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Our objective is to supply as much information as we can about who served in the 492nd Bomb Group Headquarters at North Pickenham.
We will put all the information pertaining to the 492nd BG staff here as we collect it.
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Officially, the airfield at North Pickenham was called Station 143.
It was not a regular military base but rather a combat station.
Normally a military base has a base commander who is in charge of running the base and providing a "home" to the combat unit assigned there, which is under a different command altogether.
Since North Pickenham was a combat station in a theater of war, the complete station and all of its activities were under one commander, Col Eugene Snavely.
The Headquarters staff helped him orchestrate his administration.
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Naturally, Col Snavely was given men who were trained at overseeing the various activities relating to base operations.
In some respects, running a base is not much different than running a small town in that it has to provide the esential utilities like water, gas, electricity, sewage, etc.
And like any town it has to provide the services ranging from police and fire protection to trash collection.
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Unlike town mayors, a base also has to feed and shelter its men as well as provide for all of their needs.
This includes providing entertainment and recreational activities.
A base is also responsible for providing medical and dental care.
As one can see, even running a base or station in peacetime would require a lot of people and a good administration.
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Since this station was in a war zone, the base itself had to be prepared for any kind of enemy attack.
They had to be ready in case of sabatage, air raids, poisonous gas or invading paratroopers.
Again, Snavely was given men trained to handle such things.
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Running a base is also like running a business.
Every base has its shipping and receiving, storage, inventory control, and what we call today the "Human Resources" department.
Personnel files were kept on all of the men and assistance was provided to help the men with their affairs, such as insurance or buying war bonds.
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Their business product, of course, was the air offensive.
Aside from having air crews and airplanes ready to strike the enemy, the Group needed to maintain an ample supply of gasoline, oxygen, bombs and bullets.
Although the 492nd crammed 67 mission into 89 days, they never once ran out of supplies.
This was the result of good planning and execution from the 492nd Headquarters staff.
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Needless to say, Col Snavely had his hands full.
But with a good staff behind him and good men underneath, Station 143 was run fairly well.
Each of these men were essential and they did their part toward winning the war.
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The links provided at right showing the Officers and Enlisted Men serving in the 492nd Headquarters might have errors and is certainly incomplete.
We have not found any list made by the Army Air Force or by the 492nd.
We compiled these lists by collecting bits and pieces from the official records, special orders and from written accounts by the veterans themselves.
By default, we added to the Headquarters listings all of the names we've found but whose assigned unit could not be identified.
The lists are a work in progress and will be corrected as new information comes in by our visitors.
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/8th Air Force
