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Information, articles and official reports pertaining to the pre and post histories of the Group are provided here. By that we mean its history before Snavely took command, the Group's disbandment and some of the organizational details in the aftermath.
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We were surprised to learn from the Maryland Air National Guard that technically the 492nd doesn't have a lineage to the former 104th Observation Squadron. In following their history, the 104th OS came to the old proverbial "fork-in-the-road." Its unit designation went one way while its men and planes went another.
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Officially, the 104th Observation Squadron was not re-designated as the 517th Bombardment Squadron. Instead, the unit designation of the 104th OS was inactivated and transferred without personnel or aircraft to Ft Myers, Florida.
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At the same time, the men and planes of the old 104th were transferred to the newly activated 517th BS. Thus, the history of the 492nd BG began there. And of course, the 517th BS became the 12th AS, which later became the 859th BS, serving as the cadre for the 492nd. During all of this, most of the Maryland Guardmen had been transferred out to become replacements for other units.
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Meanwhile, the designation of the old 104th OS had been reactivated and became the 104th Reconnassaince Squadron. This time they were flying fighters. Manned by Army Regulars, it was transferred to Thomasville Army Airfield in Georgia to fly training missions. It was redesignated again as the 489th Reconnasaince Squadron and then later redesignated as the 489th Fighter Squadron. It was deactivated somewhere towards the end of the war.
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In 1946, the unit was reactivated as the 104th Fighter Squadron as part of the Maryland National Guard, where it had begun. They are still there today.
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As one can see, deciding how to assemble and tell the history of the 492nd can be difficult. Choose the safer route by following the unit designations and official records or take the more romantic route by following the men. Either choice seems equally valid.
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This situation is comparable to when the Group was disbanded in August 44 at North Pickenham. It's true that the unit designations of the 492nd and its squadrons did not die right there and then. Their unit designations carried on, served out the rest of the war and returned home before being deactivated. Every 492nd veteran knows this. But in their hearts they see their Group's history as having ended at North Pickenham... and having begun in Baltimore.
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— Paul Arnett, website historian
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History
