The 380th Bomb Group (Heavy) flew the Consolidated B-24 Liberator in the Southwest Pacific Area from 1943 through the end of hostilities in 1945.
Working from the Group’s microfilmed unit history (AFHRA reels B0368 and B0369), mission target information was extracted and then mapped in order to depict the areas covered during their time overseas.
The 380th spend much of the early part of the war providing protection for Australia and covering the left flank of the New Guinea operations. Based at several airfields in the Darwin, Australia area, the four squadrons bombed enemy airfields and attacked shipping throughout the Netherlands East Indies. Some squadrons trained and operated from Queensland and Port Moresby before moving to the Darwin area. The missions flown from the Queensland/Port Moresby airfields were not well documented in the unit history, but included missions to Rabaul and many armed shipping reconnaissance flights.
On several occasions, squadrons of the 380th staged missions from Dobodura and Nadzab to support the main focus of the 5th Air Force in the New Guinea campaign.
Because the unit history was not consistent in documenting the base areas for each mission, and because the squadrons moved between airfields frequently, I used Fenton Field as the origin for all missions flown from that part of Australia and labeled it Darwin. Similarly, the few missions documented for the Queensland area airfields have their origins as Port Moresby, New Guinea. As the squadron level unit histories are transcribed, it may be possible to make more accurate maps of these missions.