War's end meant 452nd's demise...for 20 months

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Matt Proietti
  • 452nd AMW Public Affairs
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. --  Final in an 11-part series

The 452nd Bombardment Group was quickly deactivated following the end of World War II, its men returning to the civilian jobs or college studies they had put on hold to battle the Axis powers. 

The unit, predecessor to March Field's 452nd Air Mobility Wing, ceased operations Aug. 28, 1945, following the Japanese surrender. Its flying missions had dwindled since victory in Europe was declared in early May 1945, two years after the 452nd was formed. 

The group flew B-17 Flying Fortresses from Deopham Green airfield northeast of London, losing 450 men and 158 aircraft from February 1944 to April 1945, when it went on the last of its 250 missions. "We knew the war was winding down, but we didn't think it would be over as fast as it was," said retired Col. Bob Smothers, 85, of La Jolla, Calif. 

Then a second lieutenant and B-17 navigator, he arrived in England in early April 1945 and flew four bombing missions to Germany in five days. 

Military flying remained inherently dangerous even late in the war, he said, because of massive formations taking off in England's legendary fog and a barrage of flak they encountered over their targets. 

On his final mission over Germany, Lieutenant Smothers saw a B-17 stall and crash, killing most of the crew. He met the lone surviving crewman several years ago at a reunion of the 452nd Bomb Group Association, a fraternal organization made up largely of World War II veterans and their families. 

After bombing missions ended, 452nd crews airdropped food to starving residents of Holland and flew prisoners of war to England and France. Colonel Smothers' aircrew
was among 20 who flew French POWs from Linz, Austria, to an airfield near Paris. 

"When they saw the Eiffel Tower, they just got so excited they cried, they smiled, they shouted 'Viva Paris,' (and) hugged me," he said. 

Members of the 452nd returned stateside, some to be mustered out of the service, others to be retrained to fly newer bombers for use in the upcoming Battle of Japan. The 8th Air Force headquarters staff in England moved to Okinawa to train new bomber groups for the invasion, and some 452nd members were trained as instructors. Japan surrendered before 8th Air Force saw action in the Pacific. 

Lieutenant Smothers was on leave in his native California when the war ended following the U.S. use of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He celebrated the war's end in Pasadena, Los Angeles and San Francisco. 

The 452nd was brought back into service as a reserve unit in Long Beach, Calif., in April 1947, five months before the Air Force became a separate service from the Army. It has been based in California ever since. 

Staff Sgt. Harvey A. Shaw, 84, of Newport Beach, Calif., believes he is the only man to have served in the 452nd in World War II and later as a reservist. He was a B-17 waist gunner in Europe and, following the war, returned to his native Orange County to work as a carpenter. 

He joined the Air Force Reserve's 448th Bomb Group in 1950 at Long Beach Airport because he could make $22 a month, enough to cover his monthly mortgage payment, he said. While reviewing his discharge paperwork, a clerk noticed a reference to his service in the 452nd and told him it, too, operated in Long Beach but on alternate weekends. 

The 452nd was called to active duty in August 1950 to fly combat missions in Korea, but it found itself short of men and added some from the 448th, among them Sergeant Shaw, who headed off to war again with his former military unit. He worked as a gunner on the B-26 Invader, whose only other crew members were a pilot and co-pilot. The 452nd was the first Air Force Reserve wing to fly combat missions in Korea. 

Sergeant Shaw returned to California in 1951 because of a family emergency and left the military. He reenlisted onto active duty in 1955 and served 10 more years, including a tour in Vietnam, before being medically retired. He blames some of his ailments to working around the defoliant Agent Orange. 

"I survived the Germans and the North Koreans only to be zapped by my own country," he said.

Following its service in Korea, the 452nd returned to reserve status in May 1952 in Long Beach and was redesignated a tactical reconnaissance wing the next month. Over the next several years, the unit changed aircraft several times and was renamed the 452nd Tactical Bombardment Wing in 1955. 

It converted to C-46 Commandos in 1957 and got another new name, becoming the 452nd Troop Carrier Wing (Medium). It received C-119 Flying Boxcars in April 1958 and moved from Long Beach to March Field in 1960.

The wing's 942nd Troop Carrier Group converted to C-124 Globemasters in 1965, while its 943rd and 944th Troop Carrier Groups continued flying C-119s. The unit was redesignated the 452nd Military Airlift Wing in 1966. 

In 1968, the 944th group became the 445th Airlift Wing, the first unit in the associate reserve program in which Air Force reservists augment active-duty troops to maintain and fly the same aircraft, in this case C-141 Starlifters at now-closed Norton AFB in San Bernardino, Calif. The 445th served there until moving to March Field in 1993. 

The 452nd moved to now-closed Hamilton AFB, Calif., in Marin County north of San Francisco in 1972 and converted to C-130B Hercules aircraft, becoming the 452nd Tactical Airlift Wing. It returned to March Field in 1976 and was renamed the 452nd Air Refueling Wing when it converted to KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft. 

It became the single manager of all Air Force Reserve refueling organizations flying KC-135E aircraft, overseeing the 336th Air Refueling Squadron at March Field, the 940th Air Refueling Wing at Mather AFB, Calif., and the 931st Air Refueling Group at Grissom AFB, Ind. 

The wing became the first reserve unit to stand alert duty alongside an active-duty Strategic Air Command wing and did so until 1991. 

The 452nd entered the associate program again in 1981 at Barksdale AFB, La., when it formed the 78th Air Refueling Squadron (Associate), the first reserve unit to fly the Air Force's new KC-10 Extender refueling aircraft. Two related air refueling squadrons, the 79th and 77th, were formed and activated at March Field and Seymour-Johnson AFB, N.C., respectively. 

The 336th ARS went on active duty in December 1990 and two squadron aircrews were among the initial refuelers to launch on the first day of Operation Desert Storm. 

In 1993, the 445th Military Airlift Wing at Norton, which spun off from the 452nd a quarter-
century earlier, became the first associate wing to transition to unit-equipped status by taking ownership of its C-141 Starlifter aircraft and resources. The 445th MAW transferred to March Field the same year. It and the 452nd ARW were deactivated, their members and equipment joining forces as the 452nd Air Mobility Wing in 1994, which became the host unit at March Field in 1996 and retired its C-141 Starlifter fleet in 2005. The wing added eight C-17 Globemasters in 2005 and 2006. It flies those and KC-135
refueling aircraft today as the unit supports operations in the Middle East. 

Of the flying squadrons that started with the 452nd in World War II, only the 729th remains with the 452nd, flying C-17s as an airlift squadron.

The 452nd Bomb Group Association was started in 1974 by the late Rom B. Blaylock, a former B-17 navigator from New Bern, N.C. 

The association hosts an annual reunion, with the next one set for Sept. 18-22, 2008, at the Holiday Inn in Council Bluffs, Iowa, just across the Missouri River from Omaha, Neb. 

The majority of members served in the 452nd during World War II, but the roster also includes hundreds of associate members, most of whom are relatives of 452nd veterans or have an interest in 8th Air Force history. 

Dues are $10 annually or $60 for a life membership. The fees include a subscription to the association newsletter, Poop from the Group. 

For more information on membership, write to Everett Holcombe at P.O. Box 387, Bogalusa LA 70429-0387. Checks should be made out to 452nd Bomb Group Association.
-- SMSgt. Matt Proietti