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466th Bombardment Group - 8th Air Force 468th Bomber Group - 20th Air Force 488th Bombardment Group 493rd bombardment group - 8th Air Force 497th Bomber Group - 20th Air Force. Eighth Air Force spent its first decade in the continental U.S. building up its strategic capabilities. This strategy fatally disabled the twin-engined Zerstrergeschwader heavy fighter wings and their replacement, single-engined Sturmgruppen of heavily armed Fw 190As, clearing each force of bomber destroyers in their turn from Germany's skies throughout most of 1944. getDownloadURL($(this).parent()) +
2d Bombardment Wing: 1942-1943. Login; Frequently Asked . The 8th Air Force motto is "Peace Through Strength. These Veterans, born in the 1920s and before, were members of the greatest air armada of all time. The 8th lost 31 bombers, the 15th lost 33. 3d Bombardment Wing: 1942-1943. After the Southeast Asian war, Eighth Air Force moved on 1 January 1975 to Barksdale AFB, Louisiana. The 305th Bombardment Group was a B-17 Flying Fortress group of the Eighth Air Force and took part in the daylight strategic bombing campaign over Europe. var newImgHgt = (origImgHgt * ratio);
General Resources and Sites. Eighth Air Force Historical Society 8th Air Force Bases in England Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB Air Force Personnel Center Barksdale AFB, Louisiana (Current 8th AF headquarters) Department of Veterans Affairs Fold 3 by Ancestry.com MacArthur Memorial Kassel Mission National Archives and Records . 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. event.stopImmediatePropagation();
With the end of fighting in Korea, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had taken office in January 1953, called for a "new look" at national defense. ), Data from Air Force Combat Units of World War II By Maurer, Maurer, Published 1986. On this mission, he sat in the co-pilot's seat of the lead B-17, Butcher Shop[8][self-published source] The pilot in command and leader of this historic mission was Paul Tibbets, who on 6 August 1945, dropped the first Atomic Bomb, Little Boy, on Hiroshima from the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Enola Gay. The 398th was formed in the United States in 1943 and was stationed in Nuthampstead, England from April 1944 until June 1945. Constituted as VIII Bomber Command on 19 Jan 1942. Importantly, the Eighth's bombing effectiveness influenced the North Vietnamese to end hostilities. INSIGNE. 2 views 2023 Dues are due in January. Want to help? $(".fancybox-caption__body").removeClass("af3-caption-body");
Donations Page. The Eighth's units played a key role in the 42-day Gulf War in 1991. Read here to learn more about who the 8th Air Force is. B-17 Aluminum Overcast. United States Air Force. },
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Our Society is one of many organizations across the country that honor and preserve the legacy of the Mighty Eighth. 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. Rolls-Royce engineers rapidly realized that equipping the Mustang with a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine with its two speed, two stage supercharger would substantially improve performance. Moved to England in Oct 1943 to become the tactical air force for the invasion of the Continent. During the Cold War (1945-1991), 8 AF was one of three Numbered Air Forces of the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command (SAC), with a three-star general headquartered at Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts commanding USAF strategic bombers and missiles on a global scale. For instance, the Eighth suffered about half of the U.S. Army Air Force's casualties (47,483 out of 115,332), including more than 26,000 dead.
Constituted as VIII Bomber Command on 19 Jan 1942.
Then in April 1970, SAC moved the Eighth without personnel or equipment to Andersen AFB Guam, absorbing resources of the 3d Air Division. For two years, the wing remained in this status until the 58th Bomb Wing was inactivated on 16 October 1948. The original Eighth Air Force was redesignated as the United States Strategic Air Forces (USSTAF). Do you have items such as papers, photos, uniforms, gear and other artifacts? displayhgt = "90vh";
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That buildup limited the Eighth's Korean War involvement to the deployment of its 27th Fighter Escort Wing. Over 300 German fighters attacked the bomber forces, losing almost half its aircraft, with claims of upwards of 47 Luftwaffe fighters by American fighter pilots. This was the first DSC earned by a member of the Eighth Air Force in World War II. $(".fancy-photo-detail-link").html($(".fancy-photo-detail-link").html().replace("SHOW", "CLOSE"));
The command staff and all personnel of the 58th Bomb wing were eliminated on 1 November 1946 and the organization was reduced to a paper unit. $(".fancybox-caption").addClass("af3-caption-bg");
The USAAF now finally had an aircraft that could compete on equal terms with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and the later models of the Messerschmitt Bf 109. Men and women continue the fight for liberty and peace serving in the 8th Air Force now headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base near Shreveport, Louisiana. In June 1946, the headquarters relocated to MacDill Field, Fla., to join the new Strategic Air Command (SAC).
To reduce the risk to its bomber fleet in the United States, Eighth Air Force aircraft stood nuclear alert, providing a deterrent against an attack on the United States by the Soviet Union. 301st Fighter Wing: 1945- 1946. On 1 May, over 1,300 Eighth Air Force heavy bombers made an all-out attack on the enemy's rail network, striking at targets in France and Belgium. On 7 May, another 1,000 bombers hit additional targets along the English Channel coast, hitting fortifications, bridges and marshaling areas.
By comparison, the U.S. Navy suffered 37,000 deaths out of the 4.1 million in WW II. Another 305 enlisted gunners were also recognized as aces. One of the main benefits of membership in the Society is our Magazine, the 8th AF News. The operation was a pyrrhic success for the Luftwaffe as the losses suffered by the German air arm were irreplaceable and over 300 Luftwaffe aircraft were shot down, mostly by Allied anti-aircraft guns.
in World War II. 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). They did not realize that they were over Dutch territory; 850 civilians, including children on their way to school, were among the casualties. This air force lost most of its men and equipment in the defense of the Philippines after 7 Dec 1941. CAMPAIGNS. Under Air Force Global Strike Command since 1 Feb 2010, Eighth Air Force controls strategic bomber (e.g., B-2 Spirit and B-52 Stratofortress, and B-1 Lancer) forces throughout the United States and overseas locations. $(document).ready(function () {
Also after the deployment of forces to Far East Air Force to engage in combat over Korea, the history of Eighth Air Force becomes indistinguishable from that of SAC. (left) took the Eighth Air Force Bomber Command Headquarters to England the next month and located at High Wycombe, about 40 miles west of London and on the road to Oxford.
See What the 8th Air Force is up to Today! If you don't know of anyone in your family who served during the war, consider asking your family or looking at your family tree for those who would have been the right age to have registered for the draft or who may have served. if (isMobile())
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SAC fighter wings assigned to Eighth Air Force were: Fighter escorts were no longer needed once SAC was equipped with Boeing B-47 Stratojet and then Boeing B-52 Stratofortress jet bombers carrying nuclear bombs. Although SAC fighter squadrons upgraded to Republic F-84F Thunderstreak jet fighters in the early 1950s, the new jet bombers flew so high and so fast there was little danger of them being intercepted by enemy fighters. Originally, the U.S. Army Air Forces activated the Eighth at Savannah, Georgia, on 28 January 1942 with three major subordinate units: the VIII Bomber Command (BC), the VIII Fighter Command (FC), and the VIII Ground Air Services Command (GASC). On 7 April 1945, the Luftwaffe flew its most desperate and deadliest mission, with the dedicated aerial ramming unit Sonderkommando Elbe. As part of this plan, Eighth Air Force headquarters was reassigned to Sakugawa (Kadena Airfield), Okinawa, on 16 July 1945, being assigned to the United States Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific without personnel or equipment. 2d Air Division: 1943-1945. In its early days, SAC had fighter wings for the escorting its aircraft equipped with the new F-82E Twin Mustang along with long range F-51H Mustangs and F-47N Thunderbolts, all of which were designed late in World War II for use in the planned invasion of Japan. 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. }
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.
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