Knettishall was comprised of the Air Echelon and the Ground Echelon. While the
Air Echelon maintained a gruelling schedule of bombing missions, the Ground
Echelon kept the base running smoothly by providing many of the services.
of a small town - food, banking, recreation, police, fire fighting, technical
training.
The various services were each handled by a Ground Unit which generally was a
detachment from a parent organization that were assigned to Knettishall
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388th Bomb Group Headquarters The entire base (Ground and Air Echelons)
were managed from headquarters.
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560th Bomb Squadron was one of four bomb squadrons of the 388th.
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561st Bomb Squadron was one of four bomb squadrons of the 388th.
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562nd Bomb Squadron was one of four bomb squadrons of the 388th.
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563rd Bomb Squadron was one of four bomb squadrons of the 388th.
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29th Station Complement
The he 388th.
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214th Finance Department Getting everyone paid on time was maybe second to
having everyone fed. In those days the men received cash.
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587th Postal Unit
The most desired item was a letter from home.
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1284th Military Police Company Some one had to maintain order on the base.
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1751st Ordnance Supply and Maintenance Company Hundreds of bombs were being
sent on missions almost each day. Having those on hand was a huge logisitical
feat - not to mention the dangerous side of the job.
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2019th Engineering and Fire Fighting Platoon Fire fighting is a dangerous
enough job. However every day there was the real possibility of B-17 on fire having
tons of fuel, ammunition and bombs on board.
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452nd Sub Depot Maintenance of the sophisticated instruments on the B-17
(Norden Bombsight for one) was performed by skilled technicians.
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273rd Medical Dispensary The base hospital had to manage everything from
the common cold to a mangled body returning from a mission.
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