The Japanese, however, surrendered before the Eighth's first combat sortie in the Pacific. During World War II, under the leadership of such Generals as Eaker and Jimmy Doolittle, the 8th AF became the greatest air armada in history. 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.
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The Me 262A was a difficult foe for the P-47s and P-51s, possessing a distinct speed advantage. '
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At first, the Eighth deployed its B-52 bomber and KC-135 tanker units from the U.S. to operating bases in Guam, Okinawa and Thailand. buttons: ['share'],
As a result, Eighth Air Force was incorporated into the new SAC. A lack of fuel and available pilots for the new jets greatly reduced their effectiveness. 301st Fighter Wing: 1945- 1946. Although SAC fighter squadrons upgraded to Republic F-84F Thunderstreak jet fighters in the early 1950s, the new jet bombers flew so high and so fast there was little danger of them being intercepted by enemy fighters. After Korean War, on 13 June 1955 SAC moved the unit to Westover AFB, Massachusetts, where it transitioned to the jet age. 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. Activated in the US on I Feb 1942. Support to the latter command included the operation of Task Force 204 (bombers). No. }
The USAAF was finally fully sold on the Mustang, and a letter contract for 2200 P-51Bs was issued. 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.
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On 7 May, another 1,000 bombers hit additional targets along the English Channel coast, hitting fortifications, bridges and marshaling areas. 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. On D-Day, over 2,300 sorties were flown by Eighth Air Force heavy bombers in the Normandy and Cherbourg invasion areas, all aimed at neutralizing enemy coastal defenses and front-line troops.
It dispersed its planes to a large number of bases across the United States so as not to have too many concentrated at a single location. Cold and clear weather was predicted for the last week of February 1944. During World War II, the offensive air forces of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) came to be classified as strategic or tactical.
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). On July 4th, 1942 the first American bomber mission flown from England by the U.S Army Air Forces (AAF) flew towards the occupied Netherlands. The command serves as Air Forces Strategic Global Strike, one of the air components of United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). By the end of 1944, only three out of ninety-one refineries in the Reich were still working normally, twenty-nine were partially functional, and the remainder were completely destroyed. From 1946 through 1949, what little money became available was used to buy new planes (Boeing B-50 Superfortress, Convair B-36 Peacemaker) for SAC, and as the newer aircraft became available, the older B-29s were sent to storage depots or sent to Air Force Reserve units for training missions. With the end of combat in Southeast Asia, the Eighth Air Force moved without personnel or equipment to Barksdale Air Force Base Louisiana on 1 January 1975, absorbing the resources of Second Air Force. $(document).ready(function () {
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8th Air Force 448th Bomb Group, England WWII - TaraCopp. '
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On 16 April, this record was broken when over 700 German aircraft were destroyed on the ground. Major General James C. Dawkins Jr. assumed command of 8th Air Force on 20 August 2018, after having served as the Deputy Director for Nuclear, Homeland Defense, and Current Operations on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.[13] On 12 June 2020, he was succeeded by Major General Mark E. Weatherington, who had previously served as deputy commander of Air Education and Training Command at Joint Base San Antonio in Randolph, Texas.[14]. The next day, over 900 bombers and 700 fighters of Eighth Air Force hit more aircraft factories in the Braunschweig area. The command controlled three airfields on Okinawa, Bolo, Futema, and Kadena Airfield. Spaatz and Doolittle's plan was to use the US Strategic Air Forces in a series of co-ordinated raids, code-named Operation 'Argument' (popularly known as 'Big Week' ) and supported by RAF night bombing, on the German aircraft industry at the earliest possible date. Components: 1st Bombardment Wing: 1942-1943. [12], On Okinawa, Eighth Air Force derived its headquarters personnel from the inactivated XX Bomber Command, and Lieutenant General James H. Doolittle assumed command, being reassigned from England on 19 July. These missions, however, carried a high price. 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. During World War II, under the leadership of such generals as Ira Eaker and Jimmy Doolittle, the VIII BC (then Eighth Air Force) formed the greatest air armada in history. debounceTimer = setTimeout(function () {
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Email. To reduce the risk to its bomber fleet in the United States, Eighth Air Force aircraft stood nuclear alert, providing a deterrent against an attack on the United States by the Soviet Union. Men born between about 1877 and . 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). }
In the year 2000, the Air Force decided to integrate information operations into Eighth Air Force.
8th and 15th AF flight, ground crew and crash photos: B-24, B-17, P-51, B-26, P-47, P-38. The 27th was relieved of its duties supporting U.N. forces in Korea and returned to Bergstrom AFB on 31 July 1951, but was redeployed to Misawa AB, Japan during 6 October 1952 13 February 1953 to provide air defense. Their goal is to preserve the Legacy created by their relatives who went before them, not because of the vanity of their accomplishments, but rather for the preservation of Democracy and Civilization, for maintaining the values of honesty and patriotism exhibited by their generation. Please visit the websites of our wonderful partners in history. With the end of fighting in Korea, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had taken office in January 1953, called for a "new look" at national defense.
The 8th Air Force Historical Society was created in 1975 to preserve the legacy of the Mighty Eighth and the part it played in World War II. var newImgHgt = (origImgHgt * ratio);
In 1965, Eighth Air Force entered combat again, this time in Southeast Asia.
On 7 April, Eighth Air Force dispatched thirty-two B-17 and B-24 groups and fourteen Mustang groups (the sheer numbers of attacking Allied aircraft were so large in 1945 that they were now counted by the group) to targets in the small area of Germany still controlled by the Nazis, hitting the remaining airfields where the Luftwaffe jets were stationed. , founded in 1975 by an original 8th Air Force pilot, Lt. Col. John Woolnough, serv as a central organization for its individual State Chapters and Wings. Air Offensive, Europe ; Normandy; Northern France; Rhineland; Ardennes-Alsace ; Central Europe; Asiatic-Pacific Theater.
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Please include this amount with your annual renewal or new membership! It could fly as far on its internal fuel tanks as the P-47 could with drop tanks. Join the Society to help preserve the legacy of the veterans of the Mighty Eighth Air Force. Eighth Air Force was relieved from assignment to Strategic Air Command and assigned to the new Air Combat Command (ACC) on 1 June 1992. Colonel Frank A. Armstrong may have been the commander of the 97th, but at the time of the raid, not yet left seat qualified. Bomber wings of the 8th Air Force include: This article incorporates public domain material from Eighth Air Force. The 8th lost 31 bombers, the 15th lost 33. The Eighth's weapons inventory also changed to include KC-135 air refuelers and intercontinental ballistic missiles (the Atlas, Titan I and Titan II, and all Minuteman models.) "[citation needed]. Over 950 fighters had been sent west from the Eastern Front for "Operation Bodenplatte". Another 305 enlisted gunners were also recognized as aces.
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. (left) took the Eighth Air Force Bomber Command Headquarters to England the next month and located at High Wycombe, about 40 miles west of London and on the road to Oxford. function getDetailsURL(fbObj) {
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. VIII Fighter Command 1944-1945. 8th Air Force (ETO) Operational Units. The command conducted the heavy bombardment operations of Eighth AF from 17 Aug 1942 until early in 1944. About 23 February, the VIII BC moved to England, first to Daws Hill and later to High Wycombe, where it established its wartime headquarters in the Wycombe Abbey school for girls. The nuclear arms race shifted into high gear. Rudder, James E. 2nd Ranger Battalion; 109th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division 53; 243; 384; 476; 557 . The RAF had been making night raids on Berlin since 1940, (with heavy raids in 1943) and nuisance de Havilland Mosquito raids in daylight, but this was the first major daylight bombing raid on the German capital. 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. if (isMobile())
[6] Alerted to the attack, the airfield defences were prepared for the raid when it arrived. The original Eighth Air Force was redesignated as the United States Strategic Air Forces (USSTAF). Pearl Harbor had just been bombed about a month and a half earlier. Get detailed instructios o how to register for the Reunion. For its Korean War service, the 27th Fighter-Escort Wing received the Distinguished Unit Citation, covering the period of 26 January through 21 April 1951, for their actions in Korea. 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. Last Name. Altogether, the Eighth Air Force dropped over 4,800 tons of high explosive on Berlin during the first week of March. });
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That record, however, carried a high price. },
Then in April 1970, SAC moved the Eighth without personnel or equipment to Andersen AFB Guam, absorbing resources of the 3d Air Division. Start here! Eighth Air Force did not strike at oil industry targets until 13 May 1944 when 749 bombers, escorted by almost 740 fighters, pounded oil targets in the Leipzig area and at Brx in Czechoslovakia. (photo: American Cemetery,Cambridge, England). U.S. Military Personnel that Served in WWII. winHgt / origImgHgt);
At the same time, aerial refueling techniques were improved to the extent that Eighth Air Force bombers could still reach targets in Europe and Asia even if overseas bases were destroyed by an enemy attack. VIDEO (silent): 8th AF mission to Muenster, Germany.
1st Bomb Division Markings 2nd Bomb Division Markings 3rd Bomb Division Markings Sources: The 1948 blockade of West Berlin by the Eastern bloc and the outbreak of the Cold War caused the United States to deploy SAC's B-29 bomber force back to the United Kingdom and West Germany.
By mid-1944, the 8th AF had reached a total strength of more than 200,000 people. Altogether, the Eighth's bombers flew 325 sorties to drop over 7 million pounds of ordnance on a nation slightly smaller than the state of Colorado. 5 months ago.
If you don't know of anyone in your family who served during the war, consider asking your family or looking at your family tree for those who would have been the right age to have registered for the draft or who may have served. The first combat group of VIII Bomber Command to arrive in the United Kingdom was the ground echelon of the 97th Bombardment Group, which arrived at RAF Polebrook and RAF Grafton Underwood on 9 June 1942. This 8th Air Force WWII Decal is die cut - which means it is cut to the exact shape of the image, and made in the USA at our facilities in Chino Valley, Arizona. His directive was simple: "Win the air war and isolate the battlefield. The Eighth Air Force includes the heart of America's heavy bomber force: the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, the Rockwell B-1 Lancer supersonic bomber, and the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress heavy bomber aircraft. An official website of the United States government, Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil. Nevertheless, in March and April 1945, Allied fighter patrol patterns over Me 262 airfields resulted in numerous losses of jets and serious attrition of the force. Since 1994, the Eighth has participated in a string of contingency operations, such as the 1996 Operation DESERT STRIKE against Iraq, the 1998 Operation DESERT FOX against Iraq, which featured the B-1B in its combat debut, and 1999 Operation ALLIED FORCE against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which involved the B-2A Spirit in its first combat. B-17 Aluminum Overcast. That base assignment lasted until 1 November 1946, when SAC transferred the Eighth to Fort Worth (later renamed Carswell AFB). $(".fancybox-caption__body").addClass("af3-caption-body");
Visit our 8th Air Force Honor Project with rosters of servicemen who served in the groups of the 8th. });
Altogether, the Eighth's bombers flew 325 sorties to drop over 7 million pounds of ordnance on enemy targets in that campaign. Even so, the "pathfinder" bombers of the RAF Alconbury-based 482d Bomb Group proved very capable of finding the targets and guiding the bombers to them. Annual Dues fund our work including the magazine* and reunions. }));
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After D-Day, attacks on the German oil industry assumed top priority which was widely dispersed around the Reich. 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. 8 th AirForce.com. Although some personnel and combat units were assigned before V-J Day, the Eighth did not participate in combat against Japan. These data were taken from the Loading Lists of the 385th BG combat missions missions, preserved in the U. S. National Archives in College Park, MD.
Moved to Egypt and began operations on 12 Nov 1942, participating in the Allied drive across Egypt and Libya, the campaign in Tunisia, and the invasions of Sicily and Italy. There were 261 fighter aces in the Eighth Air Force during World War II. That buildup limited the Eighth's Korean War involvement to the deployment of its 27th Fighter Escort Wing. Transferred, without personnel, equipment, and combat elements, to Okinawa on 16 Jul 1945. On at least eighteen occasions, the Merseburg refineries in Leuna, where the majority of Germany's synthetic fuel for jet aircraft was refined, was hit. $(".fancybox-caption__body").addClass("mobile");
The Eighth's combat record also shows 566 aces (261 fighter pilots with 31 having 15 or more victories and 305 enlisted gunners), over 440,000 bomber sorties to drop 697,000 tons of bombs, and over 5,100 aircraft losses and 11,200 aerial victories.
With each step through 2002, the Eighth continues to add more feats to its growing legacy. They numbered 350,000 men and women with over 54,000 killed in combat or taken prisoner. if ($(".af3-caption-body").length > 0 && $(".af3-caption-body").css("height") != undefined) {
Afterward, engaged primarily in bombardment of strategic targets in Europe. 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. Donations Page. recalculateImageSize();
Later in Dec 1941 headquarters and some crews and planes moved to Australia . The Eighth received its first B-29 Superfortress on 8 August 1945. The Air Force retired nearly all of its piston-engined B-29/B-50s and they were replaced by new Boeing B-47 Stratojet aircraft. The assets of the former training units were simply assigned to Eighth Air Force. }
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Nick was a life member of the 8th Air Force Historical Society, the 15th Air Force Association and the 414th Bombardment Squadron, 97th Bombardment Group Association.
. 12th Bombardment Wing: 1942-1944. 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]. Men and women continue the fight for liberty and peace serving in the 8th Air Force now headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base near Shreveport, Louisiana. The losses of the Allied Air Forces were replaced within weeks.
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Seventeen Medals of Honor went to Eighth Air Force personnel during the war. A Tradition Since 1942. 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.
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The Eighth Air Force was specifically charged with the atomic mission; however, only the 509th Composite Group at Roswell AAF had B-29s that had the capability to drop nuclear weapons the 7th Bomb Group at Fort Worth AAF was modifying their aircraft to carry the atomic bomb. The USAAF now finally had an aircraft that could compete on equal terms with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and the later models of the Messerschmitt Bf 109. There is an entry for each credited mission which that individual flew. We also located the series World War II Statistical Summaries, 1942-1945 in Record Group 18 . The engine was to be the Packard V-1650-3, based on the Rolls-Royce Merlin Mk68. 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. Because of the thick clouds and rain over the area the Luftwaffe did not attack the American bomber fleet, as the Germans believed that because of the weather the American bombers would be incapable of attacking their targets. The following day, on 9 March, H2X radar-equipped B-17s mounted a third attack on the Reich capital through clouds. return isMobile;
In January 1945, the Luftwaffe attempted one last major air offensive against the Allied Air Forces. U.S. Military Personnel that Served in WWII. That base assignment lasted until November 1950, when SAC transferred the Eighth to Carswell AFB (formerly Fort Worth Army Air Field), Texas. Based in Parham, England, the 390th Bombardment Group (H) flew 301 combat missions against German military targets. },
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Constituted as VIII Bomber Command on 19 Jan 1942. [citation needed]. -Lt. General Jimmy Doolittle, Commanding General, 8th Air Force. clearTimeout(debounceTimer);
General Carl Spaatz returned to England to command the USSTAF. [9] Doolittle was well known to American airmen as the famous "Tokyo Raider" and former air racer. This was the first DSC earned by a member of the Eighth Air Force in World War II. 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. Compiled by Bill Varnedoe.
Notably, the 1 June 1992 change inactivated SAC and the Tactical Air Command (TAC), and reassigned the Mighty Eighth to the new Air Combat Command (ACC). The 8th Air Force was targeted in this operation. displayhgt = "90vh";
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It became operational on 7 November 1942 (along with the 44th, 91st and 303rd . The 8th AF was primarily engaged in the bombardment of strategic targets in Europe. captionToggle();
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