 He organized the group and moved it on February 9, 1943, to Lake Charles Field, Louisiana, to complete its group combat training, which was accomplished without losses of any B-26s to accident in more than 10,000 hours of flight.In June 1943 the group moved to England and was assigned to the 3rd Bomb Wing of the Eighth Air Force on June 4, 1943.Based at the new station at RAF Boxted, the 386th did not immediately enter combat because extreme losses to B-26s of the already operational 322nd Bomb Group, attacking at low altitudes, forced a suspension of all B-26 operations to develop new tactics.