Throughout January Alconbury based aircraft conducted attacks against Cherbourg, Hamburg, Emden, Munster, Le Havre and Brest. At the beginning of the month General Arnold confirmed to the Chief of the Air Staff that the USAAF would be ready to deploy to Britain in the March and that despite the RAF's unencouraging experiences with the both early model of the B-17 and daylight operations, the American Flying Fortresses would focus on daylight bombing in order to be able to gain the benefits of their highly prized Norden bombsight.
On the 12th of February “C” Flight, No.40 Squadron joined an unsuccessful operations by over 200 aircraft to attempt to thwart the “Channel dash” back to German ports of the capital ships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen. Two days later, the Flight was re-numbered No 156 Squadron and almost immediately it was reequipped with the Wellington III, coded GT. On the 16th it recommenced operations with a drop of some 228,000 leaflets on Lille reporting the arrival of US Forces in Europe. The day before and significantly further afield, Singapore had fallen to the Japanese.
During this period a number of acts of bravery were conducted by the Alconbury based crews of No.40 Squadron, amongst them Sergeant McLennan who for his bravery in saving a Wellington flown by Flight Sergeant T E Case was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) (See. RAF Decorations).
On the 14th of May XV Squadron stopped using Alconbury as a dispersal site and returned to Wyton. Then at the end of the month No.156 Squadron participated in the first of three “1000 bomber”. It also conducted a number of Operation Gardening “vegetable” runs, mining operations.
On the 18th of June the 8th Air Force Headquarters moved from the temporary accommodation it had occupied since the 15th of April to Bushy Park, codenamed “Widewing”. Just under a week later General Dwight Eisenhower was appointed as the Commanding General of the US Forces in the European Theatre of Operations (ETO). Meanwhile, the 8th Bomber Command headquarters at “Pinetree” near High Wycombe prepared for the start of USAAF bombing operations and on the 17th of August General Eaker, the Commanding General of the 8th Bomber Command, personally lead the first mission against Rouen.
In the same month, Group Captain Bennett established No 8 Group, the “Pathfinder” Force, headquartered in Huntingdon and No.156 Squadron moved to join it at RAF Warboys (See. Pathfinders). By the time it changed roles, its target list for the year read something like a Michelin guide to Europe with raids on coastal targets from Brest to Stettin and inland targets from Paris to Stuttgart via Essen and Mannheim. Up to this point of the war, Alconbury based aircraft had flown over 650 operational sorties at a cost of 59 Wellington medium bombers and 8 Blenheim light bombers and their crews.
B-24 arrives in England
Prior to Station 102 being taken over by the United States Army Air Force in August, Alconbury's main South-West/North East runway had been extended to 6 000 feet and the secondary runways to 4 200 feet. Some 26 additional aircraft hard standings were laid down and 2 T2-Type hangars were built for aircraft maintenance - one in the technical site on the west side and the other in the northern dispersal area. Fuel tank with a total capacity of 216 000 gallons were also installed and numerous pre-fabricated buildings were erected for accommodation and specialist technical purposes. In addition,the unit headquarters and sick quarters, were erected on land surrounding Alconbury House. At this time the second wartime watch tower was added.
On the 31st of August the ground echelon of the 93rd Bombardment Group boarded the RMS Queen Elizabeth bound for Grennock where they arrived on the 4th of September, departing for Alconbury by train the following day. On the 7th the first of 34 B-24D Consolidated Vought Liberator heavy bombers of the 93rd Bomb Group (B), 2nd Air Division, arrived at Alconbury having been the first Bomb Group to cross the Atlantic in formation. This, the oldest B-24 Group in the USAAF, was made up of 4 squadrons - 328th (GO), 329th (RE), 330th (AG) and the 409th (YM).
Post attack reconnaissance
At approximately 0830 on the 9th of October 27 Liberators of the 328th and 409th Bomb Squadrons commanded by Colonel 'Tim' Timberlake Jr launched on their first operational mission from the United Kingdom and the first by the USAAF involving over 100 aircraft. En route to the twin targets of Cie de Fives-Lille steel works and the nearby locomotive works 3 aircraft turned back due to mechanical failures, but overhead Felixstowe the group joined four other bombing elements drawn from the 301st , 11th CCRG, the 306th and 97th Bombardment Groups all of which operated the B-17 Flying Fortress. Despite a strong RAF Spitfire and USAAF P-38 Lightning fighter screen of over one fighter per bomber, the 93rd lost a Liberator and ten more were badly damaged. To make matters worse, the inexperienced force achieved poor bombing results with only 9 bombs falling within a quarter of a mile of either target. Potentially more embarrassing were the claims by the American air gunners that they had killed some 86 enemy aircraft - more than the total German fighter force in the area. Although the British papers reported the raid as a great success, the public saw “yankee big-talk” as an American national characteristic and remained skeptical of the claims. They were perhaps right to do so, as post-war research would seem to suggest the Luftwaffe losses might have been as low as one or two aircraft! The reality of war and the practical difficulties of what then counted a “precision” bombing had been swiftly realized.
Despite a shortage of spares and to some extent serviceable aircraft, the 93rd Bombardment Group went on to conduct a further 7 operations before leaving Alconbury, all without loss. These operations were in support of the “Battle of the Atlantic” and were mounted against the German submarine facilities at La Pallice, Brest, St Nazaire and Lorient.
In the October the 330th and 409th were respectively re-deployed to Holmsley South and St Eval to supported RAF Coastal Command in the maritime escort of convoys passing through the Bay of Biscay en route to the North Africa invasion “Operation Torch”.
The 93rd Bomb Group as the first Liberator group in England hosted many visits by senior figures, one being the “father” of the Royal Air Force, Lord Trenchard. On the 14th of November Station 102 become the first USAAF Station to be visited by King George VI when he inspected Colonel Timberlake's Liberator “Teggie Ann”. Three days later and following the attack on St Nazaire a formation of returning B-24s was subjected to a 45 minute long attack by JU-88s, one of which was shot down before the Luftwaffe pilots broke off the engagement. On the 18th the 93rd's Katy Bug was less fortunate suffering a double engine failure while circling the field after a raid on Lorient and crash landed on nearby farmland killing four of its crew and injuring 6 others. Three days later luck had once more returned to the 93rd and an engagement with 5 JU-88s resulted in two enemy aircraft being destroyed and third being damaged.
King George VI and Col Timerlake's crew
The 93rd were then re-deployed on the 27th of November to Hardwick to assist in the USAAF evaluation of the British Gee navigation aid. Then in December 1942 twenty four of the Group's aircraft moved to the Middle East where it earned a Distinguished Unit Citation as “Ted's Travelling Circus”. Most of the Groups ground personnel, however, remained at Alconbury prior to moving on themselves to Hardwick ready for the Groups anticipated return from the Middle East.
