Eighth Air Force: Difference between revisions

The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force (NAF) of the major command (MAJCOM) of Air Combat Command of the United States Air Force and it is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. It is one of three active-duty numbered air forces in Air Combat Command. Eighth Air Force serves as the only information operations and bomber warfighting headquarters, employing decisive global air power for U.S Joint Forces Command and U.S. Strategic Command and combatant commanders.

The Eighth Air Force's now commonly-accepted nickname, "The Mighty Eighth", derives from the title of British historian Roger A. Freeman's seminal "History of the U.S. 8th Army Air Force" (Doubleday and Company, 1970). Freeman died in the fall of 2005.

The Eighth Air Force consists of more than 41,000 active-duty, Air National Guard and Reserve professionals operating and maintaining a variety of aircraft capable of deploying air power to any area of the world. This air power includes the heart of America’s heavy bomber force: the B-2 Spirit and B-52 Stratofortress aircraft. E-8C Joint STARS, EC-130H Compass Call, E-3B Sentry, RC-135 Rivet Joint, and U-2S Dragon Lady reconnaissance aircraft round out the command’s lethal airpower arsenal.

In World War II, the Eighth Air Force was a United States Army Air Forces unit, which carried out daytime bombing operations in western Europe from airfields in eastern England from 1942 through the end of the war in 1945.

On 2 January 1942 the order activating the Eighth Air Force was signed and the headquarters was formed at Savannah, Georgia on 28 January. The War Department in Washington, D.C. announced that US ground forces were sent to Northern Ireland. On 8 January the activation of US Forces in the British Isles (USAFBI) was announced, and VIII Bomber Command (VIII BC) was established in England during February 1942. VIII BC was established at RAF Bomber Command Headquarters at High Wycombe on 22 February. Additional commands of the Eighth Air Force were the VIII Air Support Command and VIII Fighter Command.

During the war the Eighth Air Force was headquartered in England at the Wycombe Abbey School for Girls, Buckinghamshire. The Eighth Air Force was commanded during World War II by Major General Carl A. Spaatz, Major General Ira C. Eaker, and Lt. General James H. Doolittle, the hero of the 1942 B-25 air raid on Tokyo and other cities in Japan. It later became the United States Air Forces in Europe.

On 4 July 1942, Independence Day, six American crews from the 15th Bombardment Group (Light) together with six RAF crews were despatched from RAF Swanton Morley, Norfolk, on a daylight sweep against four German airfields in Holland. It was the first time American airmen had flown in American-built bombers against a German target but although it was important historically, the raid was not an unqualified success. Two of the aircraft manned by Americans were shot clown by what the RAF flight leader described as `the worst flak barrage in my experience'.

In August 1942 the 92nd and 301st Bomb Groups arrived to join Faker's rapidly increasing air force. The 92nd was the first heavy bombardment group to successfully make a non-stop flight from Newfoundland to Scotland.

It took time to get the new groups ready for combat and training was lacking in many areas. Colonel Frank A. Armstrong, one of Eaker's original HO staff, was appointed CO of the 97th Bomb Group at Grafton Underwood at the end of July in place of Lt Colonel Cousland and he set about re-shaping the group. By mid-August he had 24 crews ready for combat. Meanwhile, as arguments went on behind the scenes about whether bombing in daylight was possible over heavily defended targets in Europe or even that the Fortresses' and Liberators' bomb carrying capacity and their armament would be enough, the first Fortresses strike of the war was scheduled for 17 August 1942.

At 15.00 hours six B-17Es took off from Polebrook and flew a diversionary raid on St. Omer. Briefing over at Underwood, Frank Armstrong boarded `Butcher Shop' which was piloted by Major Paul Tibbets and led eleven B-17s to the marshalling yards at Rouen Sotteville in northwestern France. Spaatz had felt confident enough to allow Brigadier General Ira C. Eaker to fly on the mission. He joined the crew of `Yankee Doodle', lead aircraft of the second flight of six. Over the Channel, the Fortresses were joined by their RAF escort of Spitfire Vs.

Visibility over the target was good and bombing was made from 23,000 feet. A few bombs hit a mile short of the target and one burst hit about a mile west in some woods but the majority landed in the assigned area. Several repair and maintenance workshops were badly damaged which temporarily put the German State Railway out of action.

From this humble beginning, the Eighth Air Force in the United Kingdom increased the number of combat groups and it's scope of targets and missions. Eighth Air Force aircraft attacked naval targets in France against German U-Boats and combined with RAF Bomber Command with missions into Germany. Along with the heavy bomber groups, the Eighth Air Force developed its fighter component, with P-47 and P-51s flying escort missions deep into Germany.

The organizational structure of the VIII Bomber Command was:

On 4 January 1944 the B-24s and B-17s in England flew their last mission under the auspices of VIII Bomber Command. The 15th Air Force had now been established in Italy and it was decided to embrace both the 8th and 15th in a new headquarters, called United States Strategic Air Forces (USSTAF).at Bushey Hall, the previous Headquarters, 8th Air Force.

General Carl Spaatz returned to England to command the new organization while Major General Jimmy Doolittle relinquished command of the 15th to Major General Nathan F. Twining and took over command of the 8th Air Force; its headquarters moving to High Wycombe. Doolittle of course was well known to American airmen as the famous "Tokyo leader and former air racer. His directive was simple: `Win the air war and isolate the battlefield'.

Spatz and Doolittle's plan was to use the US Strategic Air Forces in a series of co-ordinated raids. code-named Operation 'Argument' and supported by RAF night bombing, on the German aircraft industry at the earliest possible date.

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.) At peak strength, Eighth Air Force could dispatch more than 2,000 four-engine bombers and more than 1,000 fighters on a single mission.

Under USSTAF, the Eighth th Air Force conducted the Big Week offensive over Germany, attacking the Luftwaffe directly at its aircraft manufacturing plants. Eighth Air Force bombers flew missions deep into Germany and attacking Berlin with daylight bombing raids.

With the invasion of France in June 1944, tactial air attacks supporting Allied ground forces were carried out in the invasion area, also support for the Airborne invasion of Holland, and retalitory attacks during the Battle of the Bulge were made by Eighth Air Force heavy bomb groups.

These missions however, carried a high price. Half of the U.S. Army Air Force’s casualties in WW II were suffered by Eighth Air Force (more than 47,000 casualties, with more than 26,000 dead). Seventeen Medals of Honor went to Eighth Air Force personnel during the war. By war’s end, they had been awarded a number of other medals to include 220 Distinguished Service Crosses, and 442,000 Air Medals. Many more awards were made to Eighth Air Force veterans after the war that remain uncounted. There were 261 fighter aces in the Eighth Air Force during World War II. Thirty-one of these aces had 15 or more aircraft kills apiece. Another 305 enlisted gunners were also recognized as aces.

The last attack by Eighth Air Force bombers was made on 25 April 1945 with B-17s attacking the Skoda armaments factory at Pilsen in Czechoslovakia, and B-24s attacking four rail complexes surrounding Hitler's mountain retreat at Berchtesgarden. Fifteenth Air Force attacked mountain passes beween Germany and Austria to prevent German troops from escaping from Italy.

With the end of hostiliteis in Europe, the Eighth Air Force was moved to the Pacific Theater in the final months of the war to train new bomber groups for combat against Japan. The Japanese, however, surrendered before the Eighth’s first combat sortie in the Pacific.

In June 1946, the headquarters relocated to MacDill Field, Florida, to join the new Strategic Air Command (SAC). 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 spent its first decade in the continental U.S. building up its strategic capabilities. That buildup limited the Eighth’s Korean War involvement to the deployment of its 27th Fighter Escort Wing. After Korean War, on 13 June 1955 SAC moved the unit to Westover AFB, Massachusetts, where it transitioned to the jet age.

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. 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.)

In 1965, Eighth Air Force entered combat again, this time in Southeast Asia. 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. 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. The intensive bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong during 11days in December 1972, known as LINEBACKER II, was but one highlight of those war years. Importantly, the Eighth’s bombing effectiveness influenced the North Vietnamese to end hostilities. After the Southeast Asian war, Eighth Air Force moved on 1 January 1975 to Barksdale AFB, Louisiana.

The Eighth’s units played a key role in the 42-day Gulf War in 1991. 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. Eighth Air Force bomb wings, stationed in the Persian Gulf region, also attacked Iraq’s Republican Guard forces and numerous key strategic targets, while other units provided air refueling and tactical reconnaissance throughout the conflict. 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.

Fifteen months after Operation DESERT STORM, the Air Force reorganized. 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). 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. 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. Support to the latter command included the operation of Task Force 204 (bombers).

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. 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. Altogether, the Eighth’s bombers flew 325 sorties to drop over 7 million pounds of ordnance on enemy targets in that campaign.

In 2000, the Air Force decided to integrate information operations into Eighth Air Force. 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. The reorganization transformed the Eighth into the only information operations and bomber NAF in the Air Force. 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.

While posturing itself for that mission change, the Eighth also supported Operation ENDURING FREEDOM against terrorists in Afghanistan, and NOBLE EAGLE for the homeland defense of America. 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. With each step through 2002, the Eighth continues to add more feats to its growing legacy.

• HQ Eighth Air Force Barksdale AFB Louisiana

• 2d Bombardment Wing / 917th Wing Barksdale AFB
• 5th Bombardment Wing Minot AFB North Dakota
• 9th Reconnasance Wing Beale AFB California
• 55th Wing Offut AFB Nebraska
• 67th Information Operations Wing Lackland AFB Texas
• 70th Intelligence Wing Fort Meade Maryland
• 509th Bombardment Wing Whiteman AFB Missouri
• 552d Air Control Wing Tinker AFB Oklahoma

• 116th Air Control Wing (Air National Guard) Robins AFB Georgia

• Joint Functional Component Command for Space and Global Strike (US Strategic Command)
• List of RAF stations
• United States Air Forces in Europe
• United States Air Force in the United Kingdom

This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: http://www.barksdale.af.mil/8af

• Maurer Maurer, Air Force Combat Units Of World War II, Office of Air Force History, 1983
• Freeman, Roger A. (1970). The Mighty Eighth. ISBN 0-87938-638-X.
• Freeman, Roger A. (1990). The Mighty Eighth War Diary. ISBN 0879384956.
• Freeman, Roger A., Airfields Of The Eighth, Then And Now, 1978

• Eighth Air Force official website
• WWII Bomb Groups - European Theater of Operations (ETO)
• The Ruhr - one of the main target of the 8th USAAF in Europe, 1943-1945