Eighth Air Force

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8th Air Force
Eighth Air Force
Active	1 February 1942
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army Air Forces (1942-1947) United States Air Force (1947 - Present)
Part of	Air Combat Command
Garrison/HQ	Barksdale AFB

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).

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-3C Sentry, several variants of the RC-135, and U-2S Dragon Lady reconnaissance aircraft round out the command’s lethal airpower arsenal.

[edit] Eighth Air Force during World War II

B-17 Flying Fortresses Over Europe during World War II

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 the Netherlands. 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 down by what the RAF flight leader described as `the worst flak barrage in my experience'.

[edit] July 1942 - January 1944

In August 1942 the 92d and 301st Bomb Groups arrived to join Brigadier General Ira C. Eaker's rapidly increasing air force. The 92d 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.

[edit] VIII Bomber Command

The final Order of Battle of the VIII Bomber Command (1943) was:

[edit] VIII Fighter Command

Fighter groups were assigned to the administrative control of three wings, which were directed by VIII Fighter Command until 1945, when each wing was assigned to one of the three air divisions. The 1944 Order of Battle for VIII Fighter Command:

[edit] United States Strategic Air Forces (1944 - 1945)

On 4 January 1944 the B-24s and B-17s in England flew their last mission as a subordinate part of VIII Bomber Command. The Fifteenth Air Force, established in Italy, and the Eighth were organized under a centralized headquarters,United States Strategic Air Forces (USSTAF), located at Bushey Hall, a redesignation of the Eighth Air Force. VIII Bomber Command in turn was re-designated Eighth Air Force on February 22, 1944, and passed from existence.

General Carl Spaatz returned to England to command the USSTAF. Major General Jimmy Doolittle relinquished command of the Fifteenth Air Force to Major General Nathan F. Twining and took over command of the Eighth Air Force at 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'.

Spaatz 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 had forty heavy bomber groups, fifteen fighter groups, and four specialized support groups. It could and did often dispatch more than 2,000 four-engine bombers and more than 1,000 fighters on a single mission to multiple targets.

Under USSTAF, the Eighth 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, Eighth Air Force heavy bomb groups conducted tactical air attacks supporting Allied ground forces in the invasion area, supported the Airborne invasion of the Netherlands, and made direct strikes on German ground forces during the Battle of the Bulge.

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 Berchtesgaden. Fifteenth Air Force attacked mountain passes beween Germany and Austria to prevent German troops from escaping from Italy.

The final Order of Battle of the Eighth Air Force (1945):

• 482d Bombardment Group (Heavy) RAF Alconbury
• 495th Fighter Training Group RAF Atcham
• 801st Bombardment Group (Provisional) RAF Harrington
  (became 492d Bombardment Group August 18, 1944)

• 496th Fighter Training Group RAF Goxhill

• 325th Photo Reconnaissance Wing (Hq: High Wycombe)
  • 7th Photographic Group (Reconnaissance)
    RAF Mount Farm, RAF Chalgrove
  • 25th Bombardment Group (Reconnaissance) RAF Watton
• 67th Reconnaissance Group RAF Membury (VIII Air Support Command)

[edit] Eighth Air Force In The Pacific Theater

Following the end of the war in Europe the United States began to demobilize most of United States Strategic Air Forces that it built up in Europe, and transfer some of it's combat units to the Pacific Theater. In Europe the aim was to maintain a small USAAF organization, exclusively for communication and transport purposes. On 7 August 1945, the word Strategic was removed from USSAFE, and the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) was established.

Eighth Air Force headquarters moved to Okinawa on 16 July 1945, being assigned to the U.S. Army Strategic Air Forces to train new bomber groups for combat against Japan. In the planned invasion of Japan, the mission of Eighth Air Force would be to conduct B-29 Superfortress raids from Okinawa.

Units assigned to Eighth Air Force in the Pacific were:

• 301st Fighter Wing (Kadena Air Base) (P-47)
  • 410th Fighter Group
  • 413th Fighter Group
  • 506th Fighter Group
  • 507th Fighter Group

• 316th Bombardment Wing (Kadena Air Base) (B-29)
  • 22d Bomb Group
  • 333d Bomb Group
  • 346th Bomb Group

Note: The 316th Bomb Wing did not arrive in Okinawa until September 1945.

The atomic bombings of Japan led to the Japanese surrender before Eighth Air Force saw action in the Pacific theater.

[edit] Eighth Air Force During The Cold War

World War II proved what the proponents of air power had been championing for the previous two decades — the great value of strategic forces in bombing an enemy’s industrial complex and of tactical forces in controlling the skies above a battlefield. As a result, Eighth Air Force was incorporated into the new Strategic Air Command (SAC).

On 7 June 1946, Headquarters 8th AF moved without personnel or equipment to MacDill AAF, Florida. That base assignment lasted until 1 November 1946, when SAC transferred the Eighth to Carswell AAF (formerly Fort Worth Army Air Field), Texas and the organization officially became part of SAC.

[edit] Strategic Air Command

Martin-Omaha B-29-40-MO Superfortress Serial 44-27353 of the 509th Bomb Wing, Walker AFB, 1948. During World War II, 353 flew on both Atomic Bomb missions (6 August, 9 August) as an instrument aircraft monitoring the nuclear explosions.

At first, the postwar Eighth Air Force had to rely heavily upon World War II airplanes, as there was insufficient funding available to re-equip the Air Force completely with a new generation of aircraft. However, it was believed that a strong strategic air arm would deter a possible aggressor from attacking the United States for fear of massive retaliation with nuclear weapons. For that reason from 1946 through 1949 what little money became available was used to buy new planes for SAC.

Initially, Eighth Air Force under SAC consisted of the following:

• 58th Bombardment Group
  Activated at Fort Worth AAF Texas on 9 May 1946.
• 7th Bombardment Group
  Activated at Fort Worth AAF Texas on 1 October 1946.
• 43rd Bombardment Group
  Activated at Davis-Monthan AAF Arizona on 4 October 1946.

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. The assets of the former training units were simply assigned to Eighth Air Force. This was largely so that the Air Force could perpetuate the names of groups that that had distinguished themselves in World War II. These bomb wings were drastically undermanned and under equipped. At the close of 1946, they shared only a handful of operational bombers, all B-29 Superfortresses.

The Eighth Air Force was specifically charged with the atomic mission, and the 7th Bomb Group at Fort Worth AAF was modifying their aircraft to carry the atomic bomb. However only the 509th Composite Group at North Field Tinian in the Marianas had the capability to drop nuclear weapons.

Several events in the late 1940s reversed the drawdown of United States strategic forces. The 1948 Berlin Crisis and the outbreak of the Cold War caused the United States to deploy SAC's B-29 bomber force back to the United Kingdom and West Germany. 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.

As a result, Eighth Air Force spent its first decade in the continental U.S. building up its strategic capabilities. By 1950 the Eighth Air Force consisted of the following units:

During the Korean War, only the 27th Fighter Group deployed to Asia. After the 1953 Cease Fire, on 13 June 1955 SAC moved Headquarters 8th AF to Westover AFB, Massachusetts, where it transitioned to the jet age and commanded all SAC bases in the eastern United States.

SAC Eighth Air Force B-47 in flight

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.)

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. To reduce the risk to its bomber fleet in the United States, Eighth Air Force began dispersing its planes to a large number of bases across the United States so as not to have too many concentrated at a single location.

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 without personnel or equipment to Andersen AFB Guam, absorbing resources of the 3d Air Division. At Anderson, the Eighth took 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. With the end of combat in Southeast Asis, the Eighth Air Force moved without personnel or equipment to Barksdale AFB Louisiana on 1 January 1975, absorbing the resources of Second Air Force.

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.

[edit] Eighth Air Force Today

B-2 of the Eighth Air Force 509th Bomb Wing

Fifteen months after Operation Desert Storm, the Air Force reorganized. Eighth Air Force was relieved from assignment to Strategic Air Command and assigned to the new Air Combat Command (ACC) on 1 June 1992.

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. Eighth Air Force trains, tests, exercises and demonstrates combat-ready forces for rapid employment worldwide.

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.

[edit] Air Combat Command

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.

[edit] Current Eighth Air Force Organization

• HQ Eighth Air Force Barksdale AFB Louisiana

• 2d Bomb Wing Barksdale AFB (B-52H)
• 5th Bomb Wing Minot AFB North Dakota (B-52H)
• 9th Reconnaissance Wing Beale AFB California (U-2S) (RQ-4)
• 55th Wing Offut AFB Nebraska (E-4B, EC-130, OC-135B, RC-135S/W,TC-135S/W,WC-135C/W)
• 67th Network Warfare Wing Lackland AFB Texas
• 70th Intelligence Wing Fort Meade Maryland
• 509th Bomb Wing Whiteman AFB Missouri (B-2)
• 552d Air Control Wing Tinker AFB Oklahoma (E-3B/C)
• 917th Wing Barksdale AFB (B-52H, A-10)

• 116th Air Control Wing Robins AFB Georgia (E-8C)

(Note: the 116 ACW blends active-duty and Air National Guard members into a single unit.)

[edit] See also

• Joint Functional Component Command for Space and Global Strike (US Strategic Command)
• United States Air Forces in Europe
• United States Air Force in the United Kingdom
• Strategic Air Command
• Air Combat Command
• Air Force Cyber Command

[edit] References

This article incorporates text from http://www.barksdale.af.mil/8af, a public domain work of the United States Government.

• 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

[edit] External links

• Eighth Air Force official website
• Eighth Air Force Museum
• WWII Bomb Groups - European Theater of Operations (ETO)
• The Ruhr - one of the main target of the 8th USAAF in Europe, 1943-1945
• Complete fulltext of: Maurer Maurer, Air Force Combat Units Of World War II, Office of Air Force History, 1983 online and keyword searchable