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351st Missile Wing
The 351st Missile Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit, which was last based at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. Assigned to Strategic Air Command for most of its existence, the wing maintained LGM-30F Minuteman II ICBMs in a state of readiness to fire, pursuant to any launch orders that might be received from the National Command Authority. It was inactivated in 1995.
During World War II, its predecessor unit, the 351st Bombardment Group was a VIII Bomber Command Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress unit. Flying from RAF Polebrook in Northamptonshire in early 1943, the group's 504th Bomb Squadron made 54 consecutive missions in June 1943 to January 1944 without losses. Two members of the 351st Bombardment Group, Second Lieutenant Walter E. Truemper and Staff Sergeant Archibald Mathies, were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for a mission to Leipzig, Germany, on 20 February 1944. Fellow crew member Carl Moore earned the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions during the mission. Additionally, the crew earned a Silver Star and seven Purple Hearts, which made them the most decorated B-17 crew of the Eighth Air Force in World War Two.
The 351st was also the unit to which Captain Clark Gable was assigned. Gable flew five combat missions, including one to Germany, as an observer-gunner in B-17 Flying Fortresses between 4 May and 23 September 1943, earning the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his efforts.
The 351st Bombardment Group was activated 1 October 1942 at Salt Lake City AB, Utah. The group established at Geiger Field in Washington in November 1942 where the group was assembled for initial training, and the second phase of training was conducted at Biggs Field, Texas, between December 1942 and March 1943. The unit then moved to Pueblo AAB, Colorado for preparation for overseas movement. The ground unit left Pueblo for New York on 12 April 1943. The aircraft began movement on 1 April 1943. In April–May 1943, the unit moved to RAF Polebrook England to serve in combat with Eighth Air Force. It was assigned to the 94th Combat Wing, also at Polebrook. The group tail code was a "Triangle J".
The 351st's first completed combat mission took place on 14 May 1943, when 18 B-17's targeted a German Luftwaffe airfield at Kortrijk, Belgium. As the war progressed, the 351st operated primarily against strategic objectives in Germany, striking such targets as ball-bearing plants at Schweinfurt, communications at Mayen, marshalling yards at Koblenz, a locomotive and tank factory at Hanover, industries at Berlin, bridges at Cologne, an armaments factory at Mannheim, and oil refineries at Hamburg.
The group also struck harbor facilities, submarine installations, airfields, V-weapon sites, and power plants in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Norway.
The 351st Received a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for performance on 9 October 1943, when an aircraft factory in Germany was accurately bombed in spite of heavy flak and pressing enemy interceptors. It received another DUC for its part in the successful attack of 11 January 1944, on aircraft factories in central Germany. The group participated in the intensive air campaign against the German aircraft industry during "Big Week", 20–25 February 1944.
In addition to its strategic missions, the group often operated in support of ground forces and attacked interdictory targets. Bombed in support of the Battle of Normandy in June 1944 and the Saint-Lô breakthrough in July. The group hit enemy positions to cover the airborne attack on the Netherlands in September 1944 and subsequently struck front-line positions, communications, and airfields to help stop the German counteroffensive in the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944 – January 1945. The 351st later flew missions in support of Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine in March 1945.
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351st Missile Wing
The 351st Missile Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit, which was last based at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. Assigned to Strategic Air Command for most of its existence, the wing maintained LGM-30F Minuteman II ICBMs in a state of readiness to fire, pursuant to any launch orders that might be received from the National Command Authority. It was inactivated in 1995.
During World War II, its predecessor unit, the 351st Bombardment Group was a VIII Bomber Command Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress unit. Flying from RAF Polebrook in Northamptonshire in early 1943, the group's 504th Bomb Squadron made 54 consecutive missions in June 1943 to January 1944 without losses. Two members of the 351st Bombardment Group, Second Lieutenant Walter E. Truemper and Staff Sergeant Archibald Mathies, were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for a mission to Leipzig, Germany, on 20 February 1944. Fellow crew member Carl Moore earned the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions during the mission. Additionally, the crew earned a Silver Star and seven Purple Hearts, which made them the most decorated B-17 crew of the Eighth Air Force in World War Two.
The 351st was also the unit to which Captain Clark Gable was assigned. Gable flew five combat missions, including one to Germany, as an observer-gunner in B-17 Flying Fortresses between 4 May and 23 September 1943, earning the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his efforts.
The 351st Bombardment Group was activated 1 October 1942 at Salt Lake City AB, Utah. The group established at Geiger Field in Washington in November 1942 where the group was assembled for initial training, and the second phase of training was conducted at Biggs Field, Texas, between December 1942 and March 1943. The unit then moved to Pueblo AAB, Colorado for preparation for overseas movement. The ground unit left Pueblo for New York on 12 April 1943. The aircraft began movement on 1 April 1943. In April–May 1943, the unit moved to RAF Polebrook England to serve in combat with Eighth Air Force. It was assigned to the 94th Combat Wing, also at Polebrook. The group tail code was a "Triangle J".
The 351st's first completed combat mission took place on 14 May 1943, when 18 B-17's targeted a German Luftwaffe airfield at Kortrijk, Belgium. As the war progressed, the 351st operated primarily against strategic objectives in Germany, striking such targets as ball-bearing plants at Schweinfurt, communications at Mayen, marshalling yards at Koblenz, a locomotive and tank factory at Hanover, industries at Berlin, bridges at Cologne, an armaments factory at Mannheim, and oil refineries at Hamburg.
The group also struck harbor facilities, submarine installations, airfields, V-weapon sites, and power plants in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Norway.
The 351st Received a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for performance on 9 October 1943, when an aircraft factory in Germany was accurately bombed in spite of heavy flak and pressing enemy interceptors. It received another DUC for its part in the successful attack of 11 January 1944, on aircraft factories in central Germany. The group participated in the intensive air campaign against the German aircraft industry during "Big Week", 20–25 February 1944.
In addition to its strategic missions, the group often operated in support of ground forces and attacked interdictory targets. Bombed in support of the Battle of Normandy in June 1944 and the Saint-Lô breakthrough in July. The group hit enemy positions to cover the airborne attack on the Netherlands in September 1944 and subsequently struck front-line positions, communications, and airfields to help stop the German counteroffensive in the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944 – January 1945. The 351st later flew missions in support of Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine in March 1945.