Unit and assigned to II Bomber Command at Gowen Field, Idaho.The 44th Bombardment Group was activated at MacDill Field on 15 January 1941 equipped with the Consolidated B-24A Liberator. The Liberator was originally ordered by the Royal Air Force as the "LB-30" or Liberator I. These aircraft were destined for RAF Coastal Command for use in its battles against the U-boat menace. With a normal operating range of 2400 miles, the Liberators nearly doubled the effective range of the B-18, and it could fly long antisubmarine patrols equipped with a large bomb load to attack submarines if spotted. Patrols were also flown over the Atlantic Coast east of Florida. After the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the 44th was reassigned to Barksdale Field, Louisiana. In addition to the antisubmarine mission, another prewar mission of MacDill Field was "Project X", the ferrying of combat aircraft eastward to the Philippines via ferrying routes set up by Ferrying Command over South Atlantic Ocean and Central Africa. The aircraft were then ferried via India to Australia, where they were planned to be used to reinforce the Philippines Air Force. These operations began in February 1941, and were performed by the 6th and 43d Bombardment Squadron flying the B-18 Bolo and B-17 Flying Fortress. In just 60 days, 15 LB-30 and 63 B-17 aircraft departed MacDill via the South Atlantic and Africa to Australia. World War II With the United States's entry into World War II, the primary mission of MacDill Field became the training of bombardment units under III Bomber Command. In June 1942, the 21st Bombardment Group was assigned with B-26 Marauder medium bombers as the Operational Training Unit (OTU).Also, the group flew antisubmarine patrols over the Gulf of Mexico. The B-26 earned the slogan "One a day in Tampa Bay" due to the number of early-model B-26 aircraft that ditched or crashed into the Tampa Bay waters surrounding MacDill Field. Early models of the B-26 aircraft proved hard to fly and land by many pilots due to its short wings, high landing speeds, and fighter-plane maneuverability. Improvements to the Block 10 version of the aircraft, known as the B-26B-10, added six feet of additional wingspan and upgraded engines that eliminated most of these problems. Nine of the 12 combat groups that flew the B-26 in Europe were activated and trained at MacDill, and in combat, the B-26 enjoyed the