8th AF Order of Battle

8th AF Order of Battle

(orbat)

In December 1944, 8th AF comprised of 26 B-17 & 14 B-24 bomber groups.
They were all based in East Anglia, United Kingdom
These groups were divided into 3 Air Divisions:

1st Bombardment Division equipped with B-17’s
2nd Bombardment Division equipped with B-24’s
3rd Bombrdment Division equipped with B-17’s

Each Bombardment Division was divided up into Combat wings.
Most of them had 3 Bomb groups assigned to each combat wing. But due to reorganization earlier in 1944, 1 combat wing consisted out of 5 Bomb groups; combining 2 combat wings together. In total, each Bombardment Division had 4 Combat wings assigned thus making 12 combat wings. A Bomb group consisted out of 4 flying Bomb squadrons and several other squadrons in support. Each bomb Squadron could be equipped with up to 16 Aircraft, which means a Bomb group theoretically could dispatch up to 60+ Bombers on 1 mission. Each group was located on their own airfield.

1st Bombardment Division:

1st CBW: 91st BG, 381st BG, 398th BG
40th CBW: 92nd BG, 305th BG, 306th BG
41st CBW: 303rd BG, 379th BG, 384th BG
94th CBW: 351st BG, 401st BG, 457th BG

2nd Bombardment Division:

2nd CBW: 389th BG, 445thBG, 453rd BG
14th CBW: 44th BG, 392nd BG, 491st BG
20th CBW: 93rd BG, 446thBG, 448thBG
96th CBW: 458thBG, 466thBG, 467thBG

3rd Bombardment Division:

4th CBW: 94th BG, 385th BG, 447th BG, 486th BG, 487thBG
13th CBW: 95th BG, 100thBG, 390thBG,
45th CBW: 96thBG, 388thBG, 452ndBG,
93rd CBW: 34thBG, 490thBG, 493rd BG,

There was also 492nd BG with carpetbagger duties based at Harrington.

IWM Roger Freeman Collection  http://www.americanairmuseum.com/media

IWM Roger Freeman Collection  http://www.americanairmuseum.com/media