page_title: RAF Harrington
section_title: 801st Bombardment Group (Provisional)
hierarchical_section_title: RAF Harrington / History / United States Army Air Forces use / 801st Bombardment Group (Provisional)
caption_attribution_description: English: B-24 of the 492d Bomb Group from Harrington Airfield, England, on a mission over Nazi Occupied Europe.
context_page_description: Royal Air Force Station Harrington or more simply RAF Harrington is a former Royal Air Force station in England about 5.6 miles west of Kettering in Northamptonshire south of the village of Harrington off the A14 road. During the early Cold War, it was a Thor missile site, designed to deliver atomic warheads to the Soviet Union. The nuclear missile site is now protected as a Grade II listed building as an example of Cold War architecture.
context_section_description: The first  United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force Group to use Harrington was the 801st Bombardment Group (Provisional), arriving from RAF Alconbury on 25 March 1944.
  Its initial operational squadrons were:
  36th Bombardment Squadron
  406th Bombardment Squadron
  Both were equipped with Consolidated B-24 Liberators
  In May, two additional Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress squadrons were attached to the group, those being:
  850th Bombardment Squadron
  Attached from: 490th Bombardment Group (RAF Eye)
  788th Bombardment Squadron
  Attached from: 467th Bombardment Group (RAF Rackheath)
  The 801st Bomb Group became best known as the Carpetbaggers. The mission of the Carpetbaggers was to fly Special Operations missions which entailed delivering supplies to resistance groups in enemy occupied countries.
  The squadrons flew agents and supplies into southern France with B-24 Liberators that had all armament removed except in the top and tail turrets. In addition, the standard bomb shackles were removed from the bomb bay and British shackles were installed to accommodate special supply canisters. All unneeded radio gear was removed, as were the oxygen bottles.
  Flash suppressors were installed on the guns, flame dampeners were installed on the turbo-superchargers, and blackout curtains were installed over the waist gun windows. Light bulbs were painted red to spare night vision and special radio gear was added to assist in navigation and homing in on drop zones. The undersides of the aircraft were painted black to avoid detection by enemy searchlights. Combat with the enemy was avoided as it only endangered the success of the mission.
  Drops were also made using radio-navigation equipment. Supplies were also released in containers designed to be dropped from the existing equipment in the bomb bay. Pilots often flew several miles farther into enemy territory after completing the drop to disguise the actual drop zone in case enemy observers were tracking the plane's movement.
  The B-17s flown by the 788th and 850th Bombardment Squadrons were employed to drop leaflets over Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Greece, and the Balkans. Some leaflets informed the citizens in occupied Europe of war news and Axis losses. Others urged German troops to surrender and offered safe passage through Allied lines. Seventy-seven percent of the German troops captured in France either had one of these leaflets or had seen one.
  The leaflets were a trusted source of news for the oppressed citizens of occupied Europe. They were widely read and sometimes carried for months and hidden in false pockets, hats, and shoes. Possession of one of the leaflets meant an automatic death sentence if caught by the Nazis.
caption: Black Painted B-24 Liberator, on a mission over Nazi Occupied Europe.
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