498th Bombardment Group (VH)

The 498th Bombardment Group (VH), including the 873rd Bomb Squadron, 874th Bomb Squadron, 875th Bomb Squadron, and 91st Service Group, went from Great Bend Army Air Field in Great Bend, Kansas, in April 1944 to major operations against Japan in World War II. Its service included the first B-29 strike against Honshu on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1944; the last air battle in which the 73rd Bomb Wing struck alone, when 62 B-29s attacking target #357 at Tokyo on January 27, 1945, met 984 fighter attacks and lost nine B-29s in Japan’s most vigorous punch against B-29 forces; the first low level incendiary attack against major industrial cities of Japan on March 10, 1945, when tactics changed; the day the largest force of B-29s was used, 853, on August 1, 1945; total surrender on August 14, 1945; and peace at last on Tokyo Bay on VJ Day, September 2, 1945.

Air Force Academy, Colorado · United States