93rd Bombardment Group at Hardwick
History
The 93rd Bombardment Group was stationed at Hardwick in Norfolk, England, from November 1942 to April 1945.
It achieved fame on various counts:
- It was the oldest B-24 group in the Eighth.
- It flew more missions than any other bomb group in the Eighth.
- It was the Eighth's most travelled group and was dubbed 'The Travelling Circus'.
- Boomerang was the first Eighth Air Force B-24 to fly 50 missions.
- The group flew on the Ploesti raid on the Romanian oil fields of August 1943. Two of the five Medals of Honor awarded after that epic operation went posthumously to 93rd BG pilots (one of them the group's CO).
- The first of its two Distinguished Unit Citations was the first awarded to an Eighth Air Force group. This was for operations in North Africa from December 1942 to February 1943.
The group was involved in raids on a wide spread of targets in Europe, including those in the build-up to and in support of the invasion of France. It flew petrol to France for the army when a shortage developed.
The 93rd flew a total of 391 combat missions, including 41 from North Africa, and lost 140 Liberators in action.
If you want to see photographs and other records relating to the 93rd Bomb Group, visit our digital archive.