This Day in 303rd Bomb Group History: November 22nd

glm@303rdbg.com (Gary L. Moncur) — 22 Nov 2025 09:40:43 -0000

November 22, 1942
303rd BG (H) Combat Mission No. 3
Target: Submarine Pens, Lorient, France
Crews Dispatched: 18
Length of Mission: 5 hours, 48 minutes
Bomb Load: 2 x 2,000 lbs M34
Bombing Altitude: 21,000 ft
Ammo Fired: 2,395 rounds

November 22, 1942
ETO 8th AF: Mission 22: 68 B-17s and 8 B-24s are dispatched to hit the Keroma U-boat pens at Lorient, France; only 11 B-17s find a gap in the 10/10 cloud cover and bomb at 1410 hours local without loss.

November 22, 1944
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS 8th AF: The 2nd and 4th Combat Bombardment Wings (Heavy) of the 3rd Bombardment Division are combined to form the Administrative Bombardment Wing (Provisional); this type of unit is expected to be highly suitable for conditions in the Pacific theater where bomb division HQ might be located far from its wing HQ; under this new plan, the administrative wing can absorb many functions of the division HQ; this experiment will be judged acceptable during Feb 45.