UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCES
FLAGS, COLORS & GUIDONS
98th BOMBER WING (MEDIUM) • NINTH AIR FORCE • WORLD WAR II
In June 1944 the Ninth Air Force's 98th Bomber Wing, IX Bomber Command, was headquartered at Earls Colne, Essex. Of its four subordinate bombardment groups, the 323rd was collocated with the wing headquarters, the 387th was based at Chipping Ongar, Essex, the 394th was based at Boreham, Essex and the 397th was based at Rivenhall, Essex. The groups each embodied a headquarters squadron, four bomb squadrons equipped with the B-26 Marauder medium bomber, and various service units.
The group, usually composed of three or four squadrons, was the color-bearing echelon of the US Army Air Corps (USAAC). Organizational standards for groups were of the standard Army pattern for mounted and mechanized units, made of silk, 3 feet at the hoist by 4 feet on the fly, plus 2 1/2-inch fringe. The field of the standard was ultramarine blue and the fringe was golden orange. The standard was always carried or displayed with a National Standard of the same materials and dimensions. Squadrons of groups and separate squadrons had flags and guidons based on the colors ultramarine blue and golden orange, the Air Corps branch colors. Guidons were made of wool bunting, 20 inches at the hoist by 27 3/4 inches on the fly with a 10-inch fork. Guidons of squadrons assigned to groups had the group number above and the squadron number below the branch insignia.
Service units assigned to groups that were not part of the USAAC had flags and guidons of the designs authorized for their parent branches. Click on the SERVICE UNITS link under each group to view these (not yet posted for the 4th BW).
Note: The enormous expansion of the USAAC during the war makes it doubtful that all groups received a coat of arms and a unique organizational standard. Shown below are the National and Organizational Standards of the 5th Bombardment Group, a prewar unit. Wartime units that did not receive a coat of arms may have had a standard with the eagle's breast feathered and a badge above its head, as authorized by AR 260-10 for color-bearing units with no coat of arms.
Credits: The drawings on this page are based on the specifications given in Army Regulation 260-10 dated 25 October 1944, a copy of which was kindly provided by FOTW Mailing List member Joseph McMillan. Order of battle information was taken from Dr. Leo Niehorster’s outstanding and essential website, World War II Armed Forces: Orders of Battle and Organizations.
