86'- ' Its Departure for Overseas Duty in Great Britain
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CHAa IV *I 'THE STORY OP VIII FIGHT CM " began The formation of a long-range fighter organization VIII Interceptor early in 1942 with the activation of the Fighter Comnand, at Coand, which later was renamed the VIII 1, 1942. The Comanding Selfridge Field, Michigan on February who had been in oamand Officer was Colonel Laurence P. Hiokey, VIII Interceptor of the Sixth Pursuit Wing, from which the to Charleston, South Command was developed. The Command moved to be close to the Carolina on the 11th of February in. order located at Savannah, headquarters of the 8th Air Force, then The 8th Air Georgia, where it was preparing for embarkation. be prepared to carry Force was organised in such a way aa to invasion of North Afrioa out the "Torch Plan' for the eventual General Frank O'D. which oame in November, 1942. Brigadier shortly before Hunter assumed oommand of the organisation Officer Richard The author is indebted to Chief Warrant (*1 - at VIII Fighter A. Bates of the A-2 Section (Intelligence) history of the Comnand. Comand for the facts about the early whn it _as activated in Febru- Mr. Bates was its lst Stergeant of the became Teohnical Sergeant ana Chief Olerk ary, 1942, hiatorian until July IntelligenCe Section and was its official data was not otherwise available. The Sta- 1943. Much of this later, has Control Office which was establiahed muoh tistical but these facts proided-invaluable data on later operations, from his own records, from his friends "'oaptured for posterity" are based on his and from a most retentive memory. The facts of twenty- i months in the Theater. seprienoe Squadron (ormerly 2 - General Hunter was an ace of the 103rd Group, World War I.) the Lafayette Squadron) of thx 3rd Prsu.t - 86'- ' its departure for overseas duty in Great Britain. ' The VIII Fighter Command established its headquarters at High Wycombe, England on May 12, 1942 with six officers and other fifty enlisted men, in the first of three echelons. The officers, two echelons arrived early in June. A small nucleus of the Station Commandant, Adjutant General, A-2 and A-4 officers, com- Medical and Signals officers arrived in advance and the on plete headquarters was set up at Bushy Hall, Hertfordshire July 27, with about fifteen officers and 200 enlisted men. Prom that small nucleus the VIII Fighter Command eventually grew, despite many vicissitudes and disappointing set-backa, to three wings and fifteen groups, a total of about 30,000 es- officers and men, which included the vast number of ground in the air. tablishments necessary to keoop its thousand aircraft up a Thus in May, 1942, work was begun on the plan to build fighter force formidable enough to meet the enemy's greatest lair, strength and with enough range to tackle the enemy in his skies. If and to eliminate his fighter force from Earopean freely and that became an actuality, the bombers could range precedents upon smash Germany's will to resist. There were no given which to work for never before had a fighter force been other such a goal. With the knowledge gained from watching operations, the strategic plans were laid, while the technicians - 8'7 - ' .',7 , ............ y' ^H BEB@' , .; , A -E A.ShA or.,. strove to achieve more and more range Fighter Command set as the goal, full and adequate escort of the "Flying Fortresses" (B-17's) and "Liberatora" (B-24'sl of the 8th Air Force on their daylight strategic raids deep into Germany, in order to prevent the enemy fighters from bothering their "Big Friends". Thus assured of an unmolested bomb run on important industrial targets, the bombing would attain the pre- oision necessary to knock out the factories and stop production of vital war products. It was a strategic goal which might not be possible of attainment without such escort. P-38'o FLY THE ATLANTIC A hint of what would have to be done later, by the VIII Fighter Command, is found in a history-making flight of P-38's under the command of General Hunter. That flight of short- range fighter aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean was epoch- maling since, if successful, it would save most of the time needed to prepare aircraft for shipment by sea and subsequent reassembly upon arrival in England, besides an enormous amount of cargo space would be made available for other vital war ship- ments. The submarine menance was at its height and every ton of cargo space saved was vital. General Hunter and four of his staff, including Colonel Ben S. Kelsey, Colonel James E. Briggs, Colonel John K. Gerhard and Major Cass. S. Hough*3 undertook the task of preparing to fly the "Lightning*"-' (P-38'a) to Ebgland. General Hunter and his staff flew in two B-17's which acted as guides for the eight fighter aircraft. They took off from Presque Isle, Maine on July 18 and landed in Preatwick, Scotland on July 27, having came via Goose. Bay, Labrador, (B.W.1), Greenland, Iceland, and Stornoway, Scotland. With the offioers in the B-17'a, it is interesting to note, were also the following technical enlisted men who partioi- pated in the historic flight: - T/Sgt. (now 1st Lt) William T. Hogg, M/Sgt (now C.W.0.) Clarence C. Breed, M/Sgt (now Capt.) Robert H. Shafe, S/Sgt. (now M/Sgt) Fmanuel Helzer, Sgt (now T/S3gt)Joe Earley, and Sgt. (now S/Sgt) Donald W. Dunbar. It was the first time fighter aircraft had ever been called upon to make suoh a flight, the majority of it over water; a great deal of unpredictable weather had to be encountered, but sany lessons, learned during that flight, have been invaluable in (e3 - Colonel Case S. Hough, former head of the Air Technical Section of VIII Fighter Co--and, became Deputy Chief, under Col. Kelsey, of the Technical Engineering Section (now called the Technical Section} of the 8th Air Force at Bovingdon and was primarily responsible for the development of the 'Belly Tanks" which made long-range fighter escort a reality. He has supplied most of the data for this great achievement as re- corded in this book, as well as many other technical improve- menta in our fighter aircraft. He is a great test pilot and dove the P-38's and P1-47's at the incredible speed of over 700 miles per hour and lived to record his findings. Colonel Hough is oae of the greatest, though little publicised, operational engineering technicians of the 8th Air Force. - 89 - in the technical reaearoh conducted to perfect long-range , fighter aircraft. The first organizational blueprints for the VIII Fighter Cociand called for a large force of fighters to be built around the two groups, the lot and 31st, which were already assigned to the comand. The former was equipped with P-S8's, all of which had been flown across the Atlantio, and the latter was given the famoua British 'Spitfireoa. Both groupa retained those two types of aircraft while under control of the VIII Pighter Comand, until they were posted to the Mediterranean in October, 1942. iST FIG=TB (GOUP *4 The lat Fighter Group, rich in history of World War 1, was divided between Cohill and Kirtor-in-Lindsey on June 10, 1942. The 71st and 94th Sqaedrons operated from Ibaley, and later from Coxbil34 all began their first operations from these RAP stationa. The firat to arriv in Eagland in early May, was the 31st Fighter Group, with the 307th, 308th and 309th Squadrons; they were located at Atoham on July 11, 1942. A training (*4 - The 94th ('Hsat in the MRg") and the 27th wyre, together with the 95th and the 147th, the four famous aquadrons of the lat Purauit Group of World War I.) 90,- program was :*stituted imn diately in order to get inexperieno- - ed pilots and ground orew on an operational status an soon as possible. It was only the close co-operation and full support of the RAP that the task was completed and the 31at Group was able "to go on Ops" (Operations) early in August, and took part in the Dieppe raid. The 307th Squadron operated from Biggin Hill, the 30Oth from Kenley and the 309th Squadron from West Hampnett, all fighter fields, which were loaned by the RAP. On August 24, the 307th Squadron moved to Merston and the 308th Squadron joined the 309th at West Hampnett, a satellite air- field of famous Tangemere of the Battle of Britain days. The group remained on an operational status until October 10, 1942 at whioh time it was removed from the operational list in order to prepare for the North African invasion. The 1st Group was also first to become operational with four sorties by the 94th Squadron on August 29th, which consisted of two "sorambles" by two aircraft each. No enemy aircraft were seen and the flights were entirely uneventful, but they marked the first time the P1-38's were used on operational flights in the war against Germany, indeed the first American fighter planes to go into action over Europe in World War II. - 91- ^Ss: : E ^*^~~~~~~~~~~~ f"; IR.A.FP. LIAISON WITH THE VIII PIaHT.: OW;! - 'It was in late May, 1942, when w wero nformed W first squadrons of Amrioan fighter pilots were about to arrive in this country. Two asrodromes were to be put at their dis- poaal, one at Goxhill and the other at Atcham. I had been Seo- tor 1.0.