{"id":26237,"date":"2023-07-30T12:34:30","date_gmt":"2023-07-30T12:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=26237"},"modified":"2023-07-31T12:53:26","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T12:53:26","slug":"467th-bomb-group-reunion-set-for-rackheath-one-last-look","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/international-news\/467th-bomb-group-reunion-set-for-rackheath-one-last-look\/%20","title":{"rendered":"467th Bomb Group Reunion Set for Rackheath \u2013 \u201cOne Last Look\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 467th<\/sup> Bomb (H) Group was a part of the\n8th<\/sup> Army Air Force during WWII. \nIt was located at Rackheath, England, a small village 6 miles northeast\nof Norwich.  The group flew B-24s\nstarting in April 1944 until the same month in 1945.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Officers Club Rackheath<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The 467th<\/sup> Bomb Group (H) Association was\ncreated as a separate entity in July 1986 at a reunion of the Second Air\nDivision Association in Pheasant Run, Illinois, and in 1998 non-vets could\nbecome associate members.  The leadership\nwas prepared to shut the organization down when they met at their annual\nmeeting in October 2012.  A variety of\npeople offered to keep the association going and the group has had slow but\nsteady growth and accomplishments since then. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020 the group was supposed to have returned to England for its reunion.  Those plans were canceled because of the pandemic, but the plans were resurrected for this Fall. It is particularly important that the group return this year because the land of the original base is due to be developed.  While the developers are making paths that will lead to a memorial garden, what is now left of the site will be gone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Control Tower – Rackheath<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The reunion is called \u201cOne Last Look,\u201d and it takes place from September 18 \u2013 22, 2023<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Attendees will be visiting control towers, one of which is the former home of the 448th<\/sup> Bomb Group and is now a museum.\u00c2\u00a0 They will also be able to stand on the remains of the 467th<\/sup>\u2019s main runways, walk along lost paths, see buildings, blast shelters, and the concrete base of the officer\u2019s club on Site 6 which was the communal part of the Rackheath Airbase.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
American Library<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The group will visit the American Library, dedicated\nto the Second Air Division to learn about the legacy of the Memorial Room, a\ngift from the veterans of the Second Air Division in memory of the almost 7,000\nwho gave their lives during the war. \nYvonne Caputo will give a presentation on her book Flying with Dad,<\/em>\nwhich celebrates her father, a navigator in the 467th<\/sup>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 467th accumulated many records.  Some are; it had the best bombing results in the 8th from November 1944 to April 1945, and the second best from January 1944 to October 1944.  A perfect strike was achieved on April 15, 1945.  All squadrons dropped 100 percent of their bombs within 1000 feet mpi (mean point of impact) and 55 percent within 500 feet.  The 467th BG was selected to lead the entire 8th Air Force on May 13, 1945, for the Victory Fly Past Air Review for Lt. General James (Jimmy) Dolittle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of note, the 467th was the only group to have the same\ncommander for its entire stay in England. \nThis was Colonel Albert J. Shower. \nHe is credited with the group having such a sterling reputation.  His insistence on tight formation flying was\ncited as a reason for the group having the lowest number of aircrew losses per\ncredit sortie in the 96th Combat Bomb Wing between September 1944 and March\n1945.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reunion trip is open to anyone who would wish to attend.\u00c2\u00a0 The deadline to register is August 11th. More information along with a registration form and a link to hotel accommodations can be found at One Last Look<\/a> and here:\u00c2\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/209080115899870\/permalink\/2611148082359716<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authors note:  The picture of the Massillon Tiger (at top) was on the perfect strike on April 14, 1945.  My father, Mike Caputo, was the navigator in that plane on that day.  The model of the Witchcraft hanging in the American Library was built by Mike and donated to the library in 2002.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 467th Bomb (H) Group was a part of the 8th Army Air Force during WWII.  It was located at Rackheath, England, a small village 6 miles northeast of Norwich.  The group flew B-24s starting in April 1944 until the same month in 1945. The 467th Bomb Group (H) Association was created as a separate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26238,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/B-24-Massilon-Tiger-Dad-in-That-Plane-on-that-Day.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26237"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26270,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26237\/revisions\/26270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}