Group History

832nd was appointed Base Adjutant. Captain Erickson of the 835th was named as Courts and Boards officer, work which had been done for the Group by the Air Base at Tucson. Captain Tarr of the 833rd was given the job of Mess Officer, with supervision over all the messing facilities. Major Thompson was named Air Executive, with supervision over S-2 and S-3, including Communications work. Col. Hoelscher was appointed Ground Executive, with supervision over S-l and S-4, and station facilities and an impressive list of miscellaneous activities. Major Handley, who had been Group Adjutant, was now named as personnel officer with supervision over special service, the post office and the Post Exchange.

A further important change in organization on April 23 when Major Norton was transferred from S-3 to Air Executive; Captain Uhle moved from Commanding Officer of the 832nd to S-3 and Major Thompson become Commanding Officer of 832nd squadron. Other less conspicuous changes took place from time to time during the month.

The personnel work of all detachments on the Base except the Wing and the sub-depot was centralized in the Base personnel office. All service records, 201 files, form 20's and form 66-2's were kept here. A subdivision in charge of combat crews and awards and casualties was established with an S-2 officer in charge.

OPERATIONS

The 486th Group was not scheduled to go operational until May 1. The month of April was spent in perfecting a new organization and in intensive training. One officer and three clerks were left in each squadron operations office. Three lead crews were chosen for each squadron: these were designed to play an important role in combat missions. The table of organization still provided for Flight Commanders but not all the pilots of lead crews are flight commanders. Flying Control was an added function, which the Group had not had in Tucson. The operations section was handicapped by rather limited office space. Altogether, the section had a hard month in making the transition form Second Air Force training to operational status.

TRAINING

Operations, Intelligence, and other sections had to change from the squadron organization that was in effect at Tucson to a unified organization. In some cases, they had to learn entirely new methods. The combat crews had to learn an entirely new formation, the 12-plane squadron, which was peculiar to the new 92nd Wing and which had never been used in combat. The Group had to learn to operate larger formations. It was found that not enough attention had been paid in the United States to formation bombing and target area maneuvers. The Navigators needed a good deal of practice on pinpoint navigation. Thus, a good deal of attention was paid during April to formation flying and practice missions.

The Commanding Officer, the squadron Commanders, and several others flew on combat missions with other Groups as observers. The S-2 officers and others visited other groups to observe their methods at first hand. Officers and enlisted men from several sections attended schools, some of them conducted by the Royal Air Force.

TECHNICAL AND MAINTENANCE

The squadron communications offices were all consolidated in a Group office. Their work had added importance because of the emphasis here on navigation by radio. They had to learn to use British radio equipment, which is very complicated. Personal equipment is an important function here. Fewer officers are used than in the Second Ah Force but it requires more enlisted men. The use of Teletype is very important in England.

All the airplanes had to be modified. They were sent to Whorton to get bulletproof steel added. They were sent to Honington and Burtonwood to have communications changes made.

SUPPLY

The various sections learned immediately that supplies and equipment are short in England. Fortunate indeed was the section that brought office supplies with it, because many items are unobtainable here. A very limited amount of paper was available, but the number of typewriters was limited and serious inconvenience was often caused by this lack.

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