93rd Bombardment Group (H)
"Ted's
Travelling Circus"
The 93rd bombardment group was
first activated on March 1st, 1942. Stationed first at Alconbury, England on
September 6th, 1942 and then at Hardwick, England exactly three months latter
on December 6th, 1942. They flew their first operational sortie on the 9th of
October 1942. From December 7th, 1942 to October 2nd 1943 they where assigned
temporary duty (TDY) to the 9th Air Force in North Africa . On April 25th 1945
the 93rd flew their last operational sortie. Col. Edward J. "Ted" Timberlake
was the Commanding Officer from March 1942 until May 1943. The 93rd was TDY'ed
to Africa several times during his command and that is how they became known as
"Ted's Travelling Circus". In May of 1943 he was promoted to the rank of
General and then was assigned to the 201st Provisional Wing which was directly
responsible for planning the low level raid on the Ploesti Oil Fileds in
Romania.
A reporter mispelled "Travelling" by adding a
second "l", and that is how it has been spelled ever since. The Bomb Group flew
B-24 Liberators, with and without the bottom ball turret. |
