98th Bombardment Group
The 98th trained for bombardment missions with Consolidated B-24 Liberators during the first half of 1942.
The group was alerted and departed for the Middle East on 15 July 1942, arriving in Palestine in late July 1942.
The 98th was initially assigned to the USMEAF (United States Middle East Air Force).
However, the USMEAF was dissolved on 12 November 1942. At that time, the 98th came under Ninth Air Force.
It flew its first mission to Mersa Matruh, Libya on 1 August 1942, with the aircraft being serviced by Royal Air Force personnel until 98th maintenance personnel arrived in mid-August 1942.
It supported the British Eighth Army in its westward advance from Egypt into Libya and Tunisia.
It bombed shipping and harbor installations in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Crete, and Greece to cut enemy supply lines to Africa and to prepare for the Allied invasion of Italy.
The 98th earned a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for action against the enemy in the Middle East, North Africa, and Sicily from August 1942 to August 1943.
It received a second DUC for participation in a low-level bombing raid on enemy-held oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania, on 1 August 1943.
On this raid, of 47 B-24s launched, only 21 returned safely. One crashed on takeoff with the loss of all crewmembers except two.
Six aborted before reaching the target. Seventeen went down in enemy territory. Two went down at sea.
The Group Commander, Col. John R. (Killer) Kane was awarded the Medal of Honor for his leadership.
The 98th was under the command of the Twelfth Air Force in September and October 1943.
From 1 November 1943 it was under the Fifteenth Air Force and moved to Italy.
It flew many long-range missions to France, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania to bomb enemy heavy industries, airdromes, harbors, oil fields, and communication centers.
On another raid on Ploesti on 9 July 1944, Lt. Donald Pucket sacrificed his life trying to save three of his crewmembers who could not or would not bail out of their doomed B-24.
Donald Pucket was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for his sacrifice.
In the summer of 1944, the 98th participated in the invasion of southern France, assisted in the Soviet advance into the Balkans, and supported the partisans and guerrillas in Yugoslavia and neighboring countries.
It flew a total of 417 missions and earned a total of 15 battle streamers as well as two Presidential Unit Citations.

343rd Bombardment Squadron: 3 February 1942 - 10 November 1945 (YELLOW RCL LETTER)
344th Bombardment Squadron: 3 February 1942 - 10 November 1945 (GREEN RCL LETTER)
345th Bombardment Squadron: 3 February 1942 - 10 November 1945 (WHITE RCL LETTER
415th Bombardment Squadron: 3 February 1942 - 3 July 1945 (RED RCL LETTER)

First B-24 scheme

The more numerous B-24 groups used a standardized scheme for its four bomb wings. On outer tail fins, above and below the aircraft serial, two white circles were painted. In the upper circle was painted a geometric symbol in black denoting the wing, with a triangle for the 47th Bomb Wing, a square for the 55th, a diamond for the 304th, and a circle for the 49th. In practice that of the 49th, because of the type of stencil used, resembled the concentric ring bull's-eye of a target. The lower circle contained one of the numerals 1 through 4, painted in black, denoting the group.

15AF B-24 group numeral identifiers: 47th Bomb Wing (triangle):
98th BG - 1, 376th BG - 2, 449th BG - 3, 450th BG - 4
49th Bomb Wing (circle/bulls-eye):
451st BG - 1, 461st BG (second wing assignment, 1944-45) - 2
55th Bomb Wing (square):
460th BG - 1, 461st BG (first wing assignment, 1944) - 2
304th Bomb Wing (diamond):
454th BG - 1, 455th BG - 2, 456th BG - 3, 459th BG - 4
Second B-24 scheme
451st Bomb Group B-24 # 44-50443 displaying 49th Bomb Wing markings over Germany 19 March 1945. The upper tail surface and circle were red in color.
In June, 1944, the Fifteenth Air Force adopted a color-symbol scheme to identify its groups and wings. The 5th Bomb Wing painted the elevators and rudders of its B-17s various colors but otherwise maintained its marking scheme. The B-24 wings adopted a method by which color and symbol placement would identify its groups: 47th Bomb Wing: Diagonally divided tail fins and painted the lower half in yellow and/or black, with the 98th BG using horizontal stripes, the 376th BG in black-only, the 449th BG in half-yellow half-black, and the 450th BG in vertical stripes. The former triangle-circle symbol was retained in the upper half. Late in the war the upper rear stabilizer was painted black with a longitudinal yellow band in the center except for the elevators. 49th Bomb Wing: Upper half of the fin painted red, and a red symbol in the lower half; used the same scheme on the upper rear stabilizer with the red on the right side and the symbol on the left. 451st BG: circle; 461st BG: horizontal bar; 484th BG: bow-tie. 55th Bomb Wing: Large black square in upper half of the fin, lower half painted black with a yellow symbol superimposed. 460th BG: ring; 464th BG: vertical bar; 465th BG: horizontal stripe; 485th BG: a saltire. The rear stabilizer generally displayed only the black square outlined in yellow until late in the war, when the entire surface was painted yellow except for the elevators. 304th Bomb Wing: Large black diamond in the upper half; lower half painted to group color. The rear stabilizer was painted the group color on the left half and had a diamond on the right. 454th BG: white; 455th BG: yellow; 456th BG: red; 459th BG: black-and-yellow checkerboard. 5th Bomb Wing were flying B-17 Flying Fortress with a Diamond Y as identification marker on the tail 98th Bomb Group Lineage Established as the 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 28 January 1942 Activated on 3 February 1942 Redesignated: 98th Bombardment Group, Heavy on 1 July 1943 Redesignated: 98th Bombardment Group, Very Heavy on 12 July 1945 Inactivated on 10 November 1945

Assignments

Third Air Force, 3 February 1942 US Army Middle East Air Force, c. 25 July 1942 Ninth Air Force, 12 November 1942 Twelfth Air Force, 13 September 1943 XII Bomber Command, 19 September 1943 47th Bombardment Wing, 24 September 1943 5th Bombardment Wing, 1 November 1943 47th Bombardment Wing, 17 November 1943 Second Air Force, c. 29 April-10 November 1945

Stations

MacDill Field, Florida, 3 February 1942 Barksdale Field, Louisiana, 9 February 1942 Fort Myers Army Air Field, Florida, 30 March 1942 Drane Field, Florida, 17 May - July 1942 RAF Ramat David, Palestine, 25 July 1942 (air echelon), 21 August 1942 (ground echelon) RAF Fayid, Egypt, c. 11 November 1942 Baheira Airfield, Libya, 29 January 1943 Benina Airfield, Libya, c. 14 February-26 March 1943; 4 Ap4-25 September 1943 Berca Airfield, Libya, 26 March-4 April 1943 Hergla Airfield, Tunisia, c. 25 September 1943 Brindisi Airfield, Italy, c. 22 November 1943 Manduria Airfield, Italy, 19 December 1943 Lecce Airfield, Italy, 17 January 1944 - 19 April 1945 Fairmont Army Air Field, Nebraska, 8 May 1945 McCook Army Air Field, Nebraska, 25 June-10 November 1945 Source: Wikipedia