For several years I have been wondering, and do a little research, about the 17th Bm Grp during the fall of 1941 and early months of 1942, when they operated the B-25. I have met and interviewed two crew chiefs, but they were sent to A-29 school at Venura, CA, immediately after reporting in to the ir respective squadrons on/about 11 Dec 1941.

The only references I have seen to the Group during this time are related to the men volunteering for Jimmy Doolottle's "B-25 Special Project", i.e, the raid on Tokyo. I have been to the AFHRA at Maxwell several times researching other units and always forget to look at the 17th's records..drat!

Can anyone point me to a book or other reference which addresses the 17th's use of the B-25??

Tony Strotman, MSgt (ret.), USAF
son of Francis E. Strotman, Eng-Gunner, 491st Bm Sq / 341st Bm Gp

I had planned on visiting AFHRA this year, but will be delayed for at least 14 months. Therefore, I am seeking assistance in gaining personnel rosters/lists for the 7th BmGrp squadrons (34th, 37th, 89th, 95th) from Jan - Feb 1942 (just before the volunteers departed to Eglin for B-25 Special Project) or Mar-Apr 42 when the 17th was assigned at Columbia AAF?

The 11th and 22nd Bomb Squadrons of 7th Bm Grp were "paper transferred" from Australia to U.S.  Then they were reconstituted as the '11th Bombardment Squadron (Medium)' and the '22nd Bombardment Squadron (Medium)', organized and ATTACHED to 17th Bombardment Group (Medium) at Columbia AAB, South Carolina on 26 April 1942. Most Cadre personnel were drawn from the 17th Bm Grp, with a few aircrew personnel coming from the 12th Bm Grp and some ground support personnel from Maxwell and Chanute AAFs. The 11th and 22nd re-joined the 7th Bm Grp (H), then in India in Jun 42. In September they were re-assigned to the newly constituted and activated 341st Bombardment Squadron (M).

As part of my research of the 341st BG, I have found and/or compiled a fair roster of the Flying and Ground Cadre, as well as pretty accurate and complete list of all later assigned personnel, including the 21 'Tokyo Raiders' who joined the 11rh & 12th Squadrons in the summer of 1942. If I can acquire lists of 17th BG personnel in early 1942 I hope to cross reference them to personnel in the 341st BG.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Tony Strotman, MSgt (ret.), USAF
Son of T/Sgt Francis E. Strotman, Engineer-Gunner,
491st Bm Sq / 341st Bm Gp (M), Yangkai, China
"USAAF in CBI Tribute" http://www.usaaf-in-cbi.com

Tony,

Are you familiar w/ the AFHRA History Index (http://www.airforcehistoryindex.org) ?  The site has quite over 550,000 documents indexed - some docs. that you can request and also microfilm.  The description for each will say if it's available on microfilm only or a document that you can request.

I did a search for the 17th BG (using "GROUP/0017/BOMBARDMENT" in the search box) and got these hits:

http://www.airforcehistoryindex.org/search.php?q=%22GROUP%2F0017%2FBOMBardment%22&c=u&h=25&F=&L=

(For some reason, the ending "=" did not seem to paste into the link above as part of the actual link, so best to copy/paste the above link into your browser to include the ending "=")

The information on requesting the docs. is on the website.  This may help as I'm sure it'd be better than nothing if you can't get there for another year or so.

Hope this helps some.

Gary

CBI Unit Lineages & History
http://www.cbi-history.com/

Gary,

  Thanks for the information. I wasn't aware of the History Index and truly appreciate your effort in starting the search. It is definitely a start. I discovered transcripts of oral histories for at least two of the Raiders are available.

  One is that of Horace Crouch (Navigator with 89 Rec Sq), who joined an 11th BS crew at Calcutta (probably Dinjan), and with them went to support the China Air Task Force / 14th Air Force until June 1943.  Definitely have to order this one!

Tony Strotman, MSgt (ret.), USAF
Son of T/Sgt Francis E. Strotman, Engineer-Gunner,
491st Bm Sq / 341st Bm Gp (M), Yangkai, China
"USAAF in CBI Tribute" http://www.usaaf-in-cbi.com

Glad you found it useful, Tony.  That's IS a great site.  One of our regular posters, Bernie, pointed me there.  I've had a hard time leaving that site!

Gary

CBI Unit Lineages & History
http://www.cbi-history.com/