497th Bombardment Group The 497th Bombardment Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit . The unit was inactivated on 31 March 1946 . The unit was part of the United States Army Air Forces and Twentieth Air Force during World War II . The 497th BG engaged in very heavy ( B - 29 Superfortress ) bombardment operations against Japan . Its aircraft were identified by a " A " and a square painted on the tail . History . World War II . The unit was established in late 1943 at El Paso Municipal Airport , Texas , being formed as a B - 29 Superfortress Very Heavy bombardment Group . Thu unit was formed with four bomb squadrons ( 869th , 870th , 871st and 872d ) , all being newly - constituted . It moved to Pratt Army Air Field , Kansas in December 1943 to begin training . Due to a shortage of B - 29s , the group was equipped with former II Bomber Command B - 17 Flying Fortress es already at Pratt which were previously used for training heavy bomber replacement personnel . In the spring of 1944 , it finally received newly - manufactured B - 29 Superfortresses . In May shortages in aircraft and equipment led to the 872d Bomb Squadron being inactivated , with its personnel being consolidated into other group squadrons . As a three squadron group , the 497th was deployed to Pacific Theater of Operations ( PTO ) in September 1944 , being assigned to the XXI Bomber Command 73d Bombardment Wing in the Northern Mariana Islands ; being stationed at Isley Field , Saipan . Upon arrival the group ' s personnel were engaged in Quonset hut construction . By mid - October most personnel were able to move into the huts from the initial tents which they were assigned on arrival . The group began operations in October 1944 with attacks against Iwo Jima and the Truk Islands . Took part in the first attack ( 24 November 1944 ) on Japan by AAF planes based in the Marianas . Flew many missions against strategic objectives in Japan ; on numerous raids , made its attacks in daylight and from high altitude . Received a Distinguished Unit Citation for a mission on 27 January 1945 . Although weather conditions prevented the group from bombing its primary objective , the unescorted B - 29 ’ s withstood severe enemy attacks to strike an alternate target , the industrial area of Hamamatsu . Awarded a second DUC for attacking strategic centers in Japan during Jul and August 1945 . Assisted the assault on Okinawa in April 1945 by bombing enemy airfields to cut down air attacks against the invasion force . Beginning on 19 March and continuing until the end of the war the group made incendiary raids against Japan , flying at night and at low altitude to bomb area targets . The group released propaganda leaflets over the Japanese home islands , July – August , continuing strategic bombing raids and incendiary attacks until the Japanese Capitulation in August 1945 . After V - J Day , the 497th dropped supplies to Allied prisoners , participated in show - of - force missions , and flew over Japan to evaluate bombardment damage . In November 1945 the unit returned to the United States ; initially being assigned to Continental Air Forces ' s ( CAF ) Fourth Air Force at March Field , California . At March Field , the 513th Bombardment Squadron joined the group ; it previously being a Fifteenth Air Force B - 24 Liberator squadron based in Italy , having been returned to the United States in May and was undergoing B - 29 Very Heavy Bomber upgrade training in Nebraska when its former assigned group , the 376th Bombardment Group , was inactivated . In January 1945 , the 498th was reassigned to the CAF Third Air Force at MacDill Field , Florida . It later was transferred to the new Strategic Air Command on 21 March 1946 , being one of SAC ' s initial bombardment groups . Demobilization , however , was in full swing and the group turned in its aircraft and was inactivated on 31 March .