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The history of the 306th Bombardment Wing closely parallels the development of the US strategic bomber force from early in World War II through Strategic Air Command’s nuclear and conventional bomber force that deterred another World War and fought in Vietnam, to Air Combat Command’s bomber force today.
The 306th activated at Boise, Idaho, on 1 March 1942 as the 306th Bombardment Group, trained in B-17s in the Western US until the Group deployed to Thurleigh, Bedford County, England in August 1942. It became one of the pioneer units of the Eighth Air Force. Training continued until the Group was operationally ready and it flew it’s first combat mission on 9 October 1942. The 306th Commander, Colonel Overacker, led this daylight precision attack against locomotive works at Lille, France. One B-17 was lost to ground fire over the target and no B-17s were lost to attacking German fighters, even though this mission had no allied fighter escort.
In January 1943 the
306th attacked U-boat construction targets marking the first American bomber
attacks in Germany and the start of a two and a half year campaign. On one of these
antisubmarine missions in May 1943, Staff Sergeant Maynard H. "Snuffy" Smith
earned the Congressional Medal of Honor. Sergeant Smith was a gunner on his first combat
mission when his B-17 was hit by ground fire and enemy fighters resulting in several fires
in the aircraft. Sergeant Smith manned the waist guns fighting off enemy fighters,
attended to a wounded gunner, fought the fires and at one point threw exploding ammunition
overboard. Sergeant Smith was the first enlisted man to be awarded the Medal Of Honor in
the European Theater of Operations.
Missions deep into Germany continued to be unescorted by allied fighters and losses continued to climb. In August 1943 Eighth Air Force sent 230 bombers against targets in Schweinfurt and 36 aircraft were lost to ground fire and enemy aircraft. In late 1943 P-38 and P-51 fighters were available to escort the bombers over targets in Germany. In early 1944 Eighth Air Force concentrated on destroying the German Air Force and the industries that supported it. During operation "Big Week", in February 1944, B-17s from the 306th attacked targets such as the aero-works at Leipsig, the Hopsten airdrome, Bernburg, the ball bearing plant at Schweinfurt and Augsburg.
After D-Day the 306th shifted to support of ground operations by attacking
troop concentrations, troop support facilities and other tactical targets assigned by the
Army. The 306th was involved in offensives such as the St Lo breakthrough in
July 1944 the airborne invasion of Holland in September, the Battle of the Bulge from
December 1944 through January 1945 and the airborne assault across the Rhine in March
1945. The 306th also bombed strategic targets through 1944 concentrating on
German oil production. In early 1945 the 306th continued to bomb oil
production, transportation and communication center targets as the war wound down. On 19
April 1945, the 306th flew its final combat mission of the war.
The 306th flew 341 missions, 9,606 individual sorties and dropped 19,294 tons of heavy explosives and 2,064 tons of incendiaries. Throughout the war the 306th attacked targets in Europe ranging from submarine bases, shipyards, ball bearing plants, airfields, oil refineries, transportation systems, communications centers, troop concentrations and marshaling yards.
The mission of the 306th changed from strategic and tactical
bombing to aerial photography after the war in May 1945. This mission continued until the
306th was inactivated on 25 December 1946. On 1 July 1947 the 306th was
activated at Andrews Field, Maryland and assigned to the Strategic Air Command. In August
1948 it was transferred to MacDill AFB Florida, less personnel and equipment. The
remainder of 1948 was spent getting the Group combat ready in the B-29. In 1949 the 306th
was assigned the primary mission of heavy bombardment transition crew training in the B-29
for SAC.
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