he AAF’s Fifteenth Air Force 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 Italy after a brief gestation and reconnaissance groups. 1942 raid on Tokyo but had served and as the result of induced Even so, the Fifteenth did at least its as commander of Twelfth Air Force 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 Eighth Air Force. 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, France, 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, Poland, 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, Corsica, 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 Tunisia. 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 strategic bombing 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 “Big Week.” 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 Luftwaffe 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.