41st Bombardment Group The 41st Bombardment Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit . Its last assignment was with the Seventh Air Force stationed at Manila , Philippines . It was inactivated on 27 January 1946 . A World War II medium bomber unit , the 41st was cited for extraordinary heroism in action against the enemy Japanese forces during the Okinawa Campaign , from 4 April 1945 to 14 July 1945 . Bearing the burden of land - based aircraft bombardment missions , the 41st Bombardment Group began the first sustained medium bombardment strikes against the main islands of Japan . It established its facilities and operated its aircraft under the most hazardous field conditions . Undeterred by either the constant rain during April and May or by heavy enemy artillery shelling and repeated day and night aerial bombing of the air strips , the unit succeeded in carrying out highly effective aerial operations against the enemy from Kyushu to the southern - most island of the Ryukyu Group , flying reconnaissance and search missions , escort missions , day and night bomber strikes . History . The 41st Bombardment Group was activated 15 January 1941 at March Field , California . Its components were the 46th , 47th , and 48th Bombardment Squadrons . Attached to the 19th Bombardment Group for training , the 41st received a cadre of 4 officers and 120 enlisted men from the parent organization . During February the Group received additional personnel , and four months after activation it received its first aircraft , one PT - 17 for each squadron . In June , two B - 18s were assigned to each squadron . Meanwhile , on 14 May the Group moved to Tucson , where it grew to a third of its authorized strength . It was not until after it moved to the Muroc Bombing and Gunnery Range , California , four days after the attack on Pearl Harbor , that the Group received a full complement of personnel and equipment . Within a month , a large increment of pilots had arrived from flying school and 45 A - 29s had been assigned to the Group . Antisubmarine patrols . On 26 February , the 41st moved to Hammer Field , Fresno , California . In addition to training its pilots and ground crews , the Group also assisted in patrolling the coastal waters for enemy submarines . In May , the 46th Bombardment Squadron moved to Alameda , California , where the pilots assisted the Navy in patrol duty . Later in the same year the 48th moved to Alameda and continued its patrol work . Meanwhile , the composition of the Group had changed . The 6th Reconnaissance Squadron ( later redesignated the 396th Bombardment Squadron ) was assigned during March 1942 . Headquarters Squadron was disbanded in July 1942 . During the following year , in March 1943 , the 46th was reassigned , and in October the 820th took its place in the Group . Thus the Group consisted of the 47th , 48th , 396th , and 820th Bombardment Squadrons . By mid - 1943 the military situation in the Pacific had changed considerably . The United States was no longer on the defensive . Units which had been employed to defend the west coast might now be diverted to the Pacific to press the attack against the enemy . A projected offensive against the Japanese in the Central Pacific required that the Seventh Air Force be augmented by one heavy and one medium bombardment group . In order to fill one those requirements , the Army Air Force decided to place the 41st under the jurisdiction of the Seventh Air Force . The 41st Bombardment Group moved from California to Hawaii during October 1943 . At Oahu Hawaii , the men of the 41st were briefed on how to live in the tropics . Meanwhile , in the Central Pacific , the carrier fleets began the preliminary bombardment of the Gilbert Islands . On 20 November , the Marines charged ashore on the beaches of Tarawa , the most strategic of the enemy held islands in the Gilberts . After 72 hours of bitter fighting the island was secured and the United States forces had acquired a base from which it could launch an attach against the next island group , the Marshalls . Central Pacific . The 41st moved from Hawaii and on 17 December arrived at Tarawa . Before the Group could mount its own offensive however , the rubble caused by the recent fighting had to be cleared away and the airstrips repaired . The uncomfortable climate , the temporary delay , and an outbreak of dengus and dysentery combined to make life miserable for the men of the 41st . Frequent Japanese nuisance raids added to the sense of helpless frustration . On 28 December , the 820th Squadron launched the Group ' s combat mission with an attack on the new enemy air facilities at Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands . During the month of January 1944 the Group conducted 215 sorties against the Japanese positions in the Marshalls . Maloelap , Wotje , Mili , and Jaluit became familiar to the crews of the B - 25s . Those islands contained air facilities from which the Japanese might interfere with the scheduled invasions of Kwajalein and Eniwetok set for February 1944 . In low - level attacks , the medium bombers of the 41st effectively raked Japanese installations and sipping . The raids however , were made at a high cost for the unit . Enemy opposition , particularly over Maloelap , was stiff , and at times as many as 50 enemy fighters rose to challenge the Group ' s formations . Between 28 December and 12 February the Group lost 17 B - 25s . During February , the offensive continued with the seizure of Kwajalein and Eniwetok atolls . The capture of Eniwetok gave the medium bombers a base of operations for attacks on the strategically important island of Ponape , located 400 miles west of Eniwetok in the eastern Caroline Islands . The Group concentrated on neutralizing the bypassed islands in the Marshalls , but flights were staged from Engebi Island in the Eniwetok Atoll to attack enemy shipping in the Carolines . In an attempt to lower its losses on the bombing raids , the Group switched from low level altitude to medium and high altitude approaches over the target areas . The change of tactics , plus the fact that the Japanese air forces were greatly diminishing , resulted in a significant decline the number of losses incurred by the 41st . In April , the Group initiated a series of shuttle runs . Proceeding from the base at Tarawa , the B - 25s struck at Mili and Jaluit , landed and reloaded at Majuro Airfield , bombed Maloelap and Wotje , returned to Majuro , and bombed Mili and Jaluit on the way back to Tarawa . On each trip the B - 25s struck 6 targets on 3 separate missions . The shuttle bombing made it possible for the 41st to push its combat total to 98 missions for the month of April . Upon completion of the Marshall invasions , United States forces had pushed to a point about midway between Pearl Harbor and Japan . By June , invasion forces were assembled the attack on the Mariana Islands , the next island group on the way to the Japanese homeland . On 15 July the Marines landed on Saipan and three weeks later the island was considered secure for American forces . Within another week , the Seventh Air Force moved the 48th Bombardment Squadron to Saipan to assist in softening up enemy defenses preparatory to the next invasions in the Marianas . For a week the 48th Squadron and other units bombarded Guam and Tinian . Then on 21 July , United States forces invaded Guam and three days later invaded Tinian . For the next three weeks , the 48th rendered close support to the ground forces by strafing and bombing enemy positions . On 19 August , the 48th Squadron returned to the Group , which was now located at Makin in the Gilbert Islands . Meanwhile , the remainder of the 41st Group continued the monotonous routine of neutralizing enemy bases in the Marshalls and raiding enemy targets in the eastern Carolines . Southwest Pacific . By the Fall of 1944 , the medium bombers of the 41st were no longer needed in the Central Pacific , so the Seventh Air Force withdrew the Group to Wheeler Field , Hawaii in October 1944 . For seven months the Group remained in Hawaii , flying antisubmarine patrols and training missions . The crews practiced bombing , using a newer model B - 25 , and acquainted themselves with the capabilities of rockets , which had replaced the 75mm cannon of the older B - 25s . New gunnery techniques were also employed during practice on tow targets , and gun cameras were used during maneuvers with local fighters . In 1945 , the United States mounted a new offensive , this time against the islands on the periphery of the Japanese homeland . The United States launched the bitter battle at Iwo Jima in February 1945 and attacked Okinawa in April . In June 1945 , while fighting still raged on Okinawa , the 41st Group moved from Hawaii to an airfield near Kadena . The B - 25s hit Japanese air facilities nearby in an attempt to neutralize enemy islands and troop concentrations . During July , the Group flew 36 missions , dropping framentation and general purpose bombs on enemy airfields , bridges , railroads , and shipping facilities . When the fighting subsided , the medium bombers struck at targets outside the Ryukyus . Chiran Airfield on Kyushu was hit by B - 25s , and in a raid over the China mainland the Group bombed the enemy held Chang Wan Airfield near Shanghai . The 41st also raided enemy shipping in an attempt to tighten a blockade of the Japanese home islands . On 22 July , the unit and two other groups bombed an enemy convoy at the mouth of the Yangtze River in China . New tactics against Japanese shipping included an experiment with glide bombs against targets in Sasebo , Makurasaki , and Nagasaki harbors . The 41st conducted 11 more missions against targets on Kyushu during the first twelve days of August 1945 . Inactivation . The end of the war came in August , and the Group moved to Morotai . Two weeks later another move was made to Machinato Airfield on Okinawa , where the unit ' s activity consisted of routine training flights and maintenance checks . Demobilization began during September , and by October many of the unit ' s veterans had departed . The dismantling of the Group continued . During the month its planes were transferred to Clark Field in the Philippines . In November , only a skeleton force remained . The 47th and 48th Squadrons were reduced to a one and one status , and the 396th was converted into a service unit for Seventh Air Force units operating in the Machinato area . In December , the Group was transferred to the Philippines , where inactivation occurred on 27 January 1946 .