page_title: 96th Test Wing
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: 96th Test Wing / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: B-17G-70-BO Fortress Serial 43-37683, of the 339th Bomb Squadron, 96th Bombardment Group, at RAF Snetterton Heath, England.
context_page_description: The 96th Test Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Force Test Center of Air Force Materiel Command at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The wing was activated at Eglin in 1994 as the 96th Air Base Wing, the headquarters for all support units on Eglin, the largest installation in the Air Force. In 2012, it absorbed the mission and resources of the 46th Test Wing and added the mission of testing and evaluating weapons, navigation and guidance systems and command and control systems.
  The wing's first predecessor was organized during World War II as the 96th Bombardment Group. After training in the United States, the group flew Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses from England. The group led the first shuttle mission to Regensburg on 17 August 1943. The group earned two Distinguished Unit Citations for its combat performance. After VE Day, the group returned to the United States and was inactivated. The group was briefly active in the Air Force Reserve from 1947 until 1949.
  The 96th Bombardment Wing was activated in 1953 at Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma and received Boeing B-47 Stratojet bombers the following year as a component of Strategic Air Command's deterrent force.
context_section_description: Media related to 96th Bombardment Group at Wikimedia Commons
  The group was first activated in July 1942 at Salt Lake City Army Air Base, Utah as the 96th Bombardment Group, with the 337th, 338th, 339th and 413th Bombardment Squadrons assigned as its original components. After moving to Gowen Field, Idaho the group received its initial cadre.  The group trained at various bases in the northwestern United States.
  In November 1942 the group moved to Pocatello Army Air Base, Idaho, where it acted as an Operational Training Unit (OTU). OTUs were oversized parent units that provided cadres to form "satellite groups." In early 1943, the 96th relocated to Pyote Army Air Base, Texas, where it resumed its combat training.  In April 1943 the group began its overseas movement.  The air echelon ferried its bombers via the North Atlantic Ferry Route, while the ground echelon proceeded to the New York Port of Embarkation and sailed on the RMS Queen Elizabeth for Greenock, Scotland.
  The group arrived at RAF Grafton Underwood England in May 1943, for duty with Eighth Air Force. The group was assigned to the 45th Combat Bombardment Wing of the 3d Bombardment Division. The group commenced combat operations on 14 May with an attack on Kortryk (Courtrai), after an aborted mission the previous day. The 96th moved east at the end of May to RAF Andrews Field. The 96th appears to have only carried out one mission while based at Andrews. On 29 May 1943 they took part in a raid on Rennes naval storage depot from which one B-17 failed to return.  However, Eighth Air Force was not pleased with the initial performance of the Martin B-26 Marauder units assigned to it and decided to move them from their bases in north Suffolk to stations nearer the continent.  As the first step in this move, the 386th Bombardment Group left its base at RAF Snetterton Heath for RAF Boxted.  The 96th took the 386th's place at Snetterton Heath the following day, leaving its previous base available for the 322d Bombardment Group.
  As the most conveniently reached station from 3d Air Division Headquarters at Elveden Hall, Snetterton Heath units often led to major operations carrying commanding generals. General Curtis LeMay led the Regensburg shuttle mission to North Africa flying out of this base, and the group received a Distinguished Unit Citation for withstanding severe assaults by enemy fighters. The 96th also led the 3d Division on the Schweinfurt mission of 14 October 1943. In addition, the 96th attacked shipyards, harbors, railway yards, aerodromes, oil refineries, aircraft factories, and other industrial targets in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia.
  The 96th received another Distinguished Unit Citation for leading the 45th Wing a great distance through heavy clouds and intense flak to raid important aircraft component factories in Poland on 9 April 1944. Other significant targets attacked by the group included airfields at Bordeaux and Augsburg; marshalling yards at Kiel, Hamm, Brunswick, and Gdynia; aircraft factories at Chemnitz, Hanover, and Diósgyőr; oil refineries at Merseburg and Brüx, and chemical works in Wiesbaden, Ludwigshafen, and Neunkirchen.
  In addition to its strategic operations, the 96th was occasionally diverted to support ground forces.  These missions included bombing coastal defenses, railway bridges, gun emplacements, and field batteries in the battle area prior to and during D-Day in June 1944.   It attacked enemy positions to support the breakthrough at Saint-Lô in July 1944and aided the campaign in France in August by striking roads and road junctions and by dropping supplies to the Maquis.  In the early months of 1945, the group struck lines of communications supplying German armies on the western front.
  After V-E Day, the 96th flew food to the Netherlands and transported redeploying personnel to French Morocco, Northern Ireland, France, and Germany. the group was programmed to move to Germany for occupation duty.  However, plans were revised in September 1945. In November 1945 its aircraf
caption: 339th Squadron B-17G on hardstand[note 4]
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