highest bombing accuracy score.
More than three thousand men saw service with the 386th during these three years of World War II, flying four hundred nine missions. One hundred ninety-three men made the supreme sacrifice.
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Marauders take evasive action as they encounter flak over France (386th Bomb Group Assn photo) |
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"RAT POISON" of the 553rd Bomb Squadron releases six 500 pounders on the continent (386th Bomb Group Assn photo) |
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A-26 Invader, Beaumont Sur-Oise, France in late 1944 (386th Bomb Group Assn photo) |
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"MALE CALL" B-26 Marauder of the 552nd Bomb Squadron leaves the French Coast as 'she' heads for England, D-Day +1 (A.F. Madeira photo) |
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B-26 Marauders of the 386th Bomb Group tucked in for the night. (A.F. Madeira photo) |
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"HANGER QUEEN", a training airplane of the 386th Bomb Group, flying over Tampa Bay, Florida in January 1943. This B-26-B has "short" wings and smaller rudder and verticle stabilizer. (A.F. Madeira photo) |
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Bombs from two flights of B-26's of the 386th Bomb Group head for a target in France. (A.F. Madeira photo) |
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A flight of Marauders from the 386th Bomb Group fly over the Thames River in London on the way to a target on the continent. {How many B-26's do you see?} (A.F. Madeira photo) |
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"MR. FIVE BY FIVE" B-26 Marauder of the 555th Bomb Squadron after dropping bombs on marshalling yards in France. (A.F. Madeira photo) |
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Bombs Away! from the 386th Bomb Group A-26 Invaders over Germany in 1945 (A.F. Madeira photo) |
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B-26 Marauder's pound a rail junction at Mont Secret, France following the D-Day invasion. (A.F. Madeira photo) |
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A-26 Invader formation over France, 1945 (Calvin Batchelder photo) |
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386th Bomb Group A-26 Invader over France, 1945 (Danny Duff photo) |
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"Maximum Effort" Eight flights of 386th Bomb Group B-26 Maruaders on the way to a target in Europe, 1945 (Jim McWillie photo) |
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"Flak Ahead" 386th Bomb Group A-26 Invader over Germany, 1945 (Jim McWillie photo) |
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All that remains of "THE BAD PENNY" following a crash landing at Normandy beachhead airfield, soon after D-Day. (Larry Rodgers photo) |
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A-26 B (Mc Donnell Douglas photo) |
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Early model B26 Marauder, short wings, small engines, small verticle fin and rudder, no fixed guns and a torpedo rack on the bottom. (Pratt & Whitney Aircraft thru the 386th Bomb Group photo) |
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Maintenance was rough in the winter of 1944-45. A B-26 of the 553rd Bomb Squadron at Beaumont-Sur-Oise, France (R.H. Denison photo) |
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A B-26 of the 554th Bomb Squadron takes off from Great Dunmow on a bombing mission, 1944. (R.H. Denison photo) |
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B-26 Marauders of the 555th Bomb Squadron returning to England after a raid on the continent, 1944. (R.H. Denison photo) |
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B-26 Marauders of the 555th Bomb Squadron returning to England after a raid on the continent, 1944. (R.H. Denison photo) |
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B-26 Marauder over France just after D-Day. the Black and white stripes were all painted the night before the invasion. (Skip Young photo) |
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Some of the shipping approaching the beachhead a few days after the invasion. One of the beachhead airfields is directly below the prop hub on the Marauder (386th Bomb Group Assn photo) |
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100th mission flight. Six B-26 Marauders of the 386th Bomb Group, each with at least 100 missions, over England, 1944. (386th Bomb Group Assn photo) |
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"Heading For Home" 386th Bomb Group Marauders, led by "THUMBS UP" returning from a mission over France in June 1944. Copies of this 16x20 color print are available from the 386th Bomb Group Assn. Inc, 5594 Buring Court, Ft. Myers, Fl 33919 at a cost of $5.00 per copy, postpaid in the US and $7.50 overseas. (painting by Geoff Pleasance, scanned with permission) |
All images on these pages were photographs sent in by Mr. Skip Young of
the 386th Bomb Group, and scanned by WEB-BIRDS. Do not upload them to other Internet sites
or use them in any other way other than personal without the WRITTEN consent of both Mr.
Young and WEB-BIRDS.
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