The Second Air Division was one of the three heavy bomber divisions of the 8th Air Force during World War II. It was the primary B-24 Liberator formation of the 8th Air Force and played a major role in the Allied strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany from bases in eastern England. The division originated in October 1942 as the 2nd Bombardment Wing, created as the 8th Air Force rapidly expanded its heavy bomber force in Britain. In September 1943, the wing was reorganized and redesignated the 2nd Air Division.
Unlike the other two 8th Air Force bomber divisions, which flew the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, the 2nd Air Division was equipped primarily with the Consolidated B-24 Liberator, leveraging the B-24's greater range, speed, and bomb load over the B-17's. See B-24 Liberator specifications, history and use at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_B-24_Liberator
The 2nd Air Division was headquartered in Norfolk and Suffolk, where a network of American airfields housed its bomb groups. At its peak in 1944, the division controlled 14 heavy bombardment groups and 5 fighter groups. The first operational group was the 44th Bombardment Group, which arrived in late 1942.
The 2nd Air Division began combat operations in late 1942, striking targets in German-occupied Europe. Early missions focused on submarine bases along the French coast, shipyards, port facilities, aircraft factories, and a variety of industrial targets. These operations were part of the Allied Combined Bomber Offensive, which was focused on the destruction of German industrial capacity through daylight precision bombing.
As the 8th Air Force expanded in 1943, the 2nd Air Division became a major component of the strategic bombing effort. Its B-24 groups attacked targets deep inside Germany, including aircraft production facilities, ball-bearing factories, transportation networks and oil refineries. Before long-range fighter escorts became available, these missions were extremely dangerous. German interceptors from the Luftwaffe and heavy anti-aircraft fire inflicted heavy losses on bomber formations. The division suffered severe losses during missions such as the Second Schweinfurt-Regensburg Mission attacks on German industrial centers in 1943-1944. Losses were sometimes 20-25% of attacking aircraft, far above sustainable levels. The situation improved in 1944 with the arrival of long-range escort fighters such as the North American P-51 Mustang and Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, which could accompany bombers all the way to German targets.
The 2nd Air Division played a significant role in several major WWII Campaigns. Big Week took place in February 1944, and the division participated in a concentrated series of attacks on German aircraft factories intended to cripple the Luftwaffe. During the spring of 1944, 2nd Air Division bombers engaged in the preparation for the D-Day Normandy landings by targeting rail lines, airfields, and coastal defenses in France. From late 1944 into 1945, the division supported Oil and Transportation campaigns by focusing heavily on destroying Germany's fuel production and transportation networks, attacks that severely weakened the German war economy.
By early 1945, German air defenses had weakened significantly. The 2nd Air Division continued bombing strategic targets until Germany surrendered in May 1945, marking the end of the war in Europe. After the end of the war in Europe, the division's units returned to the United States and were gradually inactivated as the wartime structure of the U.S. Army Air Forces was dismantled.
In Summary: During World War II, the Second Air Division paid a heavy price for its contribution to the Allied victory. Of the 7,569 personnel who lost their lives, 1,270 remain listed as Missing in Action, while 1,889 are buried in military cemeteries overseas. The division's B-24 Liberators flew 95,948 sorties on 429 combat missions, delivering 199,983 tons of bombs against enemy targets throughout occupied Europe and Germany. In aerial combat, Second Air Division bomber crews were credited with destroying 1,079 German aircraft, while the division's accompanying P-47 and P-51 fighter units accounted for an additional 3,670 enemy aircraft destroyed both in the air and on the ground. These accomplishments came at a tremendous cost, with the loss of 1,458 bombers and 649 fighters during combat operations.
Documenting The History and Sacrifices of The 2nd Air Division
This website is an independent project created by three members of the Heritage League of the Second Air Division. Motivated by a shared commitment to preserving the Division's history and educating future generations, they developed this site to provide a comprehensive overview of the Fighter and Bomb Groups, their wartime air bases, overseas burials, MIAs, the Roll of Honor, American Library Roll of Honor history, and the Second Air Division Journals published between 1950 and 2012. It is intended to serve as a historical data resource to the Heritage League's official website by bringing together valuable information and research in a single, accessible resource. It is an independent effort and has not been commissioned or sponsored by the Heritage League.
The website provides an extensive collection of historical information, and how the Second Air Division contributed to the success of the 8th Air Force air campaign over Europe. Whether you are researching a family member who served in the USAAF, studying military aviation history, or exploring the events of World War II, this archive offers a valuable resource dedicated to honoring the men, aircraft, and missions of one of America's most decorated heavy bombardment groups.
This website is dedicated to documenting the history of the 2nd Air Division and acts as a research hub and tribute, ensuring the division's extraordinary history and sacrifices are never forgotten. It serves a diverse global community, including descendants and military historians, by providing a centralized location to explore the division's fighter and bomb group histories, and to preserve the legacy of the 7,569 service members who lost their lives while serving in the division.
Comprehensive Group Histories
Each group's history provides detailed records, including:
The Roll of Honor
In addition to unit histories, the website features the revised Second Air Division Roll of Honor, which adds 741 names and commemorates the 7,569 personnel lost during World War II.
Each of the 7,569 name entries includes:
Overseas Burials
The alphabetical listing of all 1,889 overseas burials, 1,270 Missing in Action and 97 MIAs recovered of the Second Air Division—part of the U.S. Eighth Army Air Force stationed in England during World War II stand as a profound, lasting tribute to the immense sacrifices made during the strategic air campaign over Europe. Flying dangerous daylight bombing missions in B-24 Liberators and escorting them in fighters, thousands of airmen lost their lives far from home. Following the war, surviving families faced the deeply personal choice of whether to repatriate their loved ones' remains to the United States or leave them resting permanently in military cemeteries abroad. For a significant portion of families, the decision was made to let these brave servicemen rest in honored peace alongside their fallen crewmates and brothers-in-arms on foreign soil.
These sacred grounds feature sweeping lawns marked by pristine white marble crosses and Stars of David, organized with absolute precision to honor each individual's ultimate sacrifice. Beyond the graves themselves, these cemeteries feature emotional "Walls of the Missing" (On Wall) to permanently commemorate the countless airmen whose bodies were never recovered from the deep waters of the North Sea or the rugged terrain of continental Europe, ensuring that their bravery is never forgotten by the nations they helped liberate.
Purpose and Significance
The website is more than just a historical ledger; it is an active tool for genealogy and academic research. It ensures that the "friendly invasion" of American flyers into the English countryside remains a documented and accessible chapter of history.
Note: The physical counterpart to this site-the Memorial Library in Norwich-was established in 1945 by the airmen themselves as a living memorial. This website is not affiliated with the library and only serves as a digital extension.
FIGHTER AND BOMB GROUP HISTORIES
The histories of the Bomb/Fighter groups were assembled from Artificial Intelligence (AI) queries and publicly available material searched from selected internet sites related to the 8th US Army Air Force and 2nd Air Division groups. These histories were developed to provide an overview of the operational period of the bomb/fighter groups of the 2nd Air Division from the time of entry into the European Theatre of Operations (ETO) through Victory in Europe (VE) Day.
Each history contains an overview of the group missions, the squadrons which make up the group, the stations (bases) used initially in the USA and up to VE Day in the ETO, identification of commanding officers, the campaigns in which the group participated, unit/group citations and awards, and a link to currently known websites of the group memorial associations.
My father never talked much about his time in the service. I've only relatively recently come to understand he was part of the 2nd Air Division of the 8th US Army Air Force during 1944. I've always felt somewhat of a void in me because I had never served my country in the armed forces. I very much appreciated this opportunity to do something (even as small as it is) to perpetuate and honor those who served from the Greatest Generation.
I feel we certainly owe a debt of grateful remembrance to all those who served, but most of all to those who made the ultimate sacrifice. My father returned to the USA after completing 35 combat missions and went on to live a blessed and fulfilled life. Those honored in this book did not have that opportunity.
John Jurczak
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
FIGHTER AND BOMB GROUP HONOR ROLLS
The foundation for updating the American Library's Second Air Division Roll of Honor began with the digitization of the Roll of Honor housed at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. This remarkable memorial was commissioned by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who appointed sculptor Trygve Rovelstad to lead a collaborative team of British and American artists in its creation. The completed Roll of Honor was formally presented on July 4, 1951.
The digitization project originated in early 2007 when Belton Wolf, a member of the Eighth Air Force Historical Society (8th AFHS) Board of Directors, learned that St. Paul's Cathedral wished to preserve the Roll of Honor in digital form. Recognizing its historical importance, the Society voted to fund the initiative. Shortly afterward, when Wolf's term on the board concluded, I assumed responsibility for the project. My role included overseeing the financial administration of the digitization effort and serving as the primary liaison between the Eighth Air Force Historical Society and St. Paul's Cathedral throughout the project.
In 2008, I discovered that the St. Paul's Cathedral Roll of Honor had not, in fact, been digitized. Instead, the pages had merely been scanned and saved as JPG image files, making them neither searchable nor suitable for accurate data verification. I also found that numerous names from other branches of the U.S. Armed Forces had been intermingled with those of the Eighth Army Air Force.
To determine the sources and documentation used in compiling the original St. Paul's Cathedral Roll of Honor, members of the 392nd Bomb Group Memorial Association undertook a comprehensive archival research project that spanned more than a year. The investigation included examination of records at the Eisenhower Presidential Library, as well as the Trygve Rovelstad Papers preserved in the University of Illinois Archives. This research established the documentary foundation of the original Roll of Honor.
Eventually, through one of our group’s connections at the Pentagon, we were able to obtain paper copies of St. Paul’s Roll of Honor from the National Army Museum in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Through contacts I had with the chaplain at the state prison in Atmore, Alabama, arrangements were made for a team of carefully selected inmates to manually transcribe more than 22,000 names from the Eighth Army Air Force Roll of Honor into a digital database. To ensure the highest possible level of accuracy, a second group of inmates independently verified every entry before the completed data were compiled into a Microsoft Excel database.
Using this newly digitized roster, I published the Eighth Air Force Roll of Honor along with a custom-designed display stand. The Eighth Air Force Historical Society distributed these Honor Rolls to more than twenty-five libraries and museums across the United States and Europe, making the names readily accessible to veterans, families, historians, and the public.
The digitized roster also became the primary source used by the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force in Pooler, Georgia, when creating its original Roll of Honor. In the years since, the museum has expanded its roster with names identified through additional research sources, of which have also been incorporated into my continuing work.
Following the rededication of the American Library's Second Air Division Roll of Honor in Norwich, England, on September 28, 2021, I conducted a comprehensive audit of the 392nd Bomb Group roster and discovered that the names of 62 fallen airmen had been omitted. Determined to ensure that every individual who made the ultimate sacrifice received proper recognition, I expanded the review to include the rosters of the remaining bomb and fighter groups of the Second Air Division. This systematic examination revealed similar omissions throughout the division, as well as numerous misspelled names, and other clerical errors. These findings underscored the need for a complete reassessment and verification of the Roll of Honor to ensure that it accurately commemorates every member of the Second Air Division who gave his life in service.
With the encouragement of several friends from the Second Air Division, I set out to update the records—cataloging 741 missing names, fixing misspellings, and adding crucial details like group affiliations and dates of death. My research began with foundational information from St. Paul's Cathedral's Roll, the American Library in Norwich, and the Mighty Eighth Museum. The sources used for obtaining, comparing, correcting, and documenting this information include:
St. Paul's Roll of Honor, London, England
American Library in Norwich, England
Mighty Eighth Museum in Pooler, GA
Bomber and fighter group associations
American Air Museum in Britain
National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Fold3.com casualty listings and MACRs
Findagrave.com website
Bits and Pieces Combat Chronology
Bits and Pieces Roll of Honor
HonorStates.org website
Several 2nd AD Researchers
Special thanks go to Riccard Parsonson, Vivian Rogers-Price, John McCarnish, James Clarey, Chris Clark, Bill Curtis, Skye James, Tim McCann, Marjorie Shiers, Mara Truslow, and many others who helped identify names and complete the Eighth Army Air Force Second Air Division Roll of Honor.
The completed listings identify an additional 741 individuals who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving with the Second Air Division, but whose names are not currently included on the Norwich American Library's Roll of Honor. For each individual, I have also included the recorded date of death and the bomb or fighter group with which he served.
Standards for compiling Rolls of Honor vary widely. Some include only combat-related deaths, while others also recognize accidental deaths, or limit inclusion to those who died while stationed in England or assigned to a particular unit. This Roll of Honor includes all deaths in the line of duty—combat-related or otherwise—that occurred while the individual was serving with a Second Air Division bomb or fighter group during World War II.
I have exhausted every available resource in an effort to make this Honor Roll as complete and accurate as possible. However, as with all World War II Rolls of Honor and the records from which these names were gathered, no source is entirely free from errors or omissions.
The list presented here may still contain mistakes or missing names. It is my hope that future researchers will continue this work by identifying and correcting any remaining errors so that these individuals may receive the remembrance they deserve.
I dedicate this research, and my continued efforts to preserve the history of the Second Air Division, to my father, 1st Lt. Dallas O. Books, who was killed in action on March 18, 1944, while serving as a pilot with the Second Air Division, 392nd Bomb Group, 579th Squadron.
Endnote: This website would not exist without Chris Clark. For over twenty years, I collected Roll of Honor data, but it was Chris's relentless encouragement that finally pushed me to compile it.
In addition, Chris brought John Jurczak on board to help. John kept the project on track and provided the essential fighter and bomb group history that beautifully connects our Roll of Honor to the legacy of the Second Air Division.
If left entirely to me, this website project would likely never have crossed the finish line. It is a fact: Chris and John are the reason we have it today.
Bob Books
Pensacola, Florida
