[1] References [ edit] 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. Their children and descendants, who are representatives of these Veterans, saw the need to keep the history and experiences of these warriors alive. After the war in Europe, the Mighty Eighth moved to Okinawa in July 1945, where the unit started to train new bomber groups for combat against Japan. In the year 2000, the Air Force decided to integrate information operations into Eighth Air Force. BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La -- On Jan. 27, 1943, 91 B-17 and B-24 bombers from 8th Air Force launched from England to conduct America's first World War II strike against the Nazi fatherland.During this historic attack, 58 bombers reached their targets and dropped 137.5 tons of munitions on the port of Wilhelmshaven to destroy strategic naval construction facilities. On that. 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. 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). var dstLeft = Math.floor((winWth - newImgWth)) / 2; debounceTimer = null; Nightmares so vivid that they caused the men to wake up screaming in the night were not uncommon. [citation needed]. His directive was simple: "Win the air war and isolate the battlefield. [12], Eighth Air Force's mission in the Pacific was initially to organize and train new bomber groups for combat against Japan. 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. mid-1944, the 8th Air Force had reached a total strength of World War II Bombing Mission Radar Map. Eighth Air Force trains, tests, exercises and demonstrates combat-ready forces for rapid employment worldwide. By the end of the mission, the Eighth Air Force had lost 30 bombers and 300 men. By 6 June, Allied fighter pilots had succeeded in damaging or destroying hundreds of locomotives, thousands of motorized vehicles, and many bridges. $(window).on("resize", function (event) { event.stopImmediatePropagation(); 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. Constituted as VIII Bomber Command on 19 Jan 1942. 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. Support to the latter command included the operation of Task Force 204 (bombers). $(".closing-box, .closingx").on("touchstart", function() { captionToggle(); }); These missions, however, carried a high price. Kegelman's aircraft lost altitude and even bounced off the ground, but he was able to bring the damaged bomber home and received the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) from General Spaatz on 11 July. 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). 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. Six months later, after Pearl Harbor and the U.S. declaration of war, plans were started to send heavy and medium bombers, with reconnaissance and fighter aircraft to England. Many never did, however, as between 1942 and 1945 flying bombing missions for the "Mighty 8th" proved to be the most dangerous occupation in the U.S. Army Air Forces. For the survivors, there wasnt much time for contemplation of those lost. Several events in the late 1940s reversed the drawdown of United States strategic forces. SAC fighter wings assigned to Eighth Air Force were: Fighter escorts were no longer needed once SAC was equipped with Boeing B-47 Stratojet and then Boeing B-52 Stratofortress jet bombers carrying nuclear bombs. Tested by the developer himself, Mayer found the tactic worked exceedingly well. The reorganization transformed the Eighth into the only information operations and bomber NAF in the Air Force. The 8th lost 31 bombers, the 15th lost 33. 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. Personnel and equipment from the inactivated 40th and 444th Bomb Groups were reassigned to the 43d Bomb Group. The command serves as Air Forces Strategic Global Strike, one of the air components of United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). } 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. Eighth Air Force spent its first decade in the continental U.S. building up its strategic capabilities. ", 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. caption += $(this).find('figcaption').html() + 226 Squadron RAF) commanded by Captain Charles C. Kegelman attacked four airfields [b] in the The Eighth's combat record also shows 566 aces (261 fighter pilots with 31 having 15 or more victories and 305 enlisted gunners), over 440,000 bomber sorties to drop 697,000 tons of bombs, and over 5,100 aircraft losses and 11,200 aerial victories. The buildup of the 8th Air Force in England was a gradual process and reached a peak on December 24, 1944 when 2034 Bombers and 853 Fighters pounded Germany from the Air. Arlington, VA 22201 Nevertheless, in March and April 1945, Allied fighter patrol patterns over Me 262 airfields resulted in numerous losses of jets and serious attrition of the force. Men and Machines of the US 8th Air Force.' by Roger A. Freeman (1989). The 300 men shot down were obvious casualties, but when the battered bombers returned to their home bases, they carried another 301 wounded in their fuselages. let displayhgt = "95vh"; getDownloadURL($(this).parent()) + In 1965, Eighth Air Force entered combat again, this time in Southeast Asia. Major General James C. Dawkins Jr. assumed command of 8th Air Force on 20 August 2018, after having served as the Deputy Director for Nuclear, Homeland Defense, and Current Operations on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.[13] On 12 June 2020, he was succeeded by Major General Mark E. Weatherington, who had previously served as deputy commander of Air Education and Training Command at Joint Base San Antonio in Randolph, Texas.[14]. ABMC Headquarters 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. They flew 985 Combat Missions losing 6130 Bombers and Fighters. 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. 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. By December, the head-on attack was the preferred method of assailing American heavy bombers by Luftwaffe fighter pilots. The 8th Air Force was a bomber command unit formed at the Army Air Base in Savannah, Georgia on January 28, 1942 (just weeks after the Pearl Harbor attacks). return ' 0 && $(".af3-caption-body").css("height") != undefined) { } B-17s hit the Skoda armaments factory at Pilsen in Czechoslovakia, while B-24s bombed rail complexes in Bad Reichenhall and Freilassing, surrounding Hitler's mountain retreat at Berchtesgaden. VIII Bomber Command, after redesignation as Eighth Air Force, was assigned VIII Fighter and VIII Air Support Commands under its command. 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. General Robert Travis, aerial commander of the mission, made the decision to circle the target and wait for the clouds to move. The losses of the Allied Air Forces were replaced within weeks. 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. 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. That base assignment lasted until November 1950, when SAC transferred the Eighth to Carswell AFB (formerly Fort Worth Army Air Field), Texas. Support to the latter command included the operation of Task Force 204 (bombers). Many had dozens of aerial victories; some had over 100. October 8's target was the shipyard in dreaded Bremen, known as "Flak City" by the aircrews. At the Arcadia Conference, held in Washington, DC, from December 24, 1941 to January 14, 1942, the Western Allies agreed to a Germany First policy to govern global strategy, but the question where to engage Germany, and when, remained unsettled. The right propeller of Kegelman's Boston was shot away by flak while over the target at De Kooy Airfield[7][self-published source?] Over 60 Luftwaffe fighters were shot down with a loss of 19 US bombers and 5 US fighters. Importantly, the Eighth's bombing effectiveness influenced the North Vietnamese to end hostilities. 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. There were 261 fighter aces in the Eighth Air Force during World War II. Under ACC, the Eighth received control over active duty, Air Force Reserve, and Air National Guard units in the central U. S. and two overseas locations. In the planned invasion of Japan, the mission of Eighth Air Force would be to conduct B-29 Superfortress raids from Okinawa in coordination with Twentieth Air Force operating from airfields in the Mariana Islands.[12]. 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. $currentSlide.find(".fancy-detail-link").on("touchstart", function() { captionToggle(); }); $(".fancybox-caption__body").prepend(prependClosing()); The Eighth received its first B-29 Superfortress on 8 August 1945. A fatalistic sense of acceptance became prevalent. With the end of fighting in Korea, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had taken office in January 1953, called for a "new look" at national defense. 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.