function isMobile() { caption += $(this).find('figcaption').html() + General Carl Spaatz returned to England to command the USSTAF. $(".fancybox-caption").removeClass("desktop-init"); 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. } Luckadoo recalled that the enemy fighters attacked the bombers as soon as they crossed the border into France and continued all the way through to the target. The 8th Air Force was targeted in this operation. [citation needed]. The following day, on 9 March, H2X radar-equipped B-17s mounted a third attack on the Reich capital through clouds. During World War II, the group's predecessor unit, the 305th Bombardment Group was one of the first VIII Bomber Command Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress units in England, and, was one of the most-decorated USAAF heavy-bombardment groups in the European Theater. However, the Luftwaffe was successful in shooting down 46 bombers in a very unequal fight.[10]. return caption; The RAF dropped 543 tons of bombs on Germany in 1918, causing 2,589 casualties and damage amounting to $6,000,000. The result: a greater reliance on nuclear weapons and air power to deter war. On 27 June, the United Nations Security Council voted to assist the South Koreans in resisting the invasion. For the Mighty Eighth, that change heralded an interesting future, one that bring further restructuring, different aircraft system purchases, and a new challenging mission to the NAF. 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. 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. Fifteen Allied bombers were attacked, eight were successfully destroyed. On 16 April, this record was broken when over 700 German aircraft were destroyed on the ground. $(".fancybox-button").css("display", "block"); var caption = ''; 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. Superior aerodynamic and structural design gave the B-17 and B-24 respective extreme ranges of 800 and 1200 miles. Altogether, the Eighth Air Force dropped over 4,800 tons of high explosive on Berlin during the first week of March. VIII Bomber Command | Military Wiki | Fandom The command controlled three airfields on Okinawa, Bolo, Futema, and Kadena Airfield. 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. 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. Americans bomb Germans for first time - History if (/(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od)|ipad|iris|kindle|Android|Silk|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\. 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. 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. 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. else { Archived from the original on 4 December 2003. The second Schweinfurt raid, [10] also called Black Thursday, was a World War II air battle that took place on 14 October 1943, over Nazi Germany between forces of the United States 8th Air Force and German Luftwaffe fighter arm ( Jagdwaffe ). 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.) } Arming wire tag from one of the bombs dropped by the Eighth Air Force in its first heavy bomber raid against Nazi-occupied Europe, against the Rouen-Sotteville railway yards in France on August 17, 1942. / Eighth Air Force controls long-range nuclear-capable bomber assets throughout the United States and overseas locations. Many had dozens of aerial victories; some had over 100. Tested by the developer himself, Mayer found the tactic worked exceedingly well. By war's end, they had been awarded a number of other medals to include 220 Distinguished Service Crosses, and 442,000 Air Medals. more than 200,000 people (it is estimated that more than (Heavy Bombers) and as an historical record of events that took place in Europe during World War II. var origImgHgt = $(".fancybox-image").prop("naturalHeight"); By the time of the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, Eighth Air Force consisted of the following units: On 25 June 1950, the armed forces of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) invaded South Korea. } let displayhgt = "95vh"; 8th Air Force Historical Society | 8th Air Force Historical Society 8th Air Force - Bombardment Group - World War II Eighth Air Force was established as VIII Bomber Command on 19 January 1942 and activated at Langley Field, Virginia on 1 February. 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. 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. Before war broke out in Europe, American military aviation had embraced the idea of long-range, daylight, pattern bombing by tight, high-altitude formations. 350,000 Americans served in 8th AF during the war in function closeDetails() { Continuing with the 12 B-17s that flew Mission #1 of the 8th AF, Aug 17, 1942, target Rouen marshalling yard. Eighth Air Force also supports STRATCOM's Joint Force Headquarters Information Operations and serves as the command element for Air Force wide computer network operations. 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. var dstTop = Math.floor((winHgt - newImgHgt)) / 2; Fifteenth Air Force relocated to March Air Force Base, California. recalculateImageSize(); Then in April 1970, SAC moved the Eighth without personnel or equipment to Andersen AFB Guam, absorbing resources of the 3d Air Division. 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. Forty-five B-17s failed to return to England that night. The chart features a mission with Ruhland, Germany, as a target. if (isMobile()) { It played an important role in many missions now recognized as key to winning WWII such as D-Day, Munster, Schweinfurt, and the raid on Berlin. var dstLeft = Math.floor((winWth - newImgWth)) / 2; The joint American-British Independence Day 1942 air raid was a costly start to the Eighth Air Force's European bombing campaignbut it was a start It was a beautiful sunny day in England on July 11, 1942, as the crew of the Douglas Boston mark III light bomber stood stiffly at attention in their best theater dress uniforms. The exhibit opens with an examination of the rise of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany and the Battle of Britain. (browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows (ce|phone)|xda|xiino/i.test(navigator.userAgent) "[citation needed]. After Korean War, on 13 June 1955 SAC moved the unit to Westover AFB, Massachusetts, where it transitioned to the jet age. 2300 Clarendon Blvd, Suite 500 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. var newImgWth = (origImgWth * ratio); Its B-17s also penetrated to Regensburg to attack the Messerschmitt factory there. '">DOWNLOAD'; The plane carried 10 crewmen, and sported 13 50-caliber guns for self-defense. The first air attacks against Warsaw start. 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. However, it was believed that a strong strategic air arm equipped with B-29s would deter a possible aggressor from attacking the United States for fear of massive retaliation with nuclear weapons. Allied bomber escort fighters would fly high above the bombers diving from this height gave them extra speed, thus reducing the speed difference. if (isMobile()) 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. $(".fancy-photo-detail-link").removeClass("photo-detail-gradient"); [12], Eighth Air Force's mission in the Pacific was initially to organize and train new bomber groups for combat against Japan. In order to quickly assemble these formations, specially outfitted assembly ships were created from older bombers. As a result, Eighth Air Force was incorporated into the new SAC. The reorganization transformed the Eighth into the only information operations and bomber NAF in the Air Force. 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 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. var origImgWth = $(".fancybox-image").prop("naturalWidth"); Fighting the Allies during the North African campaign of 1942-1943, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommels Afrika Korps (DAK) was resupplied by a concerted air and sea lift effort. 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. 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. In 1949, a realignment of responsibilities for SAC's two air forces occurred. VIII Bomber Command was the heavy bombardment arm of Eighth Air Force which also came to include a large intelligence, photo interpretation, and mission planning staff in the early days of the strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany and Nazi-controlled Occupied Europe. Soon, the five foot five airman would make US military aviation history. At the close of 1946, they shared only a handful of operational bombers, all B-29 Superfortresses. $(".fancybox-caption").addClass("af3-caption-bg"); detailSize = "full"; return 'SHARE'; Men and Machines of the US 8th Air Force.' by Roger A. Freeman (1989). Over 950 fighters had been sent west from the Eastern Front for "Operation Bodenplatte". Beginnings of the 8th Air Force in World War II That leadership allowed the men to be exposed to enemy fire for what seemed like an eternity, for little or no results in terms of bombing accuracy, made the crews irate. First seen by Allied airmen during the late summer of 1944, it wasn't until March 1945 that German jet aircraft started to attack Allied bomber formations in earnest. The 94th Bomb Group flew 324 missions in 8,884 sorties from 13 May 1943 to 21 April 1945 and dropped 18,924 tons of bomb while losing 153 aircraft MIA. This dedicated offensive force supported strategic objectives, and an eventual invasion of Europe. Some of the German pilots had been flying in combat since 1936. Welcome to the Mighty Eighth Air Force WW2 Calendar Under ACC, Eighth Air Force provides command and control, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C2ISR); long-range attack; and information operations forces to Air Force components and warfighting commands. getDetailsURL($(this).parent()) +
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