387th Bombardment Group WWII enamel commemorative pin, 9th Air Force

Description

387th Bombardment Group WWII enamel commemorative pin, 9th Air Force.
In original envelope, unopened.
The
387th Bombardment Group
(Medium) was one of eight U.S. Army Air Force B-26 equipped medium bomber groups deployed in the European Theater of Operations during World War II. Known as the "Tiger-Striped Marauders" or "Tiger Tails" because of the distinctive diagonal yellow and black stripes painted on the tails of its aircraft, the group was comprised of four tactical squadrons: the 556th, 557th, 558th and 559th Bombardment Squadrons, Medium.
The 387th Bombardment Group (Medium) was constituted on November 25, 1942, and activated on December 1 at MacDill Field in Tampa Bay, Florida. The group formed there and trained with the new B-26 medium bomber produced by the Glenn L. Martin Company. It rounded out its training with brief stays at Drane Field, Florida, starting April 12, 1943 and Godman Field, Kentucky, starting in early May. In late May the aircrews picked up the group's first 56 combat aircraft at Selfridge Field, Michigan, and spent four more weeks there and at other locations training, outfitting and and making some last-minute modifications to the new aircraft. On June 19 the air echelon left Presque, Maine for England via the northern ferry route, arriving on June 25. Ground personnel left Godman Field for New York on June 10, sailed on the Queen Mary on June 23 and arrived at the port of Clyde on June 29.
In England the group was first assigned to the Eighth Air Force, VIII Air Support Command, 3rd Bombardment Wing and stationed at a newly built-airfield near Chipping Ongar, about 20 miles northeast of London. The group flew its first mission, a diversion, on July 31 and its first bombing mission on August 15. The Eighth Air Force saw its mission as a strategic one aimed at destroying the German capacity to make war and thus wanted to focus on long-range missions against industrial targets deep inside Germany. Although the twin-engined B-26s carried the same bomb load and flew faster than the four-engined heavy bombers, they had a much shorter range. Accordingly, during its tenure with the Eighth Air Force the bulk of the group's missions were attacks on Luftwaffe airfields in occupied France and Belgium intended to relieve pressure on the heavies.
In September 1943
Ninth Air Force
headquarters arrived in England to assume the task of providing tactical air support for the invasion of Normandy. The 387th was transferred to that headquarters on October 16, and assigned to the IX Bomber Command, 98th Bombardment Wing (Medium).
German construction of V-weapon launching sites targeting English cities presented a new danger, and in the winter of 1943-1944 a good deal of the group's attention was diverted to strike against such sites, both before and after they became operational. The group also participated in "Big Week," the intensive campaign against the German Air Force and aircraft industry involving both the Eighth and Ninth Air Forces, by hitting airfields at Leeuwarden and Venlo in the Netherlands in order to disrupt the defensive response to massed heavy bombers raiding into Germany.  [387bg.com]