VII Bomber Command

VII Bomber Command
VII Bomber Command B-24 Liberator in the Marianas
Active1942–1946
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
RoleCommand of bomber units
Part ofSeventh Air Force
EngagementsChina-Burma-India Theater
Pacific Theater of Operations[1]

The VII Bomber Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Seventh Air Force, based on Okinawa. It was inactivated on 31 March 1946.

It engaged in patrol operations from Hawaii from January 1942. On the night of 22-23 December 1942, twenty-six Consolidated B-24D Liberators of the 307th Bombardment Group staged through Midway Island for a strike on Wake Island with 135 500-pound general purpose bombs and 21 incendiaries. The attack may have taken the Japanese by surprise, as neither searchlights nor antiaircraft fire were encountered until after the bombing had begun. All planes returned safely, with only slight damage to two.[2]

After late 1943, VII Bomber Command served in combat in the Central and Western Pacific.

  1. ^ Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 444-445
  2. ^ Olson, p. 283.