Home of the 445th Bomb Group

445th Bomb Group (Heavy)

This site is dedicated to the men who flew with the 445th Bomb Group out of Tibenham, England. No finer dedication can be found than the following - a dedication from a nephew about his uncle who flew with the 445th and made the ultimate sacrifice:

"This book is dedicated to my uncle, 2nd Lt Ralph T. Clapps, who was killed in action while serving as a copilot on a B-24 Liberator with the Eighth Air Force in England during WW II.

On February 24, 1944, his ship was on a mission to Gotha, Germany, when a rocket fired from a German fighter hit the nose of his Liberator. My uncle and his pilot fought the controls of their plane long enough for the surviving crewmembers to bail out. In contacting the survivors of that ill-fated crew almost 60 years after the event, they said there was not a day they did not think of the heroic efforts of my uncle and his pilot, 1Lt Sidney Swanson."

Used with permission from the book "359 And A Wake-Up" by Dennis R. Daniels.

Mission of the Day

December 30, 2008 is the 65th anniversary of the 445th Bomb Group flying their sixth operation mission. The port area and oil refinery of Ludwigshafen, Germany was their target. Twenty-three aircraft were launched from their base at Tibenham, England and set course across the North Sea. Two aircraft were lost, both from the 703rd Bomb Squadron. One plane, named "Liberty Bell", was piloted by Lt Oliver Saunders and went down near Rheims, France. Four of the ten man crew were taken prisoner (POW); the remainder were Killed In Action (KIA). The other plane, named "Big Joe", was flown by Flying Officer William Kane and made one of the first successful ditching's of a B-24 six miles off the English coast. Six of the ten men were picked up by Air-Sea Rescue; one body was recovered several weeks later; and 3 were listed as Missing In Action (MIA).

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Webmaster: Mike Simpson

Last Updated: May 07, 2009