[303rd-Talk] Re: Assembling 1200 B-17's each day

[Gordon Walker]

Thanks much for that explanation Colonel. Getting all those bombers in the air and all headed in the same direction was quite a feat.  I had always wondered  how they did that.  I have spent the last several months compiling data for a Calendar of all the Missions of the 8th Air Force from January 1, 1942 to May 7, 1945 and it was staggering to see missions day after day in 1944 that had 1000 bombers or more.  Also very sad to see the number of aircraft losses during the peak of the war.

If anyone cares to have a look at the Calendar, you can see it at the following url:
http://www.scottylive.com/mac_calendar/index.html

There is not much activity in 1942 but as you get into 1943, you can begin to see the buildup of the 8th Air Force and by late 1944, early 1945, the total desctruction of the German forces on the ground and in the air.

Scotty Walker





THE MIGHTY EIGHTH

Leslie A. Lennox

Lt./Col.  USAF(ret)



Of all the stories that have been written, and movies  that have
been
shown, about the 8th Air Force, very little attention has  been given to
what
was involved in assembling 1200 B-17's and B-24's  each day, to get them in
formation to carry out a strike against Germany.  Certainly showing bombers
under attack by fighters, or encountering  heavy
flak, was a reality, and are interesting to watch. Also, stories  about
some of
the rougher missions make interesting reading. But what  was going on over
England, each morning, could get just as scary to the  crews as the time
spent
over some of the targets. The planning, and  coordination, that had to be
accomplished during the night, by  the
operations planners of each Group, so that the crews could be briefed,  was
unbelievable. If the planners had failed to do their jobs properly,  there
would have been a free for all among Bomb Groups, in the skies  over
England.
The rendezvous points, altitude, and times had to be  precise, and known by
all
of the crews, before the Eighth Air Force  could get in formation. The
success
of the planners, in accomplishing  their mission, enabled the Eighth Air
Force
to become the most powerful  air armada ever assembled. In my view, how
this
was accomplished is one  of the major untold stories of the war.

I was a pilot in the 95th Bomb  Group, in late 1944 and early
1945,
and what follows is a typical  mission, as I remember it, from a  crew
member's
perspective.

Early in the evening, our Squadron  Operations would post the
names
of the crews that were scheduled to fly  the following day. There were two
ways we could be notified if the Group  had been alerted to fly. One was by
means of lights on the front of the  orderly room, and the other with
raising
of colored flags. If a green  light was on, the Group was alerted, if a red
light was on we would fly,  and if a white light was on, the Group would
stand
down. The light was  monitored frequently throughout the evening to learn
our
status and,  normally, we would know before going to
bed if we would be flying the next  day.

On the morning of a mission, the CQ (charge of quarters)  would
awaken the crews about four or five o'clock, depending on takeoff  time.
The
questions we always asked were, "What is the fuel load?" and,  "What is the
bomb
load?" If his answer was,
" full Tokyo tanks," we  knew we would be going deep into Germany.
Shortly
after being awakened,  "6-by" trucks would start shuttling us to the mess
hall.
We always had  all the fresh eggs we could eat, when flying a mission.
After
breakfast,  the trucks
carried us to the briefing room. All of the crew members  attended the
main
briefing, and then the Navigators, Bombardiers and  Radio operators went to
a
specialized briefing. At the main briefing, in  addition to the target
information--anti-aircraft
guns, fighter escort  and route in--we received a sheet showing our
location in
the formation,  the call signs for the day and all the information we would
need to  assemble our Group and get into the bomber stream.

After briefing, we  got into our flight gear, drew our
parachutes
and loaded onto the trucks  for a ride to our plane. We were now guided by
the
time on our daily  briefing sheet. We started engines at a given time and
watched for the  airplane we would be flying in formation with to taxi past,
then we would  taxi behind him. We were following
strict radio silence.



We  were now parked, nose to tail around the perimeter, on both
sides
of the  active runway, and extremely vulnerable to a fighter strafing
attack.
At  the designated takeoff time, a green flare would be fired and  takeoff
would
begin. Every thirty seconds an airplane started takeoff  roll. We were
lined
up on the perimeter so that the 12 airplanes of the  high squadron would
take
off first, followed by the lead and then the  low squadron.

Each Group had a pattern for the airplanes to fly during  climb
to
assembly altitude. Some would fly a triangle, some a rectangle  and our
Group
flew a circle, using a "Buncher" (a low frequency radio  station) which was
located on our station. The
patterns for each Group  fit together like a jig saw puzzle.
Unfortunately,
strong winds aloft  would destroy the integrity of the patterns, and there
would
be  considerable over running of each other's patterns.

Many of our  takeoffs were made before daylight, during the
winter of
'44 and '45,  when I was there, so it was not uncommon to climb  through
several
thousand feet of cloud overcast. Also it was not  uncommon to experience
one or
two near misses while climbing through the  clouds, although you would
never
see the other airplane. You knew you  had just had a near miss, when
suddenly
the airplane would shake  violently as it hit the prop wash of another
plane.
It was a wonderful  feeling to break out on top, so you could watch for
other
planes, to  keep from running into each other. To add to the congestion  we
were
creating, the Royal Air Force Lancasters, Halifaxes, and Wimpys  would be
returning from their night missions, and flying through our  formations.
Needless to say, pilots had to keep their heads on a swivel and  their eyes
out
of the cockpit.

After take off, the squadron lead  would fire a flare every 30
seconds, so that we could keep him located and  enable us to get into
formation
quicker. The color of our Group flare  was red-green. The first thing you
would see, when breaking out of the  clouds, was a sky filled with
pyrotechnics,
so you had to search the sky  for the Group flare, which would identify the
lead
airplane of your  Squadron. Once you had it located, you could adjust your
pattern to climb  more quickly into formation with him. As each airplane
pulled
into  formation, they would also fire a flare, with the lead plane,  making
it
much easier for the following aircraft to keep him in sight. I  think most
crew
members would probably agree that the pyrotechnic show,  in the skies over
England, in the morning when the Eighth was assembling,  was a rare sight to
behold.

The order of progression for assembling  the Eighth Air Force was
to
first assemble the Flight elements, the  Squadrons, the Groups ,the
Combat
wings, the Divisions and, finally, the  Air Force.

As soon as the four Squadron elements were formed, the high,  low
and
second elements would take up their positions on the lead  element, to form
a
Squadron. When the three Squadrons had completed  assembly, it was
necessary to
get into Group
formation. This was  accomplished by having the three Squadrons arrive over
a
pre-selected  fix at a precise time and heading. The high and low
Squadrons
were  separated from the lead Squadron by 1000 feet and, after getting into
Group  formation, they would maintain their positions by following the  lead
Squadron.

Then it was necessary to get into the Combat Wing  formation. We
were in the 13th Combat Wing, which consisted of three Bomb  Groups: the
95th,
the 100th and the 390th . Whichever Group was leading  the Wing that day,
would arrive over a pre-selected point, at a precise  time and heading.
Thirty
seconds later, the second Group would pass that  fix, followed by the third
Group, thirty seconds later. We were then in  Combat Wing formation. The
navigators in the lead airplanes had a  tremendous responsibility, to ensure
that the rendezvous times were  strictly adhered to.

There were three Divisions in the Eighth, the 1st,  2nd and 3rd.
The
1st and 3rd Divisions consisted of B-17s only, and the  2nd Division was
B-24s.
The B-24s were faster than the B-17s, but the  B-17s could fly higher,
therefore, the two were not compatible in  formation. As a result the 1st
and
3rd Divisions would fly together and  the 2nd Division would fly separately.

Now that the Groups were flying  in Combat Wing formation, it was
necessary to assemble the Divisions. This  was usually accomplished at the
"coast out"--a city on the coast, selected  as the departure point "fix."
The
Group leader in each Combat Wing knew  his assigned position in the
Division,
and the precise time that he  should arrive
at the coast out departure point, to assume that position in  the Division
formation. The lead Group in the Division, which had been  selected to lead
the
Eighth on the mission, would be first over the  departure fix. Thirty
seconds
after the last Group in the first Wing  passed that point, the second Wing
would
fall in trail, and so on, until  all Combat
Wings were flying in trail and the Division would be formed. One  minute
later, the lead Group in the other Division would fly over that  point, and
the
Combat Wings in that Division would follow the same  procedure to get into
formation. When all of its Combat Wings were in  trail, the Eighth Air Force
B-17 strike force was formed and on its way to  the target. At the same time
the
2nd Division B-24s were assembling in a  similar manner and also departing
to
their target.

Meanwhile, as  the bombers were assembling for their mission,
pilots
from the Fighter  Groups were being briefed on their day's mission.
Normally, 600 to 800  P-38's, P-47's, and P-51's would accompany the
bombers to
provide  protection against enemy fighter attacks. Fighter cover was not
needed by  the bombers until they were penetrating enemy territory,
therefore  to
help conserve fuel. fighter takeoffs were planned to give them enough  time
to
quickly assemble after takeoff, and climb on course up the  bomber stream to
the
groups they would be covering. The combined  strength of the fighters and
bombers brought the total number of aircraft  participating in a mission to
approximately two thousand.

A major  problem that presented itself, on each mission, was that
the
bomber  stream was getting too stretched out. It was not uncommon for the
headlines  in stateside newspapers--in trying to show the strength of  our
Air
Force--to state that the first Group of bombers was bombing  Berlin, while
the
last Group was still over the English Channel. It made  great headlines but
was
a very undesirable situation. It meant that the  Groups were out of
position,
and not keeping the proper  separation.
Furthermore, it was almost impossible for them to catch up and  get back
into
the desired formation.
This made the entire bomber  stream more vulnerable to fighter attacks.

Finally, our planners  figured out what we were doing wrong.
When
the first Group departed the  coast out fix, it started its climb to what
would
be the bombing  altitude. Then, as each succeeding Group departed that
fix,
it, too,  would start
climbing. The problem with this procedure was that, as soon as  the first
Group started its climb, its true airspeed would start to  increase, and it
would encounter different wind velocities. Now it would  start to pull
away
from the Group in back of it, and the "stretchout" of  the bomber stream
would
begin. By the time the last Group had reached  the coast out, to start its
climb, the first Group would be leveled off,  with a true airspeed
approaching
250 miles per hour, and the bomber  stream would be really stretching out.

The solution to this problem  that had been frustrating the
Bomber
crews for so long was pretty  simple. We would no longer start climbing at
the
coast out, but instead,  at a designated time, all Groups would start
climbing,
irrespective of  position. This meant that we all would have similar true
airspeeds and  would be influenced by the same
winds aloft. That took care of the problem.  It was still possible for a
Group to be out of position, because of poor  timing, but the entire bomber
stream wouldn't get all stretched  out.

When you consider the way our Air Traffic Control  system
operates
today, and all the facilities at their disposal to guide  each individual
airplane through the sky to ensure its safety, it's almost  unbelievable
that we
were able to do what we did. To think of launching  hundreds of airplanes,
in
a small airspace, many times in total  darkness, loaded with bombs, with
complete radio silence, and no control  from the ground, and
do it successfully day after day, with young air  crews, with minimum
experience, is absolutely mind boggling.

The  accomplishments of the Eighth Air Force have been and will
be
reviewed  by historians from World War II on. There never will be  another
air
armada to compare to it. I feel confident that they will  never cease to be
amazed by our ability to assemble hundreds of heavy  Bombers, under the
conditions we were confronting, into the devastating  strike force we now
fondly
refer to as, "The Mighty Eighth."
LTG  Brett Dula USAF ret forwarded:

THE MIGHTY EIGHTH

Leslie A.  Lennox

Lt./Col. USAF(ret)