'; 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. The other American-flown Boston had been shot down over De Kooy[6]. Moved to England in Oct 1943 to become the tactical air force for the invasion of the Continent. 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. INSIGNE. Notably, the Eighth's units played a key role in the 42-day Gulf War in 1991. var origImgHgt = $(".fancybox-image").prop("naturalHeight"); }); 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. 1st Bomb Division Markings 2nd Bomb Division Markings 3rd Bomb Division Markings Sources: $(".fancybox-caption__body").removeClass("half"); Contact Us. By the late 1940s, the B-17 Flying Fortresses and Consolidated B-24 Liberators used in the European Theater of the war were thoroughly obsolete as combat aircraft and were mostly sent to the smelters. if (isMobile()) As a contrast, the Luftwaffe was undertaking the sixth major raid of the "Baby Blitz" the following night (20/21 February), with only some 165 German aircraft sortieing against British targets. 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. } No. 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. 5 months ago. On 8 March, another raid of 600 bombers and 200 fighters hit the Berlin area again, destroying the VKF ball-bearing plant at Erkner. At all heights, the rate of climb was approximately doubled. Colonel Frank A. Armstrong may have been the commander of the 97th, but at the time of the raid, not yet left seat qualified. 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. REGISTRATIONRegister for the 2023 Reunion, REUNION SCHEDULEClick here to view the schedule, TOUR INFORMATIONClick here to view more information on the tours. Fifteen Allied bombers were attacked, eight were successfully destroyed. In 1949, a realignment of responsibilities for SAC's two air forces occurred. $(".af3-caption-body").animate({ height: displayhgt }, 800); 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. var winWth = $(window).innerWidth(); Documenting History Since a complete roster of World War II Eighth Air Force veterans has never existed, the Research Center is compiling its own list known as the Veterans' Database. On 1 May, over 1,300 Eighth Air Force heavy bombers made an all-out attack on the enemy's rail network, striking at targets in France and Belgium. They numbered 350,000 men and women with over 54,000 killed in combat or taken prisoner. It was the largest of the deployed combat Army Air Forces in numbers of personnel, aircraft, and equipment. In the year 2000, the Air Force decided to integrate information operations into Eighth Air Force. } We need help with transcribing data. 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. This is from where the present-day Eighth Air Force's history, lineage and honors derive. 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. Initially, Eighth Air Force under SAC consisted of the following: Personnel and equipment from the inactivated 449th Bomb Group were reassigned to the 7th Bomb Group (later 7th Bomb Wing). Dear Val Burgess, Thank you for posting your request on History Hub! 3d Air Division: 1943-1945. 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. Redesignated Eighth AF on 22 Feb 1944. $(".af3-caption-body").stop(true, false).animate({ height: "0vh" }, 800, function () { 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. 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. Some 230 B-24s hit the Messerschmitt Bf 110 assembly plant at Gotha with a loss of 24 aircraft. var $currentSlide = $(".fancybox-slide.fancybox-slide--current.fancybox-slide--image").parent().parent(); The Luftwaffe countered by installing flak alleys along the approach lines in order to protect the Me 262s from the ground and providing top cover with conventional fighters during takeoff and landing. Those east of the Mississippi were assigned to SAC's other strategic air force, Eighth Air Force, which moved to Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts, where it commanded all SAC bases in the eastern United States. $(".closing-box, .closingx").on("touchstart", function() { captionToggle(); }); The command controlled three airfields on Okinawa, Bolo, Futema, and Kadena Airfield. On 7 June 1946, Headquarters Eighth Air Force was reassigned without personnel or equipment from Okinawa to MacDill Field, Florida, becoming SAC's second numbered air force. getDownloadURL($(this).parent()) + Read more about Supporting the AALCM. 8th Air Force (ETO) Operational Units. As part of this plan, Eighth Air Force headquarters was reassigned to Sakugawa (Kadena Airfield), Okinawa, on 16 July 1945, being assigned to the United States Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific without personnel or equipment. if ($(".af3-caption-body").length > 0 && $(".af3-caption-body").css("height") != undefined) { 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. Stations: Langley Field, Va, 1 Feb 1942; Savannah AB, Ga, c. 10 Feb 1942; Daws Hill, England, 23 Feb 1942; High Wycombe, England, 15 May 1942-16 Jul 1945; Okinawa, 16 Jul 19457 Jun 1946; MacDill Field, Fla, 7 Jun 1946; Ft Worth AAFld, Tex, I Nov 1946; Westover AFB, Mass, Jun 1g55-. 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. 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. The Japanese, however, surrendered before the Eighth's first combat sortie in the Pacific. / 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. Why pay every year? Major General Mark E. Weatherington assumed command of 8th Air Force on 12 June 2020. It could, and often did, dispatch more than 2,000 four-engine bombers and more than 1,000 fighters on a single mission to multiple targets. Established on 22 February 1944 by the redesignation of VIII Bomber Command at RAF Daws Hill in High Wycombe, England, the Eighth Army Air Force (8 AAF) was a United States Army Air Forces combat air force in the European Theater of World War II (1939/411945), engaging in operations primarily in the Northern Europe area of responsibility; carrying out strategic bombing of enemy targets in France, the Low Countries, and Germany;[3] and engaging in air-to-air fighter combat against enemy aircraft until the German capitulation in May 1945. As a professional researcher and World War II historian, Bill Beigel provides research services to genealogists, historians, authors, and civilians who are looking for information found in WW2 military unit records. 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. 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. Although some personnel and combat units were assigned before V-J Day, the Eighth did not participate in combat against Japan. Flying Royal Air Force (RAF) "Boston" light bombers, six American crews of the 15th Bombardment Squadron, and six RAF crews of 226th Squadron attacked German Luftwaffe (air force) airfields. An advanced detachment of VIII Bomber Command was established at RAF Daws Hill, near RAF Bomber Command Headquarters at RAF High Wycombe, on 23 February in preparation for its units to arrive in the United Kingdom from the United States. 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. if (isMobile()) { Year. var dstLeft = Math.floor((winWth - newImgWth)) / 2; } We also located the series World War II Statistical Summaries, 1942-1945 in Record Group 18 . VIII Bomber Command, after redesignation as Eighth Air Force, was assigned VIII Fighter and VIII Air Support Commands under its command. '
' + On 27 June, the United Nations Security Council voted to assist the South Koreans in resisting the invasion. World War II proved what the proponents of air power had been championing for the previous two decadesthe great value of strategic forces in bombing an enemy's industrial complex and of tactical forces in controlling the skies above a battlefield. Eighth Air Force bomb wings, stationed in the Persian Gulf region, also attacked Iraq's Republican Guard forces and numerous key strategic targets, while other units provided air refueling and tactical reconnaissance throughout the conflict. He established the 8th Air Force Headquarters at Bushy Park (Teddington, Middlesex), 15 miles west southwest of the center of London on 25 June 1942. were missing in action and never accounted for as to their whereabouts. Archived from the original on 4 December 2003. U.S. Military Personnel that Served in WWII. } . $(".fancybox-content").removeAttr("style"); That same day, the VIII BC became Eighth Air Force. 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 intensive bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong during 11days in December 1972, known as LINEBACKER II, was but one highlight of those war years. afterShow: function (instance, current) { $(".fancy-photo-detail-link").removeClass("photo-detail-gradient"); function recalculateImageSize() { The Eighth's units played a key role in the 42-day Gulf War in 1991. 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. Pearl Harbor had just been bombed about a month and a half earlier. Click here to read to learn more about the history of the 8th Air Force. caption += $(this).find('figcaption').html() + By comparison, the U.S. Navy suffered 37,000 deaths out of the 4.1 million in WW II. Download Hi-Res At the same time, a smaller force hit an Fw 190 repair depot at Zwickau. 8th AF 448th BG World War II. As the nuclear weapons carried by the bombers were so powerful that only one plane was assigned to a target that might have previously needed a whole bomb group of aircraft. For information on any of the names listed below, . Over the years, the Society has become a strong organization with an emphasis on remembering and honoring our comrades who served with distinction: the men who flew, the many thousands of ground crews, and those who worked in the background. return caption; As the new commander of the Eighth Air Force from January 1944 onwards, Major General Jimmy Doolittle's major influence on the European air war occurred early that year when he made a critical change to the policy requiring escorting fighters to remain with the bombers at all times. The Me 262 was also less maneuverable than the P-51 and so trained Allied pilots could turn tighter than an Me 262A. The original Eighth Air Force was redesignated as the United States Strategic Air Forces (USSTAF). Fifteen months after Operation DESERT STORM, the Air Force reorganized. The 305th was activated in the United States in March 1942 and moved to England in August-October. The next day, over 900 bombers and 700 fighters of Eighth Air Force hit more aircraft factories in the Braunschweig area. in World War II. On 7 April 1945, the Luftwaffe flew its most desperate and deadliest mission, with the dedicated aerial ramming unit Sonderkommando Elbe. We searched the National Archives Catalog and located the series Performance and Statistics Charts, 1943-1945 for the Eighth Air Force in the Records of the Army Air Forces (Record Group 18) that may contain some relevant information. The mission of "The Mighty Eighth" is to safeguard America's interests through strategic deterrence and global combat power. function captionToggle() { 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. 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General Jimmy Doolittle, Commanding General, 8th Air Force. Throughout the first six months of ENDURING FREEDOM, the Mighty Eighth's bombers were instrumental in the destruction of key targets and illusive enemy forces in Afghanistan. After the Southeast Asian war, Eighth Air Force moved on 1 January 1975 to Barksdale AFB, Louisiana. Transferred, without personnel, equipment, and combat elements, to Okinawa on 16 Jul 1945. else { "[citation needed]. afterLoad: function (instance, current) { Altogether, the Eighth Air Force dropped over 4,800 tons of high explosive on Berlin during the first week of March. SAC was founded by the men who fought in World War II, who knew the importance of fighter escorts. 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. 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. 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. 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. Compiled by Bill Varnedoe. 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. Eighth Air Force Bomber Command became the Eighth Air Force in February 1944, it oversaw bombardment of strategic targets in Europe until 1945. His directive was simple: "Win the air war and isolate the battlefield. Commanders: Maj Gen Ira C Eaker, 23 Feb 1942; Brig Gen Newton Longfellow, 2 Dec 1942; Maj Gen Frederick L Anderson, I Jul 1943; Lt Gen James H Doolittle, 6 Jan 1944; Maj Gen William E Kepner, 10 May 1945; Maj Gen Westside T Larson, 21 Jun 1945; Lt Gen James H Doolittle, 19 Jul 1945; Maj Gen Earle E Partridge, 12 Sep 1945; Brig Gen Patrick W Timberlake, 30 Nov 1945-unkn; Col Neil B Harding, c. 16 Aug 1946; Brig Gen Roger M Ramey, I Nov 1946; Maj Gen Clements McMullen, 12 Nov 1946; Maj Gen Roger M Ramey, 16 Dec 1946; Maj Gen Archie J Old Jr, 15 Jun 1950; Lt Gen Samuel E Anderson, 14 Aug 1950; Maj Gen John B Montgomery, 8 May 1953;Maj Gen James C Selser Jr, 13 Jun 1955; Maj Gen Walter C Sweeney Jr, 6 Aug 1955-. Visit our 8th Air Force Honor Project with rosters of servicemen who served in the groups of the 8th. 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. In memory of those who gave their lives in the cause of freedom. 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. Our research database contains information on Bomber, Fighter and Service Groups, their Bases both in England and the United States, Daily Missions and Targets throughout Europe. 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. The reorganization transformed the Eighth into the only information operations and bomber NAF in the Air Force. It became operational on 7 November 1942 (along with the 44th, 91st and 303rd . $(".fancybox-caption__body").prepend(prependClosing()); Donations Page. Their children and descendants, who are representatives of these Veterans, saw the need to keep the history and experiences of these warriors alive. During World War II, Eighth Air Force earned a reputation as a great warfighting organization. } 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. 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). (Heavy Bombers) and as an historical record of events that took place in Europe during World War II. 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