Twelve (12) scarce early original vintage official US AIR FORCE PHOTOS shows flight operations of the 47th Bombardment Group from 1942-45.
The 47th Bombardment Group was a medium bomber unit that served in North Africa, Italy and the south of France, acting as a night intruder mission from June 1944.
The group was activated in January 1941 and was equipped with the Douglas A-20. After the American into the Second World War the group spent December 1941 and January 1942 flying anti-submarine patrols off the US West Coast.
Between December 1942 and May 1943 the group concentrated on low level attacks on German and Italian troops in Algeria and Tunisia.
The group took part in the destructive aerial attacks on the islands of Pantelleria and Lampedusa in June 1943, which forced the surrender of the islands. In July 1943 it supported the invasion of Sicily and in August 1943 it attacked the German evacuation beaches at Messina in a generally unsuccessful attempt to stop the Germans retreating to the Italian mainland.
In August-September 1944 the group supported the Allied invasion of southern France, operating from Corsica until early September. On 14 August (D-1) the group attacked German airfields in southern France and it helped support the first week of fighting.
In November 1944 the Luftwaffe made a brief reappearance in Italy. The 47th directed its night intruder missions against German airfields from 11-23 November, until the Luftwaffe was eliminated again.
From then until April 1945 the group concentrated on attacks on German communications and transport links. Its efforts were focused in the area south of the Po until the end of November 1944, and north of the Po from 1 December. It won a second DUC for its operations on 21-24 April 1945 when it flew for sixty consecutive hours, attacking German transport in the Po Valley as part of operations designed to prevent an orderly retreat.
The group returned to the United States in July 1945. It survived for longer than many wartime units, and wasn't inactivated until October 1949.