Preserving WWII History
Honoring Service
The Cottontails
The Cottontails
450bg.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 450th Bombardment Group is not a complete list of all who served with the 450th, 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 on 6 April 1943 and activated on 1 May 1943. They moved to Italy in December 1943 and began flight operations while assigned to the Fifteenth Air Force in January 1944. Their missions were mostly strategic and included targets in Rumania, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and the Balkans until V-E Day in April 1945. They would receive two Distinguished Unit Citations (DUC) for a mission on 25 February 1944, a aircraft factory at Regensburg and 5 April 1944 on a mission to marshalling yards at Ploesti, Rumania.
The 450th also struck such objectives as enemy defenses, troop concentrations, bridges, and marshalling yards in support of the invasion of Southern France, the advance of Russian troops in the Balkans, and the Allied effort in Italy. Returned to the US in May 1945.
Col John S Mills, 12 Jun 1943
Col Robert R Gideon, 7 Jul 1944
Col Ellsworth R Jacoby, 17 Nov 1944
Archival Combat Film Footage DVD of the 450th BG.
720th: 1943-1945.
721st: 1943-1945.
722nd: 1943-1945.
723td: 1943-1945.
Gowen Field, Idaho, 1 May 1943
Clovis AAB, NM, c. 21 May 1943
Alamogordo AAFld, NM, c. 8 Jul-20 Nov 1943
Manduria, Italy, 20 Dec 1943-12 May 1945
Do you have WWII memorabilia that you are not sure what to do with it? The children don't want it? Then let us help you preserve this history by donating these items to the Army Air Corps Library and Museum.
We are accepting donations in the form of uniforms, medals, ribbons, patches, photos, memorabilia, papers, gear and equipment.
We also accept monetary donations to support our operations and long term plans.
This website is part of the Army Air Corps Library and Museum, and as a 501(c)(3) Non-profit, your qualifying donations are tax deductible.
Contact us if you are contemplating a donation of any kind.
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.
