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Foreword

There was a certain irony in the "face saving" surrender of the Japanese after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaka, for it came when the war against their Empire had already been decided. When the B-29s moved into the Marianas, the war moved into a different epoch. Before the use of the atomic bomb, the US had proved that it could wipe out Japanese cities, one after another, without the need to bring ground troops to close quarters at all. When the war ended, the AAF had the ability to knock out a city a night with incendiary attacks alone.

The chief agents of the annihilation of the land of the rising sun were the Superforts and the people who made up the Bombardment Groups that supported, maintained and flew them. This book is about just one of those Groups, the 500th, which came under the command of the 73rd Bombardment Wing, pioneer in carrying the full strategic, striking power of the Air Forces to the heart of Japan.

The pictures that follow were selected because of interest to former men of the 500th and are not intended to portray the broader history of the Pacific War nor even of the total B-29 program on Saipan. Inasmuch as possible, only photographs that tell a story were chosen. The people in the scenes are there because of what they are doing and not because they were members of a certain Squadron or Section.

Due to combat losses, reorganization and other exigencies of military service, many men frequently changed from one responsibility to another. Quite often a position was held by several people during the course of the Group's history. For this reason, only top command and staff personnel who held those positions during the peak of the 500th's effort against the enemy are pictured in that section of this volume.

It is my hope that you feel, as I do, that we had the privilege of serving our country in the best Group in the world's best Air Force.

Glenn E. McClure

Publication Date

1947

Keywords

United States Air Force, World War 1939-1945, Regimental histories, 500th Bombardment Group, 73rd Wing, Gowen Field, Boise Idaho, Russell Kansas, Hays Kansas, 462nd Bomb Group, 480th Anti-Sub Group, Walker Army Air Field

Disciplines

Military History | United States History

Comments

This work is not part of the collection of the Bangor Public Library.

This publication is donated courtesy of Lyle J. McQuoid.

An Unofficial History of the 500th Bombardment Group

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