The 2nd Bomb Group was re-designated as the SECOND BOMB GROUP, HEAVY during October 1942 at Ephrata, Washington.  The group was made up of four Squadrons, the 20th, 49th, 96th, and the 429th, some of which date back to World War I (all but the 429th are still active today at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana). 

In November 1942, the squadrons were sent to satellite bases in Montana for additional training as units, the 20th to Great Falls, the 49th to Lewistown, the 96th to Glasgow, and the 429th to Cut Bank.  This was the third and final phase of training.  The 2nd Bomb Group and squadrons left their satellite bases on March 13-14, 1943 arriving at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey March 17-18, 1943 for debarkation overseas.  The Flight Echelon left the above bases for Morrison Field West Palm Beach, Florida; Natal, Brazil; Marrakech, Morocco and arriving at Navarin, Algeria on April 22, 1943.  The Ground Echelon were disbursed at Camp Kilmer in several ships arriving at Casablanca and Port Lyautey in March/April, 1943, thence motor and train convoy to Navarin, Algeria.

THE SECOND BOMB GROUP, HEAVY departed Navarin, Algeria April 27, 1943.  It arrived at Chateau D'un, Algeria on April 27, 1943. The first mission on April 28, 1943 was to Terranova, Sardinia.  The 2nd Bomb Group departed Chateau D'un and arrived at Ain M'Lila, Algeria on June 17, 1943 and flew 25 missions from that base.  The 2nd Bomb Group departed for Massicault, Tunisia on July 31, 1943 and flew 56 missions from that base.  The 2nd Bomb Group departed Massicault and arrived Amendola, Foggia, Italy on December 10,1943.  The balance of missions flown by the 2nd Bomb Group were from Amendola Air Base in Foggia, Italy.  The final missions, #412, was flown on May 1, 1945 to the Marshalling yards at Salzburg, Austria and there were two minor injuries suffered during this final mission.

The following is a recent Google Earth satellite photo of the Amendola Airbase which is now the home of 32 Stormo of the Italian Air Force ( http://www.milavia.net/specials/32stormo_70yrs/ ).  The photo has been labeled to show the areas around the airbase that were occupied by 20th BS, 49th BS, 96th BS, and the 429th BS of the 2nd BG during WW2.  The 2nd BG shared Amendola Airbase with the 97th BG (Triangle Y) who also flew B-17s and the 150 Bomber Squadron of Royal Air Force which flew Avro Lancaster Bombers on night missions.  This layout information of Amendola Airbase was recently provided by Milton Zamboni who was a 2nd BG ground crew member and one of the fine B-17 mechanics that helped keep the B-17s and their crew in the air.  According to Linda Gartz ("Pilgrimage to Amendola" found in the "War Stories" webpage), there are none of the 2nd BG buildings still remaining today.  The only remnant left from WW2 is some crumpled metal scrap of what used to be the perforated steel planking that was used on the muddy airfield for the heavy bombers.

		To the left is partial aerial photo of Amendola Airfield taken on 3/5/45 by 1st Lt. Emmett W. Boyd of the 301st BG, 32nd BS flying out of Lucera, Italy (10/44 to 5/45).  The photo has been oriented to match the angle of the runway and is placed directly below it's location on the map above.  There are some common landmarks in both photos such as the runway on the upper edge of the 1945 photo, the road that runs from west-northwest to east-southeast on the lower left of both photos, and the cleared spaces on the upper side of the loop of the 1945 photo.  The lower portion of loop is no longer there.