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They flew 985 Combat Missions losing 6130 Bombers and Fighters. debounceTimer = setTimeout(function () { 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). The exhibit opens with an examination of the rise of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany and the Battle of Britain. October 8's target was the shipyard in dreaded Bremen, known as "Flak City" by the aircrews. '">DOWNLOAD'; However, the P-51B was introduced as a tactical fighter, so the first deliveries of the P-51B in November 1943 were assigned to three groups in the tactical Ninth Air Force at the expense of VIII Bomber Command, whose need for a long range escort fighter was critical. Altogether, the Eighth's bombers flew 325 sorties to drop over 7 million pounds of ordnance on enemy targets in that campaign. Bombing Berlin: The Biggest Wartime Raid on Hitler's Capital 452nd Bomb Group | American Air Museum 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. With the loss of two American crews, this first mission from England by the AAF foreshadowed the challenges faced during the war. In addition, almost 300 German aircraft of all types were destroyed in strafing attacks. They didnt hesitate.. Because if I hadnt been, I would have turned in my wings I was so fed up.. The losses of the Allied Air Forces were replaced within weeks. / 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 B-17s had been over the target for nearly thirty minutes when the bombs in the lead aircraft finally dropped. 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.). Most crews never made it past their fifth. Schweinfurt was not the Eighth Air Force's only target on August 17. On that. let displayhgt = "95vh"; 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. "Black Thursday" October 14, 1943: The Second Schweinfurt Bombing Raid } As part of this realignment, most SAC bomber forces west of the Mississippi River were reassigned to 15th AF. year that you select. PLEASE SUPPORT THE 8AF.ORG PROJECT! function closeDetails() { In 1949, a realignment of responsibilities for SAC's two air forces occurred. For instance, the Eighth suffered about half of the U.S. Army Air Force's casualties (47,483 out of 115,332), including more than 26,000 dead. Seth Paridon was a staff historian at The National WWII Museumfrom2005 to 2020. Support to the latter command included the operation of Task Force 204 (bombers). 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. A popular saying at the time was that to fly in the Eighth Air Force then was like holding a ticket to a funeral your own.Abnormal behavior became more common. } The RAF dropped 543 tons of bombs on Germany in 1918, causing 2,589 casualties and damage amounting to $6,000,000. His directive was simple: "Win the air war and isolate the battlefield. Daylight Precision Bombing | Air & Space Forces Magazine 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. This dedicated offensive force supported strategic objectives, and an eventual invasion of Europe. Three more daytime raids went out on August 19, 20, and 21. Soon, the five foot five airman would make US military aviation history. 350,000 Americans served in 8th AF during the war in Then in January 1994, ACC reorganized Eighth Air Force as a general purpose Numbered Air Force (NAF) with a warfighting mission to support the U.S. Joint Forces and U.S. Strategic Commands. John Keema of the 390th Bomb Group said, No matter the target they were defending, they were balls to the wall. On August 17, 1942, the first American heavy bomber mission was launched from England. 305th Operations Group - Wikipedia 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. } The 305th Bombardment Group (Heavy), nicknamed "Can Do" was activated 1-March-1942 at Salt Lake City Air Base, Utah which was their primary training base until 11-Jun-1942 when they relocated to Geiger Field, Washington until 29-Jun-1942, then on to Muroc Lake . recalculateImageSize(); During the week prior to Black Thursday, the Eighth Air Force lost nearly 90 bombers on three missions. This calendar covers the Missions and other $(".fancybox-caption__body").prepend(prependClosing()); July 4, 1942: The Mighty Eighth's First Bombing Raid - HistoryNet [1] References [ edit] 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. View all 380 images. Eighth Air Force B-17s bomb the U-boat base at Lorient, France. var dstLeft = Math.floor((winWth - newImgWth)) / 2; 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. The United States Eighth Air Force deployed to England with a daunting mission: destroy Germanys ability to wage war, and gain command of the European skies to pave the way for an Allied land invasion. }, This strategy fatally disabled the twin-engined Zerstrergeschwader heavy fighter wings and their replacement, single-engined Sturmgruppen of heavily armed Fw 190As, clearing each force of bomber destroyers in their turn from Germany's skies throughout most of 1944. Following the end of the war in Europe in May 1945 plans were made to transfer some of the B-17/B-24 heavy bomber groups of Eighth Air Force to the Pacific Theater of Operations and upgrade them to Boeing B-29 Superfortress Very Heavy (VH) bomb groups. 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. "VIII Bomber Command" redirects here. The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum, established in 1996, tells the story of the Eighth Air Force in World War II. 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. The first air attacks against Warsaw start. B-17s flown by the Eighth saw some of the fiercest combat of the war. '">DETAILS'; var winHgt = $(window).innerHeight() His administration chose to invest in the Air Force, especially Strategic Air Command. The Me 262A was a difficult foe for the P-47s and P-51s, possessing a distinct speed advantage. ", The Eighth Air Force team consists of more than 16,000 Regular Air Force (e.g., active duty), Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve professionals operating and maintaining a variety of aircraft capable of deploying air power to any area of the world. 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. winHgt / origImgHgt); The intensive bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong during 11days in December 1972, known as LINEBACKER II, was but one highlight of those war years. A 500-pound bomb, standard for precision missions after 1943, had a lethal radius of only 60 to 90 feet. 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. As usual, as the fortresses approached German territory, German fighters attacked. However, the only reliable way of dealing with the jets, as with the even faster Me 163B Komet rocket fighters, was to attack them on the ground and during takeoff and landing. $(".af3-caption-body").stop(true, false).animate({ height: "0vh" }, 800, function () { On 22 February 1944, the Army reorganized its Air Forces in Europe by renaming Eighth Air Force as the United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe (now known as the United States Air Forces in Europe). afterClose: function () { var winWth = $(window).innerWidth(); As you go from month to month, you Communist victories in the Chinese Civil War in 1949 and the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 meant that the United States would have to expand SAC to address these potential threats both in Europe as well as Asia. Over 950 fighters had been sent west from the Eastern Front for "Operation Bodenplatte". ABMC honors the services of overseas U.S. Armed Forces by maintaining and promoting America's overseas commemorative cemeteries and memorials. Constituted as VIII Bomber Command on 19 Jan 1942. The treaty that Hitler hated even more than the Treaty of Versailles and one of the most important treaties you have probably never heard of. } Eighth Air Force Bomber Command became the Eighth Air Force in February 1944, it oversaw bombardment of strategic targets in Europe until 1945. var origImgWth = $(".fancybox-image").prop("naturalWidth"); That buildup limited the Eighth's Korean War involvement to the deployment of its 27th Fighter Escort Wing. Photo Details On this mission, he sat in the co-pilot's seat of the lead B-17, Butcher Shop[8][self-published source] The pilot in command and leader of this historic mission was Paul Tibbets, who on 6 August 1945, dropped the first Atomic Bomb, Little Boy, on Hiroshima from the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Enola Gay. 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. "[citation needed]. 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. One of the worst days of the war for the B-17 and its crewmen was the second raid on German ball bearing production in Schweinfurt, Germany on October 14, 1943. Eighth Air Force | American Air Museum (National Archives) Meanwhile, the losses to the bomb groups continued unabated. In June 1946, the headquarters relocated to MacDill Field, Fla., to join the new Strategic Air Command (SAC). United States Air Force. (Heavy Bombers) and as an historical record of events that took place in Europe during World War II. The next day, over 900 bombers and 700 fighters of Eighth Air Force hit more aircraft factories in the Braunschweig area. $currentSlide.find(".fancy-detail-link").on("touchstart", function() { captionToggle(); }); $(".fancybox-button").css("display", "none"); The pre-war U.S. Army Air Corps assumed a smaller force of long-range bombers could cover wide areas, and redeploy swiftly for more distant strikes. The other American-flown Boston had been shot down over De Kooy[6]. Europe). Support to the latter command included the operation of Task Force 204 (bombers). In January 1945, the Luftwaffe attempted one last major air offensive against the Allied Air Forces. By December, the head-on attack was the preferred method of assailing American heavy bombers by Luftwaffe fighter pilots. Conversely, the Eighth was in the crosshairs of the Luftwaffe, determined more than ever to defend their cities and facilities. Modern mechanized armies need a robust logistics chain to provide fuel, ammunition, and other sinews of war to sustain combat operations. 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. On 2 March, when Eighth Air Force bombers were dispatched to attack the synthetic oil refineries at Leipzig, Messerschmitt Me 262As attacked the formation near Dresden. Many had dozens of aerial victories; some had over 100. The 390th Bomb Group's bombing accuracy was at times the best in the 8th Air Force . 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. Fifteen months after Operation DESERT STORM, the Air Force reorganized. The pilot continued, It was a good thing I was shot down honestly. 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. For this reason, Eighth Air Force is commonly known as the "Mighty Eighth." Throughout the summer of 1943, American bomber crews sustained heavy casualties. The B-17s firepower, combined with that of other aircraft in the formation, would be plenty to protect bombers from enemy attacks. getDownloadURL($(this).parent()) + By March 1945 the AAF would make raids with more than 500 heavy bombers, accompanied by American fighters deep into Germany. Americans bomb Germans for first time - History 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. Jimmy Stewart and the WW2 Mission That Almost Broke Him 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. 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. 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Seventeen Medals of Honor went to Eighth Air Force personnel during the war. In 1943, the Luftwaffe was at peak strength against American bombers. } 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). 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. } For the survivors, there wasnt much time for contemplation of those lost. Its B-17s also penetrated to Regensburg to attack the Messerschmitt factory there. World War II Bombing Mission Radar Map. Beginnings of the 8th Air Force in World War II. The morale among the Eighth Air Force crews was at a low point in September, yet the worst was yet to come. getDetailsURL($(this).parent()) + $(".af3-caption-body").addClass(detailSize); In order to quickly assemble these formations, specially outfitted assembly ships were created from older bombers. 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. Major General Mark E. Weatherington assumed command of 8th Air Force on 12 June 2020. 8th Air Force Historical Society | 8th Air Force Historical Society '