National Archives at College Park U. Air Force Number AC. In most military services, there are usually those units that stand out as unlucky, unfortunate, or destined for unfortunate consequences. Either by mission, assignment, or the fates, such hapless organizations often achieve a kind of legendary yet revered status among its sister units. Its reputation was well known throughout VIII Bomber Command as a jinxed unit, with the chances of surviving a tour of 25 missions appearing as a dim possibility.
Highlighting this expectation in late , a new airman was assigned to the th BG. At the same time the new planes arrived, the unit organized itself into four squadrons, with Colonel Darr H. Alkire as its first commander. Alkire was a stern commander who painted a grim picture of what lay ahead. With a full complement of 37 aircraft, the men of the th began to familiarize themselves with their new mounts as they jumped from base to base with a training schedule that was disjointed and poorly coordinated.
Instead of developing their individual and collective skills, aircrews took advantage of the lack of oversight and sought more puerile pursuits over professional. Taking their liberties, many of the crews were overconfident in their skills and airmanship.
We were undertrained and not as good as we thought we were. By early , the unit prepared for movement overseas. As part of their pre-deployment inspection, the Group conducted a long-range training exercise.
Finally consolidated at Kearney Field, Nebraska on April 20, , 21 crews of the th were supposed to fly some 1, miles from their home base to Hamilton Field near Novato, California. However, given their ill-disciplined nature and patchwork training, the exercise was a fiasco, and the unit scattered across the western United States. While some bombers made it to California, three ended up in Las Vegasβto include an embarrassed Col.
