'; That base assignment lasted until 1 November 1946, when SAC transferred the Eighth to Fort Worth (later renamed Carswell AFB). Activated in the US on I Feb 1942. function getDownloadURL(fbObj) { 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. Eighth Air Force remained in Okinawa until 7 June 1946. Get detailed instructios o how to register for the Reunion. if (detailSize === "half") { 385 th Bomb Group, 8 th Air Force. Fifteenth Air Force relocated to March Air Force Base, California. closeDetails(); $(".fancybox-content").css("transform", 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.). Donations Page. 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. Altogether, the Eighth Air Force dropped over 4,800 tons of high explosive on Berlin during the first week of March. 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. On 22 March, over 800 bombers, led by H2X radar equipped bombers hit Berlin yet again, bombing targets through a thick rainy overcast causing more destruction to various industries. [12], Eighth Air Force's mission in the Pacific was initially to organize and train new bomber groups for combat against Japan. The modern day Eighth Air Force traces its lineage to the VIII BC, which came to life on 1 February 1942 at Langley Field, Virginia. Were proud to be able to present archival issues below: INSTRUCTIONSStart here! if (item.type === 'image') { There were 261 fighter aces in the Eighth Air Force during World War II. As a professional researcher and World War II historian, Bill Beigel provides research services to genealogists, historians, authors, and civilians who are looking for information found in WW2 military unit records. On 22 February 1944, a massive reorganization of American airpower took place in Europe. 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. was activated on 28 January 1942 at the Chatham Armory in Savannah, Georgia. A Tradition Since 1942. At Andersen AFB, the Eighth took over the direction of all bombing and refueling operations in Southeast Asia. (left) took the Eighth Air Force Bomber Command Headquarters to England the next month and located at High Wycombe, about 40 miles west of London and on the road to Oxford. 316th Bombardment Wing: 1945- 1946. 8th Air Force (ETO) Operational Units. The 8th lost 31 bombers, the 15th lost 33. With Doolittle's permission, American fighter pilots on bomber defense missions would primarily be flying far ahead of the bombers' combat box formations in air supremacy mode, literally "clearing the skies" of any Luftwaffe fighter opposition heading towards the target. 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. var winWth = $(window).innerWidth(); } By mid-1944, the unit had a total strength of more than 200,000 people, and it could send more than 2,000 four-engine bombers and 1,000 fighters on a single mission against enemy targets in Europe. Official homepage of the 385th bomb group association. Each 8th Air Force WWII Decal is made with the highest quality 2.5mil High Gloss 5-Year Calendared vinyl. Components: 1st Bombardment Wing: 1942-1943. 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. 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. First Name. The reorganization transformed the Eighth into the only information operations and bomber NAF in the Air Force. Fifteen months after Operation Desert Storm, the Air Force reorganized. Half of the U.S. Army Air Forces' casualties in World War II were suffered by Eighth Air Force (more than 47,000 casualties, with more than 26,000 dead). 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. Bomber wings of the 8th Air Force include: This article incorporates public domain material from Eighth Air Force. VIII Fighter Command 1944-1945. That same day, the VIII BC became Eighth Air Force. caption += $(this).find('figcaption').html() + Cold and clear weather was predicted for the last week of February 1944. 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). 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. Join or renew for two years and never miss a thing! To reduce the risk to its bomber fleet in the United States, Eighth Air Force aircraft stood nuclear alert, providing a deterrent against an attack on the United States by the Soviet Union. His administration chose to invest in the Air Force, especially Strategic Air Command. Click here to read to learn more about the history of the 8th Air Force. 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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. By comparison, the U.S. Navy suffered 37,000 deaths out of the 4.1 million in WW II. 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. As the new commander of the Eighth Air Force from January 1944 onwards, Major General Jimmy Doolittle's major influence on the European air war occurred early that year when he made a critical change to the policy requiring escorting fighters to remain with the bombers at all times. 445BG. Both Davis-Monthan and Fort Worth Army Airfields were B-29 training bases during World War II, and the Eighth Air Force Bomb Groups were simply activated at the same field and on the same day as the original Army Air Force Continental Air Forces training bomb groups were inactivated. 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 mid-1944, the 8th AF had reached a total strength of more than 200,000 people. By 6 June, Allied fighter pilots had succeeded in damaging or destroying hundreds of locomotives, thousands of motorized vehicles, and many bridges. Eighth Air Force has five Regular Air Force bomb wings, two Air Reserve Total Force Integration bomb wings (one in Air Force Reserve Command and one in the Air National Guard), and one detachment in the continental United States. afterLoad: function (instance, current) { '' + //initial desktop view Personnel and group records to digital. The Eighth Air Force was specifically charged with the atomic mission; however, only the 509th Composite Group at Roswell AAF had B-29s that had the capability to drop nuclear weapons the 7th Bomb Group at Fort Worth AAF was modifying their aircraft to carry the atomic bomb. } 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. We also located the series World War II Statistical Summaries, 1942-1945 in Record Group 18 . Pearl Harbor had just been bombed about a month and a half earlier. 2d Bombardment Wing: 1942-1943. The nuclear arms race shifted into high gear. The command serves as Air Forces Strategic Global Strike, one of the air components of United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). On at least eighteen occasions, the Merseburg refineries in Leuna, where the majority of Germany's synthetic fuel for jet aircraft was refined, was hit. Over 950 fighters had been sent west from the Eastern Front for "Operation Bodenplatte". 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. As a contrast, the Luftwaffe was undertaking the sixth major raid of the "Baby Blitz" the following night (20/21 February), with only some 165 German aircraft sortieing against British targets. $(".af3-caption-body").stop(true, false).animate({ height: "0vh" }, 800, function () { var caption = ''; However, the Luftwaffe was successful in shooting down 46 bombers in a very unequal fight.[10]. 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. Regular combat operations by the VIII Bomber Command began on 17 August 1942, when the 97th Bombardment Group flew twelve Boeing B-17E Flying Fortresses on the first VIII Bomber Command heavy bomber mission of the war from RAF Grafton Underwood, attacking the Rouen-Sotteville marshalling yards in France. The 388 Bomb Group association was formed to insure the accomplishments and sacrifices of the men and women of the 388th are remembered. }); fbObj.find(".actions .details").attr("href") + 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). } "VIII Bomber Command" redirects here. ", 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. At first, the Eighth deployed its B-52 bomber and KC-135 tanker units from the U.S. to operating bases in Guam, Okinawa and Thailand. Several events in the late 1940s reversed the drawdown of United States strategic forces. 549 Bomb Squadron Also, by using a four-bladed propeller, rather than the three-bladed one used on the P-51A, the performance was greatly improved; the XP-51B achieved a level speed of 441mph at 29,800ft (9,100m), over 100mph (160km/h) faster than the Allison-engined P-51A at that altitude. On 7 April 1945, the Luftwaffe flew its most desperate and deadliest mission, with the dedicated aerial ramming unit Sonderkommando Elbe. This was the first B-17 to complete 25 combat missions in the 8th Air Force, on 13 May 1943. 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. Another 305 enlisted gunners were also recognized as aces. U.S. Military Personnel that Served in WWII. $(window).on("resize", function (event) { 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). Men born between about 1877 and . 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. Compiled by Bill Varnedoe. Please visit the websites of our wonderful partners in history. 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. // device detection The 8th AF was primarily engaged in the bombardment of strategic targets in Europe. caption += '