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Home , Carl Spaatz, Hoyt Vandenberg, Jimmy Doolittle, XII Bomber Command

he AAF’s famous part of the Fifteenth, but almost famous commander, Maj. Gen. James was a war baby, born in nothing of the other bomber, fighter, H. Doolittle, He had not only led the after a brief gestation and reconnaissance groups. 1942 raid on but had served and as the result of induced Even so, the Fifteenth did at least its as commander of labor. It had a short life—just part in the war, consistently doing more and the joint North African Strategic 22 months. It lived in the than expected, taking the air war to the Air Forces. Tshadow of its older and much big- Axis factories and refineries beyond the Doolittle owned an unrivaled reputa- ger brother and strategic partner, the reach of Britain-based aircraft. Most tion in military and civil aviation. Hav- England-based . importantly, the pilots of the Fifteenth ing learned the trade of a senior com- During the war, the public heard in the spring and summer of 1944 turned mander in his 13 months in Africa and much about “The Mighty Eighth” and off the Wehrmacht’s Balkan oil taps, the Mediterranean, he was well-suited little of “The Forgotten Fifteenth.” wrecking the Ploesti refinery complex to establish the US Army’s southern Veterans of the Italian campaign have in Romania with strategic effects felt strategic air arm. He was given only two an explanation of sorts: “If you were throughout the theater. weeks’ notice. At the end of November, a war correspondent, would you rather he established his headquarters in Bari, sip scotch in a London hotel or swig Not So Sunny on Italy’s Adriatic coast. vino in a tent at Foggia?” The Fifteenth attacked targets in Twelfth Air Force contributed its At its peak, the Fifteenth was about a large number of Axis and Axis- heavy bomb groups to Doolittle’s new half the size of the Eighth. It had 21 occupied countries, including Italy, command. Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. John bomb groups, compared to 41 in the Germany, Bulgaria, Austria, , K. Cannon turned the Twelfth itself Eighth. The Fifteenth had seven fighter Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, into the Mediterranean tactical air arm. groups; the Eighth had 15. Americans Greece, , and Yugoslavia. The Fifteenth was brought into being have heard much about the Tuskegee When the Fifteenth was established as a result of two factors: geography Airmen of the 332nd Fighter Group, a on Nov. 1, 1943, it began life with a and climate. The Forgot ten FifteenTH

92 AIR FORCE Magazine / September 2012 The goal was to take advantage of good weather and proximity to the Romanian oil fields. Fifteenth Air Force found the going tougher than expected.

Geography was crucial. Allied strate- a continuous strategic air campaign across the Tyrrhenian Sea, , gists had long recognized the importance against the Third Reich. and Sardinia to French targets; north- of Romanian oil in fueling the Axis war Thus, when the Fifteenth stood up in ward over the Alps to Austria and machine. Romania lay a daunting 1,300 November 1943, top airmen reckoned Germany; eastward over the Adriatic miles from Britain, putting the Balkan that they would be flying in a more to the Balkans, Carpathian Mountains, oil fields beyond the reach of Eighth permissive environment. and Greece. bombers. On the other hand, the oil The predictions were wrong. Meanwhile, Doolittle absorbed units fields were less than 600 miles distant Take weather, for example. Dur- from XII Bomber Command. His fledg- from the big Allied air base complex at ing the first two months of life, the ling force comprised three B-17 and Foggia, Italy. Fifteenth’s heavy bombers managed two B-24 bomb groups plus three P-38 Weather also equally important to the to conduct operations on just 30 days. Lightning groups. Temporarily attached Allied planners. Britain and northern Throughout 1944, the Eighth actually were a number of medium bombers. Europe were notorious for their over- operated 20 percent more often than The Fifteenth launched its first heavy cast and soggy weather. Italy, in sharp did the Fifteenth. bomber mission on Nov. 2, 1943. It contrast, was viewed as being mostly The Fifteenth also faced geographi- was a long-range attack on the Mess- sunny and clear. The Foggia complex, cal realities few Americans had ever erschmitt factory near Vienna. Because in this view, would be able to support encountered. Its bombers flew westward the badly damaged Foggia complex of The Forgot ten FifteenTH By Barrett Tillman

A Fifteenth Air Force B-24 slogs though mud and water, lumbering toward the runway and a takeoff position at an airdrome in Italy. Bad weather plagued the Fifteenth even in Italy, normally sunny and clear.

AIR FORCE Magazine / September 2012 93 bases was still under repair, the B-24s Some resented the missions, con- flew from . sidered “terror bombings” by many, In his memoir, I Could Never Be So including many airmen. One B-17 Lucky Again, Doolittle described the group member noted, “It would seem first mission: that orders are orders.” Eventually the “Our B-17s and B-24s hit the Mess- morale missions proved ineffective and erschmitt factory at Wiener Neustadt, even counterproductive. a 1,600-mile (round trip) mission that The new year brought multiple tasks: netted excellent results,” he said. “That supporting Allied troops on the Anzio facility was turning out about 250 fight- beachhead, conducting tactical opera- ers a month. We estimated we put it tions (including the controversial bomb- out of action for at least two months.” ing of Monte Cassino), and carrying out Doolittle recalled that some 150 a campaign against German fighters attacked the Allied Germany’s aircraft industry. bombers before, during, and after their The latter effort, officially designated bombing runs, even flying though their Operation Argument, was better known own flak. He lost six B-17s and five as “.” B-24s that day. Though Weiner Neustadt Messer- Shooting Their Way In schmitt production was cut roughly 75 Bombers of the Fifteenth Air Force, percent, the Germans proved exceed- during the period Feb. 20-25, 1944, ingly resilient, and soon the rate began joined with the Eighth for three mis- rising again. A restrike policy became sions against production sites mandatory, as proved by postraid re- in Germany and Austria. Because most generation at Ploesti, Regensburg, of the targets lay at the edge of P-38 Schweinfurt, and other hard targets. coverage, the “heavies” mostly had to The Army Air Forces’ industrious shoot their way in and out. aviation engineers struggled against And so they did, along the way striking rain, mud, and shortages of heavy aircraft plants at Regensburg on Feb. 22, equipment to bring Foggia and other at Steyr, Austria, on Feb. 23, and again bases up to fighting trim. By the end at Regensburg on Feb. 25. of March 1944, 20 bases in the Foggia B-17s and B-24s inflicted significant aviation complex had become opera- damage on Messerschmitt factories, but tional, affording adequate facilities for the Luftwaffe itself exacted a grim price. the growing air force. Nearly 40 bombers were shot down, as In January 1944, mere months after it were four fighters. started operations, the Fifteenth under- B-24 flight engineer Loyd Lewis went a sudden command change. Gen. recalled the Feb. 22 mission in the Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme 449th Bomb Group’s history, Maximum Allied Commander, tapped Doolittle to Effort. Lewis, flying with Lt. Carl take over Eighth Air Force. The famous Browning, said, “Everything seemed airman had barely had time to “shake to be going OK, when all of a sudden the stick” before he left for England, I spotted fighter planes very far out turning the command over to Maj. Gen. at 3 o’clock. They were diving down Nathan F. Twining, future Chairman of into the clouds and out of sight. I re- the Joint Chiefs of Staff. member getting on the intercom and By late January 1944, the Fifteenth announcing the enemy planes. This had sprouted stronger wings. It now was the last I remembered. I was hit comprised a dozen bomb groups and ... and knocked unconscious.” four fighter outfits, including one He regained consciousness a couple equipped with P-47s. of days later in an Austrian hospital, Air strategists had long argued the where he learned his bomber had been merits of “morale bombing,” which attacked by Me-109s and FW-190 fight- had failed against Britain and thus far ers firing cannon shells. The bomber had little effect in Germany. None- pilot was stunned by a shell burst, and theless, early in 1944 the combined the aircraft went into a dive. The copilot chiefs directed the Fifteenth to bomb managed to right the bomber and help city centers in Bucharest and Sofia, the crew bail out. hoping to separate those capitals from At the end of Big Week, Twining the Axis camp. counted a horrendous cost: 89 bombers Fifteenth Air Force bombers score hits on the oil storage facilities at Regensburg, Germany (top), and at the Turin/Orbassana ball bearing works in Italy (bottom). War correspondent Ernie Pyle wrote so eloquently of the war in the Mediterranean The- ater that a B-29 Superfortress was named in tribute to him (middle). 94 AIR FORCE Magazine / September 2012 and seven fighters lost. The attrition amounted to about 16 percent of total bomber sorties—four times the maxi- mum sustainable rate. Already short of fighters, the Fifteenth conducted no further deep penetration missions until the situation could be redressed. On the way, however, was some help: P-51 Mustangs. The Eighth already had P-51s by the time of Big Week. The Fifteenth needed them too. Spitfire groups transferred to the Fifteenth and converted to Mustangs. At the same time, the 325th exchanged its P-47s for Mustangs, and by early July, the 332nd had also done so. The Spitfire outfits—the 31st and 52nd—managed an orderly transition while the 325th “Checkertails” parked their P-47s on May 24 and flew their first Mustang mission three days later. The US strategic air commander was Lt. Gen. Carl A. Spaatz in London. He oversaw the efforts of the Eighth and L-r: Lt. Gen. , Lt. Gen. George Patton, Lt. Gen. , Maj. Gen. Fifteenth, maintaining cordial relations , and Brig. Gen. Otto Weyland. As a , Doolittle was with Lt. Gen. Ira C. Eaker, commander the first commander of Fifteenth Air Force. Spaatz took on the enormous task of of Mediterranean Allied Air Forces. coordinating vast air fleets—including Fifteenth Air Force—from London. Spaatz had a huge task, requiring co- ordination of vast air fleets at opposite case of de facto insubordination, but it attack that hoped to elude detection by ends of the European continent. By and began paying dividends. flying low. It didn’t work. Spotted by large, it worked. Meanwhile, two Fifteenth airmen Romanian and German defenders, the The run-up to D-Day in mid-1944 received the for mis- top-cover Lightnings were drawn into placed strategic air forces under the sions against Ploesti petroleum targets. widespread dogfights, and Ploesti’s direct control of Eisenhower. At that guns and smoke generators were ready time, strategists differed in support- Romanian Danger when the dive bombers rolled in. Some ing either “the transportation plan” or On June 23, 1944, 2nd Lt. David worthwhile targets were struck, but “the oil plan” as the best way to defeat R. Kingsley was a 97th Bomb Group losses were heavy: 24 of the 96 fighters Germany. As commander of the Allied bombardier on a B-17 that was ham- on the mission were lost. Expeditionary Force, Eisenhower natu- mered by flak and chased by fighters. Two dozen Ploesti missions cost rally leaned toward the transport plan. When the pilot ordered the crew to the Fifteenth some 230 aircraft—but Wrecking German communications in bail, Kingsley unhesitatingly gave his produced results. When Romania capitu- northwestern Europe would directly parachute harness to a badly wounded lated in August 1944, Allied researchers support Operation Overlord, whereas gunner. The Fortress, with Kingsley found the refineries mostly reduced to focusing on oil would pay benefits over aboard, crashed in Bulgaria, where lo- wreckage, their output only 10 percent a longer term. cal residents established a memorial to of what it had been five months earlier. In August 1943—three months before their neighbors killed in the crash—and It was a severe blow to the Axis. the Fifteenth was established—a low- to the selfless Kingsley. By June, at the height of the Ploesti level B-24 mission against Ploesti had First Lt. Donald D. Pucket was a campaign, the Fifteenth had achieved produced spectacular losses for marginal 98th Group B-24 pilot. Two weeks after maturity. Though flying the same aircraft results, proof that many industrial targets Kingsley’s sacrifice, Pucket’s B-24 was as the Eighth, the proportions differed. required persistent bombing. crippled by AAA bursts, which killed one The Eighth was nearly 60 percent B-17s, However, because Romanian oil lay man and wounded six. Pucket nursed the while the Fifteenth was three-quarters within reach only of Italy-based bomb- damaged Liberator 150 miles southwest B-24s. Mustangs dominated VIII Fighter ers, Mediterranean commanders chafed of Ploesti before ordering a bailout. Command. In the Fifteenth, four P-51 under the transport plan. Eaker and With the bomber rapidly descending, groups provided long-range escort, Twining began attacking the Ploesti Pucket returned to the cockpit rather while P-38s flew shorter escorts and complex in April 1944, near the end than leave three men who either could increasingly performed dive bombing of the transport phase. They were di- not or would not jump. His attempt to and strafing. rected to strike the rail yards, presum- bring the bomber under control failed, June also brought the start of Opera- ably preventing oil from being shipped with the loss of all crew still aboard. tion Frantic: shuttle missions to and from elsewhere. With a wink and a nod from A remarkable mission against Ploesti Russia. The goal was to attack targets Spaatz, however, bomber leaders began was flown by two P-38 groups on June ordinarily out of reach in Eastern Europe. moving aim points closer to the 10 re- 10. The 1st Fighter Group escorted 82nd Frantic I in June saw the assembly of fineries circling the city. It was a rare Group Lightning aircraft in a long-range 130 B-17s and 70 Mustangs. Two later AIR FORCE Magazine / September 2012 95 missions, in July and August, featured only fighters. After Romania’s capitulation, the Luftwaffe had little reason to commit heavy forces to the Balkans. Aerial op- position all but disappeared. In the last eight months of hostilities, the Fifteenth lost 26 bombers to enemy aircraft. Some bomb groups began flying with one waist gunner instead of two, and Twining’s fighters increasingly went down on the deck, strafing whatever moved and much that did not.

Going Home ... But Not Yet By then, however, the invasion of southern France had grabbed the world’s attention. The Aug. 15 operation Anvil- Dragoon was supported by Fifteenth bombers and fighters, including the 1st and 14th Groups’ P-38s, temporarily operating from Corsica. Meanwhile, other operations contin- ued. Little known today is the remark- able work of the 859th and 885th Bomb Squadrons that conducted special opera- tions missions and rescued downed fliers. Working with Yugoslavian partisans, Fifteenth airmen carved out landing strips in German-occupied territory. Ad- ditionally, the 5th Photographic Group and a dedicated weather recon squad- The Blue Streak, a Fifteenth Air Force B-24, passes by steaming Mount Vesuvius, in ron plied their esoteric trades, losing the Naples region of Italy. German armaments minister Albert Speer said he could see the war’s end when the Fifteenth’s bombers crossed the Alps from Italy toward far more airplanes to the climate than the Third Reich’s industrial targets. enemy action. A brief resurgence of the Luftwaffe . The Fifteenth was the Joint Chiefs until retirement in 1960. in March and April 1945 brought new formally deactivated Sept. 15, 1945. Other Washington insiders from Fog- German Me-262 jet fighters to the Fifteenth Air Force was successful, gia were three B-24 men who became southern skies, harassing bomber forma- but it paid a high price, losing at least United States Senators: Democrats tions and occasionally inflicting losses, 1,850 bombers, 650 fighters or recon Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. of ; William but Fifteenth fighter pilots mostly took aircraft, and hundreds of airmen. Roma- D. Hathaway of Maine; and George S. their measure. The 31st Fighter Group nia’s oil spout was almost totally closed McGovern of South Dakota. downed eight Me-262s. off, and Axis communications were War correspondent Ernie Pyle was The Fifteenth mounted its only Berlin severely hampered. Fifteenth fighters the popular chronicler of the Mediter- mission on March 24, 1944. This attack claimed 1,800 enemy aircraft destroyed ranean Theater, writing about fliers as on a tank factory and other targets cost and produced 74 aces. well as GIs. Before departing for the the US only 10 heavy bombers among The enemy knew the Fifteenth’s Pacific (where he was killed by a sniper some 660 dispatched—proof of Allied worth. Albert Speer, the organizational shot) he wrote, “Few of us can ever ownership of German skies. genius and Third Reich’s armaments conjure up any truly fond memories of The Fifteenth logged its last bomb- minister, wrote that he could “see omens the Italian campaign. The enemy had ing mission on May 1, 1945, with of the war’s end almost every day in been hard, and so had the elements. ... a small strike at Salzburg, Austria. the blue southern sky when, flying There was little solace for those who had Thereafter Twining’s crews largely provocatively low, the bombers of the suffered, and none at all for those who flew recon sorties and supply drops American Fifteenth Air Force crossed had died, in trying to rationalize about in Yugoslavia. the Alps from their Italian bases to attack why things had happened as they did.” With VE Day on May 8, most Medi- German industrial targets.” Today, the men of the Forgotten terranean airmen breathed a sigh of Fifteenth Air Force’s veterans contin- Fifteenth, with their numbers rapidly relief. However, elation among some ued making contributions long after VE decreasing, look back on their experience was short-lived upon learning they Day. Twining became Air Force Chief of and know that Pyle’s tribute remains as were slated to rotate to the Pacific for Staff—1953 to 1957—and Chairman of valid as ever. n the expected invasion of Japan. Three months later, those concerns ended by Barrett Tillman is an author and speaker who has flown a variety of his­toric aircraft the atomic bombings of and has received six writing awards for history and literature. His most recent ar- and , which prompted the ticle for Air Force Magazine, “,” appeared in February 2011. 96 AIR FORCE Magazine / September 2012