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The 460th Bombardment Group was a B-24 unit that served with the Fifteenth Air Force in Italy, taking part in the strategic bombing offensive and supporting the ground troops in Italy and the south of France.
The group was activated on 1 July 1943. It trained with the B-24 and moved to Italy in January-February 1944. The 460th was one of three heavy bombardment groups to become operational in March 1944.
Most of its time was spent flying strategic bombing missions across Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Hungary and the Balkans. The group won a Distinguished Unit Citation for leading its wing through bad weather and heavy flak during an attack on an aircraft factory at Zwolfaxing on 26 July 1944.
The group took part in a number of tactical missions.
During the advance on Rome the group was one of ten B-24 groups that took part in a 17 May 1944 attack on the harbours at Piombion, San Stefano and Porto Ferraio on Elba as part of the campaign to prevent supplies from reaching the German front line.
In August 1944 the group attacked submarine pens, rail marshalling yards and German gun positions in support of Operation Dragoon, the invasion of the south of France.
In April 1945 it attacked transport targets and ammo dumps in northern Italy during the final victorious Allied offensive in the country.
After the war the group became part of Air Transport Command, with the task of returning US personnel to the United States. In this role it moved to Trinidad for two weeks in 1945 then to Natal, Brazil, where it remained until it was inactivated on 26 September 1945.
July 1943-September 1945: Consolidated B-24 Liberator
| 19 May 1943 | Constituted as 460th Bombardment Group (Heavy) |
| 1 July 1943 | Activated |
| Jan-Feb 1944 | To Italy and Fifteenth Air Force |
| March 1944 | Combat debut |
| April 1945 | Combat ends |
| June 1945 | To Trinidad |
| June 1945 | To Brazil |
| 26 Sept 1945 | Inactivated in Brazil |
Unkn: 1 Jul-12 Aug
1943
Col Robert T Crowder: 12 Aug 1943
Lt Col Bertram C Harrison: 16 Apr 1944
Lt Col Harold T Babb: Sept 1944
Col John
M Price: 18 Oct 1944-1945.
Alamogordo AAFld, NM: 1
Jul 1943
Kearns, Utah: 31 Aug 1943
Chatham AAFld, Ga: Oct 1943-3 Jan 1944
Spinazzola, Italy: Feb 1944-Jun 1945
Waller
Field, Trinidad: 15 Jun 1945
Natal,
Brazil, 30 Jun-26 Sep 1945
760th Bombardment Squadron: 1943-1945
761st Bombardment Squadron:
1943-1945
762d Bombardment Squadron: 1943-1945
763d Bombardment Squadron: 1943-
1945.
1944-45: 55th Bombardment Wing; Fifteenth Air Force