A26B from the 552nd B.S. named "Stinky"
profile from the 553rd B.S.	profile from the 554th B.S.	profile from the 555th B.S.

    On 1 December, 1942 at MacDill Field, Florida the 386th Bombardment Group (M) was activated and Lt. Colonel Lester J. Maitland was named Commanding Officer.

    Although in existence only a few days less than three years, the men of the 386th attained the most outstanding record of all B-26 Groups in the European Theatre of Operations in terms of number of successful sorties flown, tonnage of bombs dispatched and enemy aircraft destroyed while maintaining the highest bombing accuracy score.

    More than three thousand men saw service with the 386th during these three years of World War II, flying four hundred nine missions. One hundred ninety-three men made the supreme sacrifice.

Squadron insignia-
	552nd B.S.	553rd B.S.	554th B.S.	555th B.S.
Squadron Codes -	RG	AN	RU	YA

	Marauders take evasive action as they encounter flak over France 386th Bomb Group Assn photo
	"RAT POISON" of the 553rd Bomb Squadron releases six 500 pounders on the continent 386th Bomb Group Assn photo
	A-26 Invader, Beaumont Sur-Oise, France in late 1944 386th Bomb Group Assn photo
	"MALE CALL" B-26 Marauder of the 552nd Bomb Squadron leaves the French Coast as 'she' heads for England, D-Day +1 A.F. Madeira photo
	B-26 Marauders of the 386th Bomb Group tucked in for the night. A.F. Madeira photo
	"HANGER QUEEN", a training airplane of the 386th Bomb Group, flying over Tampa Bay, Florida in January 1943. This B-26-B has "short" wings and smaller rudder and verticle stabilizer. A.F. Madeira photo
	Bombs from two flights of B-26's of the 386th Bomb Group head for a target in France. A.F. Madeira photo
	A flight of Marauders from the 386th Bomb Group fly over the Thames River in London on the way to a target on the continent. {How many B-26's do you see?} A.F. Madeira photo
	"MR. FIVE BY FIVE" B-26 Marauder of the 555th Bomb Squadron after dropping bombs on marshalling yards in France. A.F. Madeira photo
	Bombs Away! from the 386th Bomb Group A-26 Invaders over Germany in 1945 A.F. Madeira photo
	B-26 Marauder's pound a rail junction at Mont Secret, France following the D-Day invasion. A.F. Madeira photo
	A-26 Invader formation over France, 1945 Calvin Batchelder photo
	386th Bomb Group A-26 Invader over France, 1945 Danny Duff photo
	"Maximum Effort" Eight flights of 386th Bomb Group B-26 Maruaders on the way to a target in Europe, 1945 Jim McWillie photo
	"Flak Ahead" 386th Bomb Group A-26 Invader over Germany, 1945 Jim McWillie photo
	All that remains of "THE BAD PENNY" following a crash landing at Normandy beachhead airfield, soon after D-Day. Larry Rodgers photo
	A-26 B Mc Donnell Douglas photo
	Early model B26 Marauder, short wings, small engines, small verticle fin and rudder, no fixed guns and a torpedo rack on the bottom. Pratt & Whitney Aircraft thru the 386th Bomb Group photo
	Maintenance was rough in the winter of 1944-45. A B-26 of the 553rd Bomb Squadron at Beaumont-Sur-Oise, France R.H. Denison photo
	A B-26 of the 554th Bomb Squadron takes off from Great Dunmow on a bombing mission, 1944. R.H. Denison photo
	B-26 Marauders of the 555th Bomb Squadron returning to England after a raid on the continent, 1944. R.H. Denison photo
	B-26 Marauders of the 555th Bomb Squadron returning to England after a raid on the continent, 1944. R.H. Denison photo
	B-26 Marauder over France just after D-Day. the Black and white stripes were all painted the night before the invasion. Skip Young photo
	Some of the shipping approaching the beachhead a few days after the invasion. One of the beachhead airfields is directly below the prop hub on the Marauder 386th Bomb Group Assn photo
	100th mission flight. Six B-26 Marauders of the 386th Bomb Group, each with at least 100 missions, over England, 1944. 386th Bomb Group Assn photo
	"Heading For Home" 386th Bomb Group Marauders, led by "THUMBS UP" returning from a mission over France in June 1944. Copies of this 16x20 color print are available from the 386th Bomb Group Assn. Inc, 5594 Buring Court, Ft. Myers, Fl 33919 at a cost of $5.00 per copy, postpaid in the US and $7.50 overseas. painting by Geoff Pleasance, scanned with permission
	A-26B-20-DL #41-39204 386TH BOMB GROUP Believed to be at A-92, St. Trond A/F, Belgium - 11 April 1945 386th Bomb Group Assn photo
	Painting by Darby Perrin. The Pay Off crew that day, 22 August 1943 was composed of Lt Wilma T. Caldwell, aircraft commander, Lt Andrew Lindsay, copilot and four others. This painting represents the aircraft at about 1905 hrs that evening after completing a bomb run over Beaumont Le Roger AD. Time over Target was 1900. They were on a post-attack heading to the north/north east when they were hit by both flak and German fighter aircraft (FW-190s) who were flying in their own flak to engage the allied bombers. Pay Off took a flak hit in the nose, killing the bombardier/navigator (Lt Frank Schultz) shortly after the bombing. They also were hit in the belly, near the bomb bay doors, jamming them in the open position. They had been unable to close them after the bomb run. The right engine was on fire, from hits by an FW-190 that had engaged Pay Off from the rear. Pay Off was 'tail end Charlie" that sortie,--the very last aircraft in the formation. The top turret gunner, Sgt Clayton Burdick assessed the situation quickly and elected to bail out through the waist window. The tail gunner, Sgt Ed Sharp quickly followed along with waist gunner Sgt William Callahan. Soon, only Lts Caldwell and Lindsay were left alive in the aircraft. My father, Andrew Lindsay, went back to check on the damage while Lt Caldwell maintained control of the aircraft. When he returned he simply shook his head. Caldwell told him to bail out and my dad returned to the door to the bomb bay, and jumped through the burning bomb bay. Approximately 3-6 seconds later the aircraft exploded in mid-air, killing Lt Wilma T. Caldwell. For his selfless act, Wilma was awarded the highest award of anyone in the 386th Bomb Group. He received the Distinguished Service Cross. Four bailed successfully from Pay Off that evening,--Burdick, Sharpe, Callahan, and Lindsay. Sharpe was picked up immediately by a German Panzer unit. Callahan was picked up by Germans shaking down a train at the Spanish border several months later, and Burdick and Lindsay, both wounded that day, escaped to Spain and were returned to England. The other B-26 is The Bad Penny (seen in another photograph on this page) with a very young Sgt Billie Boyd manning the waist gun. He was responsible for killing the German FW-190 aircraft seen here. We suspect it was one and the same, with the one that shot up Pay Off. Copies of the painting, which is 48 inches long by 30 inches high, will be available from the artist someday. Here is his link: Plane Art

Do you have any info, data or material on this group you would like to see added to this page? Please email me and I would be happy to add it for you.

Use the Web-Birds Message Boards to chat about this group

    All photos, and scanned images thereof, are owned by the person(s) listed in the photo caption, and used gratefully WITH PERMISSION on Web-Birds.com.  No commercial use of these images is permitted without the written consent of the rightful owner. and Web-Birds.Com. Please ask before posting any images to another website.

    Data for this page was found and used from the following publications-

• Air Force Combat Units of WWII, by USAF Historical Div. Air University
• 386th BF  by Skip Young

Not seeing all of the Web-Birds.Com website and associated WWII Group pages? Click here to go to the Web-Birds homepage