Memories of "The Mighty Eighth"

Memories of “The Mighty Eighth” 

There are American veterans for whom the passing years have not dimmed the memory of four 1200 horsepower radial engines giving life to a 55,000 pound bomber, and lifting it into the stratosphere; who remember sunlit skies suddenly blackened by storms of exploding antiaircraft shells; who still feel the sickening lurch and buck of a direct hit, and who have not forgotten the smell of raw gasoline, hot oil, mothballed parachutes and burning flesh . . . Events once momentous to them, but now mostly forgotten by others, make up the fabric of these veterans’ recollections.

    On July 4, 1942, at 7:30 a.m. twelve Royal Air Force (RAF) Douglas A-20s, flying in three elements of four planes each, roared out over the English Channel. They would raid German held airdromes in Holland. Six of the twelve air crews were from the United States Army Air Force’s newly activated 15th Light-Bombardment Squadron (8th Air Force), based at High Wycombe, England. 

    The event prompted one writer to observe it was a curious occasion when “Americans and Britons should thus jointly celebrate America’s Independence Day. . . . [It] seemed to be a particularly happy omen.” 

    On the other hand an Army Times historian concluded the mission could hardly be called a success: 

    “One British and two American crews were shot down, another plane jettisoned its bombs, and two planes returned with bomb-loads intact, having failed to recognize the camouflaged target until too late.” 

    That same day the 8th Air Force recorded another event that cast an ominous shadow on the future of Germany’s Third Reich—the first heavy bomber, a B-17E Flying Fortress, arrived in England. 

    The July 4 A-26 raid, however, was not the first combat mission flown by members of “The Mighty Eighth.” Near the end of June, Major Lessing became the first American pilot in a U.S. uniform to fly a mission into German-held territory. He accompanied an RAF fighter squadron over France in one of 36 Mark V Spitfires. On 29 June a crew of the 15th Bomb Squadron flew an RAF Boston (A-20) in a British formation on a bombing mission to the railroad marshaling yards at Hazebrouck, France. The Squadron Commander, Charles C. Kegelman, and his crew were the first US airmen to bomb occupied Europe.

    The first 8th Air Force fighter operation in WWII occurred July 26, 1942, when the 31st Fighter Group flew six RAF Spitfires on a sortie over the French coastal areas.

    The initial B-17 raid by the 8th did not take place until August 17. Twelve Flying Fortresses of the 97th Bomb Group left Grafton Underwood carrying 18 tons of bombs, and attacked the railway marshaling yards at Rouen, France. The lead pilot was Paul Tibbits. He would later drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Six other B-17s were sent on a diversionary mission against St. Omer. They successfully confused the German radio direction finders. All aircraft returned safely.

    For veteran airmen who have some lurking, indefinable itch to add a bit of vitality to their reminiscences, there is a place where that desire can be satisfied. It is the United States Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio, where one can take a nostalgic journey into the past.

    The museum is a vivid kaleidoscope of manned flight history, beginning with Assyrian, Egyptian and Greek mythology and continuing on to a Wright brothers’ Flyer, an F-117A Stealth fighter and exotic space craft. The workhorses and dauntless fighters of the air from World War I through Desert Storm are there. Some aircraft are seen in life-size dioramas; others can be seen in detailed scale models. Featured are aircraft of historic renown: an original 1911 Wright “B” Flyer, a Caquot Type R observation balloon from World War I, a Hawker Hurricane and a Supermarine Spitfire from the early days of World War II. There is  a Mig 15, flown to South Korea by a defecting North Korean pilot; Bockscar, the B-29 that dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki; a B-36 that dwarfs every aircraft in the museum, and there are many other examples of the evolution of military aircraft.

    Perhaps the most haunting display is three reconstructed buildings. They are a control tower and two Nissen huts similar to those used by the 8th Air Force in England. On the first floor of the control tower is a 1940’s era weather station. A recreated mission briefing room and “Belly Tank” military club bar can be found in the Nissen huts. The briefing room is complete with uniformed mannequins, mission map and target schedule. With a little imagination one can picture themself transported back to those bleak years when England was under aerial attack; when allied bombers thundered toward their targets, and sleek fighters flocked overhead to protect them. It reminds many of us of a time in 1942 and ‘43 when America struggled to recover from the attack on Pearl Harbor.