455bg.org is a project of the Army Air Corps Library and Museum. Volunteers are transcribing servicemen names and their awards from General Orders that we are publishing on this website for enthusiasts, families and researchers of genealogy and World War II history. The names on this honor roll of men assigned to the 455th Bombardment Group is not a complete list of all who served with the 455th, however, we are attempting to locate as many documents that have survived as possible. Sources of material include the US National Archives, Air Force Historical Research Agency and the records donated by individual servicemen and their families. We hope you will find this information useful and enjoyable. We are accepting volunteers help in this very large World War II project as we preserve this history and honor service.
Constituted 14 May 1943. and activated on 1 June 1943 the 455th Bombardment Group trained with B-24's. They moved to Italy during January-February 1944 and were assigned to the Fifteenth Air Force. Engaged primarily in bombardment of strategic targets such as factories, marshalling yards, oil refineries, harbors, and airdromes in Italy, France, Rumania, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria, and the Balkans. Received a DUC for a mission on 2 April 1944 when the group target was a ball-bearing plant at Steyr, Austria. They would remain in Italy until deactivated in September 1945.
Col Kenneth A Cool, c. Jul 1943
Col William L Snowden, c. 16 Sep 1944
Lt Col William R Boutz, May 1945
740th: 1943-1945. 741st: 1943-1945. 742nd: 1943-1945. 743rd: 1943-1945.
Alamogordo AAFld, NM, 1 Jun 1943
Kearns, Utah, c. 6 Sep 1943
Langley Field, Va, c. 5 Oct-2 Dec 1943
San Giovanni, Italy, 15 Jan 1944
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Are you an AAC, AAF or USAF Veteran, family member, historian or WW2 enthusiast? We Need YOU! Contact us today to see how you can help the Army Air Corps Library and Museum, a Texas Not-For-Profit Corporation.
We need your help! We are looking for volunteers that can help us with the following tasks.
(1) Typing and Transcriptionists: One of our big projects is extracting data from the thousands of documents we have and putting this data into a database where we can display the information on a website such as this one. (2) Photography and Document Scanning.