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The 453rd Bombardment Group was a B-24 Liberator unit that was active from Old Buckenham in England from February 1944 until the end of the war in Europe.
It entered combat on 5 February 1944 during an attack on a German airfield at Tours, but spent most of the war serving in the strategic bombing campaign. Targets included fuel targets at Dulmen and Gelsenkirchen, transport links at Paderborn and Hamm and the German airfield industry during Big Week (20-25 February 1944).
The group also took part in some tactical missions, attacking V-weapon sites, gun batteries and German airfields before D-Day, while on 6 June 1944 the group attacked German shore installations between Le Havre and Cherbourg. In July 1944 the group took part in the heavy bombing attacks that preceded the breakthrough at St. Lo. During the battle of the Bulge the group attacks German communication targets. On two occasions the group was used to carry supplies - once in September 1944 as the Allied armies began to outpace their supply chains and again in March 1945 to support the crossing of the Rhine.
Consolidated B-24 Liberator (Crowood Aviation), Martin W. Bowman. A well balanced book that begins with a look at the development history of the B-24, before spending nine out of its ten chapters looking at the combat career of the aircraft in the USAAF, the US Navy and the RAF.
B-24 Liberator Units of the Eighth Air Force, Robert F. Dorr. Although the Eighth Air Force is famous for operating the B-17, even at the end of the Second World War the B-24 still equipped one third of all Eighth Army Bombardment Groups. Here Dorr looks at the role the Liberator played with the Eighth Army, from its tiny beginnings in 1942 to the final massive air armadas of 1944 and 1945. Dorr also looks at the sizable detachments sent to North Africa during 1943, and the famous Ploesti mission.
‘Big Week’ 1944 – Operation Argument and the breaking of the Jadgwaffe, Douglas C. Dildy.
Looks at the USAAF’s concentrated attack on the German aircraft industry, a week of massive bombing raids that forced the Luftwaffe into an equally massive defensive effort that cost them around 150 aircrew at a time when they could hardly afford those losses, as well as cutting German fighter production by around 2,000 aircraft, and proving that the long range escort fighter was the key to a successful daylight bombing campaign (Read Full Review)
May 1943-April 1945: Consolidated B-24 Liberator
| 14 May 1943 | Constituted as 453rd Bombardment Group (Heavy) |
| 1 June 1943 | Activated |
| December 1943-January 1944 | Moved to England to join Eighth Air Force |
| 5 February 1944 | First combat operation |
| April 1945 | Last combat operation |
Colonel Joseph A Miller: 29 June 1943
Colonel Ramsey D Potts Jr: 19 March 1944
Colonel Lawrence M Thomas: 7 July 1944
Lt. Colonel Edward F Hubbard: 25 January 1945
Wendover Field, Utah: 1 June 1943
Pocatello Field, Idaho: 29 July 1943
March Field, California: 30 September-2 December 1943
Old Buckenham, England: 23 December 1943-9 May 1945
New Castle, Delaware: 25 May 1945
732nd Bombardment Squadron: 1943-1945
733rd Bombardment Squadron: 1943-1945
734td Bombardment Squadron: 1943-1945
735th Bombardment Squadron: 1943-1945
Eighth Air Force: 1943-1945
1943-45: 2nd Bombardment Wing; 2nd Air Division; Eighth Air Force
1945: 2nd Bombardment Wing; 1st Air Division; Eighth Air Force