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“Mighty Eighth” 1941-1945

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“Mighty Eighth” 1941-1945 The Story of the “Mighty Eighth” 1942-1945: Pearl Harbor to Normandy and beyond David Jerez-Szathmary HS 490 Dr. Geoff Haywood Literature Review Main points - By 1943, the Western Allies were planning to open a second front against the Nazis, in Western Europe. - With all of Western Europe under Nazi rule, the only way to attack Nazi Germany was from the air - The American Eighth Air Force was tasked with this mission - This unit was called on to destroy the German war machine. Main points (Cont.) - The Eighth Air Force, in fact, failed to destroy the German war machine - Where they succeeded was in the devastation of the Luftwaffe, destruction of the oil industry, and creating a logistical nightmare for the Germans, in the Normandy area The “Mighty Eighth”: a prehistory The USAAF had 23,000 men and less than 2,400 aircraft in 1939 Leadership Carl Spaatz (1942) Ira Eaker (1942-1943) James Doolittle (1944-1945) 1942: the early days The Casablanca Conference “The progressive destruction and dislocation of the German military, industrial and economic system, and undermining the morale of the German people to a point where their capacity for armed resistance is fatally weakened.” A new kind of war Until 1943, a bomber crewman had to have flown 25 missions to have completed their tour of duty, 35 percent survived. The Aircraft 1943: Annus Horribilis Blitz Week: 7/24-7/30. Norway, Kassel, Kiel, Hanover, Hamburg, Warnemunde 1720 sorties, 88 aircraft lost, Eighth Air Force unable to send raids of more than 200 until August. 8/17: Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission. 376 bombers, 60 aircraft lost 10/14: Second raid over Schweinfurt: 60 bombers lost out of 291, 26.7% “The loss of sixty American bombers in the Schweinfurt raid was incidental.” The raids had only inflicted 10% damage on the Schweinfurt complex, only 3.5% was severe However, it was still a wakeup call for the Germans: “The raids on the ball-bearings industry at Schweinfurt in August 1943, evoked… a crisis the full import of which was made known to the Führer in all its gravity. Here again the delay in development of repetitions of the attack gave us the necessary time to take defensive precautions.” - Albert Speer 1944: turning the tide Change in policy The “Little Friends” The Eighth Air Force was now 185,000 strong Losses dropped almost overnight Death of the Luftwaffe Hermann Goering, chief of the Luftwaffe, would say, after the war, that he knew that Germany had lost the air war, when he saw American fighter planes over the skies of Berlin. Road to D-Day “Don’t worry about the planes overhead. They will be ours.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force The Oil Campaign By late 1944, German oil production was reduced to 31 Merseburg Leuna percent Beyond D-Day The Eighth Air Force in culture and the media Important figures and statistics US Strategic Bombing Survey: Statistical Appendix to Overall report (European War) (Feb 1947) All told, 350,000 men served with the Eighth Air Another 21,000 would survive being shot Force, stationed in England from 1942 to 1945, down, being taken prisoner. Until 1943, a with 210,000 of them being aircrew, as opposed bomber crewman had to have flown 25 missions to ground crew, intelligence, doctors, chaplains to have completed their tour of duty, 35 etc. Of them, 26,000 were killed. For percent survived. The mission requirement was comparison, the Marine Corps, known for the increased to 30 missions, in 1944, 66 percent especially brutal jungle war they fought in the survived, in 1945, 81 percent. In material losses, Pacific, were 250,000 strong, and lost 24,511 the Eighth Air Force lost 6,537 B-17s and B-24s, men. with some 3,337 fighter aircraft lost. Works Cited McLaughlin, J. Kemp. The Mighty Eighth in WWII: A Memoir. University Press of Kentucky, 2006. Astor, Gerald. The Mighty Eighth: the Air War in Europe as Told by the Men Who Fought It. New York: Berkley Caliber, 2015 Bowman, Martin W. Eager Eagles: the US Eighth Air Force in Europe, 1941-1943. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2013. Bowman, Martin. US Eighth Air Force in Europe Black Thursday Blood and Oil, Vol 2. South Yorkshire: Pen and Sword, 2013 Kaplan, Philip. With Wings As Eagles: the Eighth Air Force in World War II. Skyhorse Publishing, 2017. Anderson, Christopher J. The Men of the Mighty Eighth: The US 8th Air Force, 1942-45. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2001. Overy, R. J. Why the Allies Won. London: Vintage Digital, 2012. Freeman, Roger A. The Mighty Eighth: a History of the Units, Men and Machines of the US 8th Air Force. London: Cassell, 2000..
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