8th air force wwii roster

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. In 1965, Eighth Air Force entered combat again, this time in Southeast Asia. Of the. // device detection 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. U.S. Military Personnel that Served in WWII. The next day, over 900 bombers and 700 fighters of Eighth Air Force hit more aircraft factories in the Braunschweig area. function recalculateImageSize() { [9] Doolittle was well known to American airmen as the famous "Tokyo Raider" and former air racer. An advanced detachment was established in England on 23 Feb and units began arriving from the US during the spring of 1942. Then in April 1970, SAC moved the Eighth without personnel or equipment to Andersen AFB Guam, absorbing resources of the 3d Air Division. 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. That same day, the VIII BC became Eighth Air Force. -Lt. General Jimmy Doolittle, Commanding General, 8th Air Force. This was the first B-17 to complete 25 combat missions in the 8th Air Force, on 13 May 1943. Eighth Air Force Bomb Group Tail Markings Prior to 13 September 1943 -- Several Groups were not yet assigned. } Our Society is one of many organizations across the country that honor and preserve the legacy of the Mighty Eighth. Constituted as VIII Bomber Command on 19 Jan 1942. 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. After D-Day, attacks on the German oil industry assumed top priority which was widely dispersed around the Reich. In addition, almost 300 German aircraft of all types were destroyed in strafing attacks. Description Ask questions about records of the U.S. Army, Air Force, . We also located the series World War II Statistical Summaries, 1942-1945 in Record Group 18 . $(".fancybox-caption__body").addClass("mobile"); $(".base-caption-info").addClass("full-height"); On 22 February 1944, a massive reorganization of American airpower took place in Europe. Redesignated Ninth AF in Apr 1942. '">DOWNLOAD'; Altogether, the Eighth Air Force dropped over 4,800 tons of high explosive on Berlin during the first week of March. Each 8th Air Force WWII Decal is made with the highest quality 2.5mil High Gloss 5-Year Calendared vinyl. Throughout the first six months of Enduring Freedom, the Mighty Eighth's bombers were instrumental in the eradication of many targets and opposing combatants in Afghanistan. }, 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 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. 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. VIII Bomber Command, after redesignation as Eighth Air Force, was assigned VIII Fighter and VIII Air Support Commands under its command. Moved to England in Oct 1943 to become the tactical air force for the invasion of the Continent. Donations Page. 'Tooey' Spaatz (right). } Bomber wings of the 8th Air Force include: This article incorporates public domain material from Eighth Air Force. $(".fancybox-button").css("display", "block"); By 1945, all but one of the Eighth Air Force fighter groups were equipped with the P-51D. The photograph shows housing destroyed by the RAF during night raids. His directive was simple: "Win the air war and isolate the battlefield. Some 230 B-24s hit the Messerschmitt Bf 110 assembly plant at Gotha with a loss of 24 aircraft. Eighth Air Force 139. 8th Air Force 448th Bomb Group, England WWII. 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. The reorganization transformed the Eighth into the only information operations and bomber NAF in the Air Force. [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. 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. } 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. fbObj.find(".actions .details").attr("href") + It could fly as far on its internal fuel tanks as the P-47 could with drop tanks. The nuclear arms race shifted into high gear. event.stopImmediatePropagation(); In June 1946, the headquarters relocated to MacDill Field, Fla., to join the new Strategic Air Command (SAC). 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-. The command staff and all personnel of the 58th Bomb wing were eliminated on 1 November 1946 and the organization was reduced to a paper unit. The B-1 force consists of 62 bombers assigned to the active duty 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess AFB, Texas and the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota. At all heights, the rate of climb was approximately doubled. With each step through 2002, the Eighth continues to add more feats to its growing legacy. let debounceTimer; In the year 2000, the Air Force decided to integrate information operations into Eighth Air Force. U.S. Military Personnel that Served in WWII. $(".af3-caption-body").animate({ height: displayhgt }, 800); [6] Alerted to the attack, the airfield defences were prepared for the raid when it arrived. 1st Bomb Division Markings 2nd Bomb Division Markings 3rd Bomb Division Markings Sources: Writing about our entire adventure would take a great deal more space than this article . General Resources and Sites. Cold and clear weather was predicted for the last week of February 1944. Nick was a life member of the Commemorative Air Force, a World War II aircraft heritage society, a charter member of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and a charter member of . Later in Dec 1941 headquarters and some crews and planes moved to Australia . See What the 8th Air Force is up to Today! 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. 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. The first escort mission for the bombers was not flown until 5 December. We must have a valid email address! 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. //initial desktop view Rudder, James E. 2nd Ranger Battalion; 109th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division 53; 243; 384; 476; 557 . showFBShare() + They numbered 350,000 men and women with over 54,000 killed in combat or taken prisoner. 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). [citation needed]. 41-24577) of the 358th Bomb Squadron, 303rd Bomb Group, RAF Molesworth. Researching World War II Bombing Aerial Photography. The Eighth Air Force earned the unofficial nickname 'The Mighty Eighth' in the 1970s following the publication of Roger Freeman's book 'The Mighty Eighth'. [citation needed] By 1955, SAC no longer needed its fighters and these fighter units were transferred to Tactical Air Command and utilized in a tactical role. '