 The group converted to B-17's in October and operated primarily against strategic targets until the end of February 1945.The 490th mounted attacks against enemy oil plants, tank factories, marshalling yards, aircraft plants, and airfields in such cities as Berlin, Hamburg, Merseburg, Münster, Kassel, Hannover, and Cologne.Interrupted strategic missions to attack supply lines and military installations during the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944-January 1945.