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8th air force bombing missions in wwii

Based on British experience, they advocated adding multi-gun power operated turrets to bombers, and expanding air service training programs. [12], Eighth Air Force's mission in the Pacific was initially to organize and train new bomber groups for combat against Japan. A survivor of the Stuttgart mission recalled, We began to wonder if they were trying to kill all of us. Half of the U.S. Army Air Forces' casualties in World War II were suffered by Eighth Air Force (more than 47,000 casualties, with more than 26,000 dead). This is from where the present-day Eighth Air Force's history, lineage and honors derive. "Black Thursday" October 14, 1943: The Second Schweinfurt Bombing Raid On 7 May, another 1,000 bombers hit additional targets along the English Channel coast, hitting fortifications, bridges and marshaling areas. General Electric had introduced turbo-superchargers to maintain performance of the B-24 and B-17 during high altitude missions. The first contingent arrived in May. '">DOWNLOAD'; On 27 June, the United Nations Security Council voted to assist the South Koreans in resisting the invasion. It was a last-ditch effort to keep up the momentum of the German forces during the stagnant stage of the Battle of the Bulge (Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein). As the bomber formation circled the target, the tight combat boxes of B-17s became easy targets for enemy fighters. This was the first DSC earned by a member of the Eighth Air Force in World War II. The command controlled three airfields on Okinawa, Bolo, Futema, and Kadena Airfield. showFBShare() + They did not realize that they were over Dutch territory; 850 civilians, including children on their way to school, were among the casualties. getDownloadURL($(this).parent()) + On 21 January 1951, Lt. Col. William Bertram, commander of the 523rd Fighter-Escort Squadron, shot down the first MiG-15 for the wing and became the first F-84 pilot with a confirmed MiG kill. One notable Eighth Air Force casualty was Brigadier General Arthur W. Vanaman, Chief of Intelligence, who was captured by the Germans in northern France on 27 June 1944, becoming the highest-ranked American POW captured in Europe during the war.[11]. At MacDill, Eighth Air Force headquarters were manned chiefly by personnel from the 58th Bombardment Wing, Very Heavy, stationed at Fort Worth Army Air Fied, Texas. The German pilot only had seconds to aim, fire, and peel away before careening into the heavy bombers. The target for 1,221 of the bombers was Berlin. 8th Air Force The 8th AF was primarily engaged in the bombardment of strategic targets in Europe. Commanding Officers Connections displayhgt = "90vh"; return '

' As a headquarters, the Eighth had another important role in victory over Iraqi forcesoperating the logistics supply and air refueling bridge between the U.S. and gulf region. By 1955 the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress would be entering the inventory in substantial numbers, as prop B-36s were phased out of heavy bombardment units rapidly. '

' + Daylight Precision Bombing | Air & Space Forces Magazine The Mighty Eighth's B-52 force consists of 76 bombers assigned to two active duty wings, the 2d Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana and the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, and one reserve wing, the 307th Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. function prependClosing() { Seventeen Medals of Honor went to Eighth Air Force personnel during the war. Both Davis-Monthan and Fort Worth Army Airfields were B-29 training bases during World War II, and the Eighth Air Force Bomb Groups were simply activated at the same field and on the same day as the original Army Air Force Continental Air Forces training bomb groups were inactivated. In January 1945, the Luftwaffe attempted one last major air offensive against the Allied Air Forces. Before war broke out in Europe, American military aviation had embraced the idea of long-range, daylight, pattern bombing by tight, high-altitude formations. A handful remained in service performing non-combat duties through the mid-1950s as air-sea rescue aircraft (SB-17, SB-24); photo-reconnaissance aircraft (RB-17, RB-24), and as unmanned target drones (QB-17) and their controllers (DB-17). The next day, over 900 bombers and 700 fighters of Eighth Air Force hit more aircraft factories in the Braunschweig area. Major General Mark E. Weatherington assumed command of 8th Air Force on 12 June 2020. $(".fancybox-content").css("height", newImgHgt + "px"); Men and Machines of the US 8th Air Force.' by Roger A. Freeman (1989). The nuclear arms race shifted into high gear. function closeDetails() { #WWII 8th Air Force on Twitter: "Continuing with the 12 B-17s that flew The first air attacks against Warsaw start. Beginnings of the 8th Air Force in World War II. October 8's target was the shipyard in dreaded Bremen, known as "Flak City" by the aircrews. On 25 February, both Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces hit numerous targets at Frth airfield, Augsburg and Regensburg, attacking Messerschmitt Bf 110 and Bf 109 plants. $(".fancybox-content").css("transform", Schweinfurt was not the Eighth Air Force's only target on August 17. The 94th Bomb Group flew 324 missions in 8,884 sorties from 13 May 1943 to 21 April 1945 and dropped 18,924 tons of bomb while losing 153 aircraft MIA. Generally, when bombers approached the target and entered what was called the flak field, enemy fighters peeled away to land, refuel, and rearm. Stuttgart, Germany, and the Bosch factory located there were the targets for the Eighth on September 6. Eighth Air Force trains, tests, exercises and demonstrates combat-ready forces for rapid employment worldwide. The reorganization transformed the Eighth into the only information operations and bomber NAF in the Air Force. 305th Bomb Group Can Do | American Air Museum These bomb wings were drastically undermanned and under equipped. This operation involved German pilots of the unit ramming their worn-out Bf 109Gs, each barely armed with only one MG 131 machine gun and 50 rounds of ammunition, into American bombers in order to get the Allies to suspend bombing raids long enough for the Germans to make a significant amount of Me 262A jet fighters. October 8s target was the shipyard in dreaded Bremen, known as Flak City by the aircrews. The enemy fighters, so determined in their mission to deter the B-17s, remained in attack mode over the flak field and flew through their own anti-aircraft fire in order to deliver their assaults. While posturing itself for that mission change, the Eighth also supported Operation ENDURING FREEDOM against terrorists in Afghanistan, and NOBLE EAGLE for the homeland defense of America. That buildup limited the Eighth's Korean War involvement to the deployment of its 27th Fighter Escort Wing. There were 261 fighter aces in the Eighth Air Force during World War II. Luftwaffe airfields that were identified as jet and rocket bases, such as Parchim and Bad Zwischenahn, were frequently bombed, and Allied fighters patrolled over the fields to attack jets trying to land. function getDetailsURL(fbObj) { As part of this realignment, most SAC bomber forces west of the Mississippi River were reassigned to 15th AF. That leadership allowed the men to be exposed to enemy fire for what seemed like an eternity, for little or no results in terms of bombing accuracy, made the crews irate. return; Welcome to the Mighty Eighth Air Force WW2 Calendar function isMobile() { events of the 8th Air Force, European Theater of Operations This mission, the largest wartime raid on Berlin, was intended to support the Russian advance by attacking rail stations and tank factories in the city. When Alexander took command on February 20, 1943, one of his first tasks was to assess II Corps combat readiness after its setbacks during its early engagements around Kasserine Pass. Eighth Air Force has five Regular Air Force bomb wings, two Air Reserve Total Force Integration bomb wings (one in Air Force Reserve Command and one in the Air National Guard), and one detachment in the continental United States. It was reassigned to Savannah Army Air Base, Georgia on 10 February 1942. On 6 March 1944, over 700 heavy bombers along with 800 escort fighters of the Eighth Air Force hit numerous targets within Berlin, dropping the first American bombs on the capital of the Third Reich. The "Allied Force" campaign also marked the Eighth's return to Europe and the participation of U.S. bombers in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) first combat operation. [6] Alerted to the attack, the airfield defences were prepared for the raid when it arrived. In a prelude to the invasion of France, American air attacks began in February 1944 against railroad junctions, airfields, ports and bridges in northern France and along the English Channel coastline. The pilots flying the ME-109s and FW-190s were professionalsthe best in the world. With the organization of the AAF finalized in June 1941, Spaatz became Chief of the Air Staff. With the loss of two American crews, this first mission from England by the AAF foreshadowed the challenges faced during the war. 452nd Bomb Group | American Air Museum From there you can link to each of the As the Americans flew further into Europe and Germany, the missions became deadlier. The modern day Eighth Air Force traces its lineage to the VIII BC, which came to life on 1 February 1942 at Langley Field, Virginia. Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum - New Georgia Encyclopedia }); The Wilhelmshaven bombings: A mission of valor - 8th Air Force/J-GSOC Personnel and equipment from the inactivated 40th and 444th Bomb Groups were reassigned to the 43d Bomb Group. At 8:00am German ground forces cross the Polish border launching the invasion of Poland . var $currentSlide = $(".fancybox-slide.fancybox-slide--current.fancybox-slide--image").parent().parent(); It was famous for bringing crews home, even when three of its four engines failed. The German fighters reaped a devilish harvest in the skies over Bremen, a harvest repeated in the next few missions in what became called Black Week by those fortunate enough to live through it. The buildup of the 8th Air Force in England was a gradual process and reached a peak on December 24, 1944 when 2034 Bombers and 853 Fighters pounded Germany from the Air. January 28, 1942: The Mighty 8th Air Force Allied forces activate the VIII Bomber Command, the first operational element of the 8th Air Force, to coordinate and lead the air attack on. These operations by light airplanes were small compared with those of World War II, but they did demonstrate the efficacy of the strategic air offensive. caption += '

' + There would be over 1,000 aircraft by January 1943. 8th Air Force bombers, dispatched from their bases in England, fly the first American bombing raid against the Germans, targeting the Wilhelmshaven port. Beginning on October 8 and continuing until October 14, Eighth Air Force crews attacked targets all over Germany in an attempt to continue the pressure on the Germans. The next day, the largest formation of German jets ever seen, most likely from the Luftwaffe's specialist 7th Fighter Wing, Jagdgeschwader 7 Nowotny, made attacks on Eighth Air Force bomber formations over Dresden and the oil targets at Essen, shooting down a total of three bombers. As part of this game-changing strategy, especially after the bombers had hit their targets, the USAAF's fighters were then free to strafe German airfields and transport while returning to base, contributing significantly to the achievement of air superiority by Allied air forces over Europe. Warbirds in flight, tanks on parade, PT-305 in the water. The operation was a pyrrhic success for the Luftwaffe as the losses suffered by the German air arm were irreplaceable and over 300 Luftwaffe aircraft were shot down, mostly by Allied anti-aircraft guns. }); Eighth Air Force, with headquarters at Barksdale Air Force Base in the Bossier City Shreveport, Louisiana metro area, supports U.S. Strategic Command, and is designated as U.S. Strategic Command's Task Force 204, providing on-alert, combat-ready forces to the president. And simultaneously, the Pacific Theater competed for aircraft. Also after the deployment of forces to Far East Air Force to engage in combat over Korea, the history of Eighth Air Force becomes indistinguishable from that of SAC. let $this = $('[data-fancybox]').fancybox($.extend(true, {}, $.fancybox.defaults, { German anti-aircraft fire, or flak, was one of those deadly threats. On 1 January, the entire German fighter force in the West, comprising combat aircraft from some eleven Jagdgeschwader day fighter wings, took off and attacked 27 Allied airfields in northern France, Belgium and the southern part of the Netherlands in an attempt by the Luftwaffe to cripple Allied air forces in the Low Countries of Europe. / Kegelman's aircraft lost altitude and even bounced off the ground, but he was able to bring the damaged bomber home and received the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) from General Spaatz on 11 July. var winWth = $(window).innerWidth(); more than 200,000 people (it is estimated that more than The morale among the Eighth Air Force crews was at a low point in September, yet the worst was yet to come. The 381st lost seven of 18 deployed. The obvious confusion in the air over Stuttgart and the heavy casualties sustained yet again caused many men to begin to doubt the leadership of the air campaign. The assets of the former training units were simply assigned to Eighth Air Force. function showFBShare() { if (item.type === 'image') { The lesson they missed in the Battle of Britain was that day bombers needed fighters that could escort them deep into enemy territory. The other American-flown Boston had been shot down over De Kooy[6]. Airmen were asked to complete a 25-mission quota at a time when the life expectancy of a crew didn't surpass six missions. By the time the group rotated back to the United States, they had flown more than 23,000 combat hours in more than 12,000 sorties. The P-51 Mustang first entered squadron service in Europe with the British in early 1942; the Allison V-1710-engined P-51A (Mustang I) having much success with the RAF, although it found the aircraft's performance inadequate at higher altitudes. SAC fighter wings assigned to Eighth Air Force were: Fighter escorts were no longer needed once SAC was equipped with Boeing B-47 Stratojet and then Boeing B-52 Stratofortress jet bombers carrying nuclear bombs. Rolls-Royce engineers rapidly realized that equipping the Mustang with a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine with its two speed, two stage supercharger would substantially improve performance. However, fewer accounts exist of Operation Flashpoint, Ninth US Armys assault crossing of the Rhine, which began on March 24. Over 300 German fighters attacked the bomber forces, losing almost half its aircraft, with claims of upwards of 47 Luftwaffe fighters by American fighter pilots. $(".fancybox-button").css("display", "none"); [citation needed]. The VIII Bomber Command launched its first raid in North-western Europe on 4 July 1942, when six RAF Douglas A-20 Havocs flown by crews of the 15th Bombardment Squadron (Light) (accompanied by another six Bostons from the more experienced No. In November 1942, German fighter ace Egon Mayer found the weakest place on a B-17directly in the front of the aircraft. They were just aimlessly flying around. The fact that the aerial commander made four passes at the target astounded many of the crew. In the year 2000, the Air Force decided to integrate information operations into Eighth Air Force. For the Mighty Eighth, that change heralded an interesting future, one that bring further restructuring, different aircraft systems, and a new challenging mission to the NAF. Eighth Air Force is one of two active duty numbered air forces in Air Force Global Strike Command. "Butcher Shop" 97th Bomb Group B-17 E 41-2578 Pilots, Paul Tibbets and Frank Armstrong. buttons: ['share'], While posturing itself for that mission change, the Eighth also supported Operation Enduring Freedom in which the Air Force operates against targets in Afghanistan, and Operation Noble Eagle for the defense of North American airspace. A lack of fuel and available pilots for the new jets greatly reduced their effectiveness. The bombs missed the target almost completely. In the 12 years he was Manager of Research Services, Seth and his team increased the oral history collection from 25 to nearly 5,000 oral histories. $(".fancybox-caption__body").removeClass("half"); } On 6 June 1944 itself, the Group bombed coastal defences before the landings. The reorganization transformed the Eighth into the only information operations and bomber NAF in the Air Force. In the aftermath of the Battle of Kasserine Pass, US II Corps passed to the command of General Harold Alexanders 18th Army Group. Under ACC, Eighth Air Force provides command and control, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C2ISR); long-range attack; and information operations forces to Air Force components and warfighting commands. '">DETAILS'; Vast fleets of B-24s and B-17s escorted by P-51Ds and long-range P-38Ls hit refineries in Germany and Czechoslovakia in late 1944 and early 1945. The result: a greater reliance on nuclear weapons and air power to deter war. The integration process started on 1 February 2001, when the Air Force realigned the Air Intelligence Agency (AIA) under ACC and assigned the 67th Information Operations Wing and the 70th Intelligence Wing to the Eighth. [citation needed]. Under ACC, the Eighth received control over active duty, Air Force Reserve, and Air National Guard units in the central U. S. and two overseas locations. Bombers from the US Eighth Air Force carrying out a raid across Germany in 1943 in footage shot by director William Wyler in 1943 and restored after being recovered from the National Archives. Elements of 8 AF engaged in combat operations during the Korean War (19501953); Vietnam War (19611975), as well as Operation Desert Storm (19901991) over Iraq and occupied Kuwait in the First Persian Gulf War. For this reason, Eighth Air Force is commonly known as the "Mighty Eighth." Some 230 B-24s hit the Messerschmitt Bf 110 assembly plant at Gotha with a loss of 24 aircraft. It dug a crater just two feet deep and nine feet wide. 'Bloody Hundredth' B-17 Pilot Shares WWII Experiences isDesktopInit = false; There was a total of 985 Missions completed by wars end. Fighters from both Eighth and Ninth Air Forces made wide sweeps over the area, mounting strafing missions at airfields and rail networks. The command serves as Air Forces Strategic Global Strike, one of the air components of United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). By 1945, all but one of the Eighth Air Force fighter groups were equipped with the P-51D. May 7, 1945. year that you select. else { var dstTop = Math.floor((winHgt - newImgHgt)) / 2; Advanced electro mechanical Norden M series bombsights could accurately deliver bomb loads at extreme altitude. In order to quickly assemble these formations, specially outfitted assembly ships were created from older bombers. Jimmy Stewart and the WW2 Mission That Almost Broke Him clearTimeout(debounceTimer); In 1965, Eighth Air Force entered combat again, this time in Southeast Asia. var newImgWth = (origImgWth * ratio); $(".fancybox-button").css("display", "block"); In 1943, the Luftwaffe was at peak strength against American bombers. There were fewer and fewer guys returning every day. One of the many who didnt return from Stuttgart added, We felt as if they didnt know what the hell they were doing up there, especially over Stuttgart. Within a few years, B-47 medium and B-52s heavy bombers replaced the Eighth's older B-29, B-50, and B-36 bombers. Welcome to the 91st Bomb Group! Americans bomb Germans for first time - History Although the Luftwaffe could, and did, mount effective attacks on the ever-larger formations of Allied heavy bombers, the sheer numbers of B-17s and B-24s attacking enemy targets was overwhelming the German fighter force, which simply could not sustain the losses the Eighth Air Force bombers and fighters were inflicting on it. The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum, established in 1996, tells the story of the Eighth Air Force in World War II. In late 1943, the P-51B Mustang was introduced to the European Theater by the USAAF. Once over the target, however, the mission began to unravel, as a cloud front had unexpectedly moved in, obscuring its view from the bombardiers perched in the noses of their B-17s 25,000 feet above. The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). These missions, however, carried a high price. A 500-pound bomb, standard for precision missions after 1943, had a lethal radius of only 60 to 90 feet. return ''; 8th AF - 8th Air Force - WWII - World War II isMobile = true; Second Schweinfurt raid - Wikipedia Targets that directly affected the German war machine became priorities. SAC was founded by the men who fought in World War II, who knew the importance of fighter escorts. Notably, the Eighth's units played a key role in the 42-day Gulf War in 1991. Its flexible, conventional and nuclear deterrence mission provides the capability to deploy forces and engage enemy threats from home station or forward positioned, anywhere, any time. Air War from 1939-1945 | American Experience | PBS Two days later, on 23 January, the 27th FEW participated in the raid on Sinuju Airfield in North Korea and shot down four more MiG-15s. Nearly seven months after the United States declared war, the symbolic July 4th raid served as a milestone for the AAF in Europe. The Me 262 was also less maneuverable than the P-51 and so trained Allied pilots could turn tighter than an Me 262A. function getDownloadURL(fbObj) { Fifteen Allied bombers were attacked, eight were successfully destroyed. The raids on the German aircraft industry comprising much of "Big Week" caused so much damage that the Germans were forced to disperse aircraft manufacturing eastward, to safer parts of the Reich. Most crews never made it past their fifth. In the 1980s, the Eighth participated in several key operations such as running the tanker task force for Operation Urgent Fury in 1983 and directing all air refueling operations for Operation El Dorado Canyon in 1986 and Operation Just Cause in 1989. Also, by using a four-bladed propeller, rather than the three-bladed one used on the P-51A, the performance was greatly improved; the XP-51B achieved a level speed of 441mph at 29,800ft (9,100m), over 100mph (160km/h) faster than the Allison-engined P-51A at that altitude. The result was that the Luftwaffe was notable by its absence over the skies of Europe after D-Day and the Allies were starting to achieve air superiority over the continent. $(document).ready(function () { John Luckadoo, a pilot in the 100th Bomb Group recalled that he calculated a 400 percent turnover in the first 90 days of combat. The other more feared threat was the German Luftwaffe. var newImgHgt = (origImgHgt * ratio); The 91st Bomb Group Memorial Association's (BGMA) purpose is to keep alive the spirit of the 91st BG (H) and to maintain the fellowship of all those who fought together in . 226 Squadron RAF) commanded by Captain Charles C. Kegelman attacked four airfields [b] in the In Europe, Eighth Air Force was the first USAAF strategic air force, with a mission to support an invasion of continental Europe from the British Isles. $(".base-caption-info").addClass("full-height"); The 300 men shot down were obvious casualties, but when the battered bombers returned to their home bases, they carried another 301 wounded in their fuselages. In 1943, bomber crews were tasked with a 25-mission tour of duty. let isDesktopInit = false; Units assigned to Eighth Air Force in the Pacific were: The atomic bombings of Japan led to the Japanese surrender before Eighth Air Force saw action in the Pacific theater. if (isMobile()) An Eighth Air Force unit, the 2d Bomb Wing, spearheaded the air campaign by dispatching B-52s from Barksdale to launch conventional air-launched cruise missiles against Iraqi targets. getDownloadURL($(this).parent()) + PLEASE SUPPORT THE 8AF.ORG PROJECT! Eighth Air Force was established as VIII Bomber Command on 19 January 1942 and activated at Langley Field, Virginia on 1 February. A strategic air force was that with a mission to attack an enemy's war effort beyond his front-line forces, predominantly production and supply facilities, whereas a tactical air force supported ground campaigns, usually with objectives selected through co-operation with the armies.

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