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Eighth Air Force Historical Society 8th Air Force Bases in England Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB Air Force Personnel Center Barksdale AFB, Louisiana (Current 8th AF headquarters) Department of Veterans Affairs Fold 3 by Ancestry.com MacArthur Memorial Kassel Mission National Archives and Records . Further ground fire caused damage to his right wing, and the engine caught fire. 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]. Altogether, the Eighth Air Force dropped over 4,800 tons of high explosive on Berlin during the first week of March. // device detection
Originally, the U.S. Army Air Forces activated the Eighth at Savannah, Georgia, on 28 January 1942 with three major subordinate units: the VIII Bomber Command (BC), the VIII Fighter Command (FC), and the VIII Ground Air Services Command (GASC). winHgt / origImgHgt);
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Fighters from both Eighth and Ninth Air Forces made wide sweeps over the area, mounting strafing missions at airfields and rail networks. Allied bomber escort fighters would fly high above the bombers diving from this height gave them extra speed, thus reducing the speed difference. 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. 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. 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. 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 operation failed to achieve air superiority, even temporarily, and the German Army continued to be exposed to air attack. The 8th AAF suffered 26,000 deaths out of the 350,000 officers and men.
That base assignment lasted until November 1950, when SAC transferred the Eighth to Carswell AFB (formerly Fort Worth Army Air Field), Texas. Eighth Air Force, with headquarters at Barksdale Air Force Base in the Bossier City Shreveport, Louisiana metro area, supports U.S. Strategic Command, and is designated as U.S. Strategic Command's Task Force 204, providing on-alert, combat-ready forces to the president. Do you have items such as papers, photos, uniforms, gear and other artifacts? function prependClosing() {
This was the first DSC earned by a member of the Eighth Air Force in World War II. Eighth Air Force spent its first decade in the continental U.S. building up its strategic capabilities. At the close of 1946, they shared only a handful of operational bombers, all B-29 Superfortresses. function captionToggle() {
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). Colonel Frank A. Armstrong may have been the commander of the 97th, but at the time of the raid, not yet left seat qualified. $(".base-caption-info").addClass("full-height");
document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); National and Regional Reunions held annually across the United States, Tours, Seminars, Symposiums, Banquets, Veteran Question & Answer Sessions and more, Access to Bomb Group, Fighter Group and POW experts and researchers, Our award-winning magazine presented quarterly by mail or electronically.
On the night of 1920 February, the RAF bombed Leipzig with 823 aircraft. }));
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 (isMobile())
We are a 501C3 organization and all donations are tax-deductible. let $this = $('[data-fancybox]').fancybox($.extend(true, {}, $.fancybox.defaults, {
See What the 8th Air Force is up to Today! '
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However, the only reliable way of dealing with the jets, as with the even faster Me 163B Komet rocket fighters, was to attack them on the ground and during takeoff and landing. As part of this realignment, most SAC bomber forces west of the Mississippi River were reassigned to 15th AF. // Fancy box miscalculates because of race conditions with new layout
Although SAC fighter squadrons upgraded to Republic F-84F Thunderstreak jet fighters in the early 1950s, the new jet bombers flew so high and so fast there was little danger of them being intercepted by enemy fighters. getDownloadURL($(this).parent()) +
One of the main benefits of membership in the Society is our Magazine, the 8th AF News.
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VIII Bomber Command, after redesignation as Eighth Air Force, was assigned VIII Fighter and VIII Air Support Commands under its command. 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. Looking for Roster of American Officers in the 3rd Army at Operation Dragoon during WWII 0. At its peak, the 8th AF had the ability to launch more than 2,000 four-engine bombers and 1,000 fighters on a single mission. They numbered 350,000 men and women with over 54,000 killed in combat or taken prisoner. Less than a week after "Big Week", Eighth Air Force made its first attack on the Reich's capital, Berlin. Eighth Air Force is one of two active duty numbered air forces in Air Force Global Strike Command. On 7 May, another 1,000 bombers hit additional targets along the English Channel coast, hitting fortifications, bridges and marshaling areas. Over 950 fighters had been sent west from the Eastern Front for "Operation Bodenplatte". //initial desktop view
The 398th was part of the 8th Air Force 1st Air Division during WWII and was one of many B-17 Bomb Groups stationed in England. Aircraft and ground crew of Boeing B-17F-25-BO Fortress "Hell's Angels" (AAF Ser. }
Get detailed instructios o how to register for the Reunion. By 6 June, Allied fighter pilots had succeeded in damaging or destroying hundreds of locomotives, thousands of motorized vehicles, and many bridges. "VIII Bomber Command" redirects here. The 91st Bomb Group Memorial Association's (BGMA) purpose is to keep alive the spirit of the 91st BG (H) and to maintain the fellowship of all those who fought together in WWII . 4th Bombardment Wing: 1942-1943. That buildup limited the Eighth's Korean War involvement to the deployment of its 27th Fighter Escort Wing.
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The USAAF was finally fully sold on the Mustang, and a letter contract for 2200 P-51Bs was issued. . var winWth = $(window).innerWidth();
This ongoing project documents a basic service history of participating individuals. 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). 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. 41-24577) of the 358th Bomb Squadron, 303rd Bomb Group, RAF Molesworth. }
The Japanese, however, surrendered before the Eighth's first combat sortie in the Pacific. 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. $(".closing-box, .closingx").on("touchstart", function() { captionToggle(); });
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Each 8th Air Force WWII Decal is made with the highest quality 2.5mil High Gloss 5-Year Calendared vinyl. Under Air Force Global Strike Command since 1 Feb 2010, Eighth Air Force controls strategic bomber (e.g., B-2 Spirit and B-52 Stratofortress, and B-1 Lancer) forces throughout the United States and overseas locations. 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. Unit records are useful in piecing together stories about a unit or group, as well as about individuals who served in them.
316th Bombardment Wing: 1945- 1946.
By mid-1944, Eighth Air Force had reached a total strength of more than 200,000 people (it is estimated that more than 350,000 Americans served in Eighth Air Force during the war in Europe). Eighth Air Force remained in Okinawa until 7 June 1946. In 1965, Eighth Air Force entered combat again, this time in Southeast Asia. Hard copies will be available for an additional $25 per year. (Approved 20 May 1943.
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. $(this).find('figcaption').html() +
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Start here! Login; Frequently Asked . The Me 262 was also less maneuverable than the P-51 and so trained Allied pilots could turn tighter than an Me 262A. 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. 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. . During the Cold War (1945-1991), 8 AF was one of three Numbered Air Forces of the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command (SAC), with a three-star general headquartered at Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts commanding USAF strategic bombers and missiles on a global scale. Although there were many available which were returned from Twentieth Air Force in the Pacific Theater they were war-weary from the many long combat missions flown during the war. Another 305 enlisted gunners were also recognized as aces. Several events in the late 1940s reversed the drawdown of United States strategic forces. 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" (similarly named but in no way associated with Field Marshal Erwin Rommel) against Iraq, which featured the B-1 Lancer in its combat debut, and 1999 Operation "Allied Force" against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which involved the B-2A Spirit. 226 Squadron RAF) commanded by Captain Charles C. Kegelman attacked four airfields[b] in the Netherlands. [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. [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.
The 8th AF was primarily engaged in the bombardment of strategic targets in Europe. var newImgHgt = (origImgHgt * ratio);
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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. return '' +
Eighth Air Force controls long-range nuclear-capable bomber assets throughout the United States and overseas locations. These missions, however, carried a high price. Year. Constituted as VIII Bomber Command on 19 Jan 1942. 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. How I am shooting the records. Cold and clear weather was predicted for the last week of February 1944. $(".fancy-photo-detail-link").removeClass("photo-detail-gradient");
Last Name. 548 Bomb Squadron. Seventeen Medals of Honor went to Eighth Air Force personnel during the war. let detailSize = "full";
After the Southeast Asian war, Eighth Air Force moved on 1 January 1975 to Barksdale AFB, Louisiana. return caption;
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His directive was simple: "Win the air war and isolate the battlefield. 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. 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. The "Allied Force" campaign also marked the Eighth's return to Europe and the participation of U.S. bombers in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) first combat operation. 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. $(".fancy-photo-detail-link").addClass("photo-detail-gradient");
On 4 January 1944, the Consolidated B-24 Liberators and B-17s based in England flew their last mission as a subordinate part of VIII Bomber Command. }
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. In May 1942 Command of the 8th Air Force was assumed by Major General Carl A. Thank you for visiting our site. The Eighth's units played a key role in the 42-day Gulf War in 1991. The following day, on 9 March, H2X radar-equipped B-17s mounted a third attack on the Reich capital through clouds. The assets of the former training units were simply assigned to 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. During World War II, Eighth Air Force earned a reputation as a great warfighting organization.
Over 60 Luftwaffe fighters were shot down with a loss of 19 US bombers and 5 US fighters. 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. In a prelude to the invasion of France, American air attacks began in February 1944 against railroad junctions, airfields, ports and bridges in northern France and along the English Channel coastline. After D-Day, attacks on the German oil industry assumed top priority which was widely dispersed around the Reich. Compiled by Bill Varnedoe. 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. Many bodies were exhumed and returned to the U.S. at the request of families and many families opted to allow their loved ones to remain in U.S. Military and other cemetaries in the United Kingdom and the Continent. 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. In the year 2000, the Air Force decided to integrate information operations into Eighth Air Force. The nuclear arms race shifted into high gear. Of the. For information on any of the names listed below, . Our Society is one of many organizations across the country that honor and preserve the legacy of the Mighty Eighth. 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. function recalculateImageSize() {
The 8th Air Force was targeted in this operation. Bomber wings of the 8th Air Force include: This article incorporates public domain material from Eighth Air Force. var dstLeft = Math.floor((winWth - newImgWth)) / 2;
It was the largest of the deployed combat Army Air Forces in numbers of personnel, aircraft, and equipment. That record, however, carried a high price. VIII Fighter Command 1944-1945. The integration process started on 1 February 2001, when the Air Force realigned the Air Intelligence Agency (AIA) under ACC and assigned the 67th Information Operations Wing and the 70th Intelligence Wing to the Eighth. 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. The command serves as Air Forces Strategic Global Strike, one of the air components of United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). Then in April 1970, SAC moved the Eighth to Andersen AFB, Guam, to take over the direction of all bombing and refueling operations in Southeast Asia. function getDetailsURL(fbObj) {
Personnel and equipment from the inactivated 40th and 444th Bomb Groups were reassigned to the 43d Bomb Group. Click here to read to learn more about the history of the 8th Air Force. The right propeller of Kegelman's Boston was shot away by flak while over the target at De Kooy Airfield[7][self-published source?] 301st Fighter Wing: 1945- 1946. Thirty-one of these aces had 15 or more aircraft kills apiece. 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. 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. Some 230 B-24s hit the Messerschmitt Bf 110 assembly plant at Gotha with a loss of 24 aircraft. The Eighth received its first B-29 Superfortress on 8 August 1945. Personnel and group records to digital. The command conducted the heavy bombardment operations of Eighth AF from 17 Aug 1942 until early in 1944. Transferred, without personnel and equipment, to the US on 7 Jun 1946. captionToggle();
Then in April 1970, SAC moved the Eighth without personnel or equipment to Andersen AFB Guam, absorbing resources of the 3d Air Division. Ruddy, Gerard A. HQ Company, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute . $(".af3-caption-body").removeClass(detailSize);
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Roster, J. T. 3rd Photo Reconnaissance Squadron 914 . U.S. Military Personnel that Served in WWII. }, 1000);
It was reassigned to Savannah Army Air Base, Georgia on 10 February 1942. VIII Bomber Command, re-designated as Eighth Air Force, and Ninth Air Force were assigned to (USSTAF). As a headquarters, the Eighth had another important role in victory over Iraqi forces--operating the logistics supply and air refueling bridge between the U. S. and gulf region.
1st Bomb Division Markings 2nd Bomb Division Markings 3rd Bomb Division Markings Sources: [9] Doolittle was well known to American airmen as the famous "Tokyo Raider" and former air racer. 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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Men born between about 1877 and . $currentSlide.find(".fancy-detail-link").on("touchstart", function() { captionToggle(); });
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. 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. We welcome members of the 388 FBW (Korea) the 388 TFW (VietNam) and the 388 FW (today). 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.
Eighth Air Force also provides conventional forces to U.S. Joint Forces Command and provides nuclear capable bombers, specified Global Strike assets, and C2ISR capabilities to U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM). 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. On 24 February, with the weather clearing over central Germany, Eighth Air Force sent over 800 bombers, hitting Schweinfurt and attacks on the Baltic coast, with a total of 11 B-17s being lost. 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. 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. 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. 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. The 8th lost 31 bombers, the 15th lost 33. Major General Jimmy Doolittle relinquished command of the Fifteenth Air Force to Major General Nathan F. Twining and on January 6, 1944, took over command of the Eighth Air Force from Lieutenant General Ira C. Eaker at RAF Daws Hill. 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. The first escort mission for the bombers was not flown until 5 December.
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