page_title: 111th Fighter Wing
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: 111th Fighter Wing / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: Martin B-26B-50-MA Marauder Serial 42-95835 of the 391st Bomb Group, based at RAF Matching, England.
context_page_description: The 111th Attack Wing is a unit of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, stationed at Horsham Air National Guard Station, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. If activated to federal service, the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force Air Combat Command. It provides protection of life, property, and the preservation of peace and order when tasked to do so by state or federal authorities. The Wing also provides operational and support units, as well as qualified personnel, to support wartime tasking and contingency commitments of any nature.
  The 103d Attack Squadron is a descendant organization of the 103d Observation Squadron, formed on 27 June 1924. It was one of the 29 original National Guard Observation Squadrons of the United States Army National Guard formed before World War II.
context_section_description: Constituted as 391st Bombardment Group (Medium) on 15 January 1943 and activated on 21 January Trained with B-26's for duty in Europe with Ninth Air Force. Assigned to RAF Matching, England on 26 January 1944. The group marking was a yellow triangle painted on the tail fin of their B-26s.
  The first mission was flown on 15 February and 150 more were completed before the group moved into France in late September 1944. During the ensuing weeks the 391st bombed targets such as airfields, marshalling yards, bridges, and V-weapon sites in France and the Low Countries to help prepare for the invasion of Normandy. The group attacked enemy defenses along the invasion beaches on 6 and 7 June 1944. From June through September, the group continued cross-Channel operations, which included attacks on fuel dumps and troop concentrations in support of Allied forces during the breakthrough at Saint-Lô in July 1944, and strikes on transportation and communications to block the enemy's retreat to the east.
  A total of 20 B-26s were missing in action during the 391st's operations from Matching before the group moved onto the continent, transferring to Roye/Amy, France (ALG A-73) on 19 September 1944. The group then switched to Douglas A-26 Invaders and flew its last mission on 3 May 1945 from Asche, Belgium (ALG Y-29).
  The 391st Bomb Group returned to the United States in October and was inactivated at Camp Shanks, New York on 25 October 1945.
caption: Martin B-26B Marauder Serial 42-95835 of the 391st Bomb Group.
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