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Special Notice
For over two decades, I have dedicated time, resources and more into supporting the 445th Bombardment Group (Heavy) website and Facebook Group. Now personal health issues and family matters has forced a decision I knew was coming. As of today, May 22, 2022, I am suspending production of the Personal Mission Histories (a.k.a. Personal Military Biographies). I offer my sincere apologies to those who have placed orders. I will continue to ocassionally work on the website and the factbook page.
This website is a tribute to the men of the 445th Bombardment Group, 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing, 2nd Bombardment (later Air) Division, 8th United States Army Air Force. They flew 280 combat missions out of a former Royal Air Force station near the village of Tibenham in Norfolk County. The base was turned over to the United States Army Air Force on November 4th, 1943. At that time, the air crews were making the Southern Atlantic crossing going from Florida to England via South America and making the flight across the Atlantic from Brazil to Africa.
The following pages will chronical the life and times of the 445th from the day of its creation until the unit was deactivated at Camp Dix, NJ in September, 1945. Deactivations by no means meant the end of the 445th Bomb Group, nor would their accomplishments, be forgotten. The men of the 445th, both combat air crews and the ground support personnel, played an integral part in destroying Nazi Germany's war production capability. So many times the support personnel are forgotten or reduced in importance to the role they played. They may not have faced the same dangers as the air crews, but having a foot crushed while loading 500 pound high explosive bombs into the bomb bay of a B-24 Liberator or the plane exploding during the refueling process has the same effect as a bullet wound or a direct flak hit.
All of the material contained in this website comes from photos and stories provided by former members of the 445th Bomb Group or their relatives and friends; official U.S. Army Air Force records maintained at the National Archives and Records Administration facility in College Park, Maryland; or from 16mm microfilm records obtained from the Albert F. Simpson Historical Research Center (AFSHRC) at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. In 1983, AFSHRC was redesignated as the United States Air Force Historical Research Center (USAFHRC) and finally renamed the Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA) on September 1, 1991. To date, our research team has accumulated some 110,000 pages of documents relating to the 445th Bombardment Group (Heavy) and the other thirteen bomb groups that made up the Second Bombardment (later Air) Division of the Eighth Air Force during World War II.
So that we never forget the sacrifices they made for our liberty...