Book description
In May 1942, five months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the first
aircraft and crews of the newly-formed Eighth US Army Air Force arrived
in England. Over the next two years their numbers swelled to a massive
and powerful force of bombers and fighters described by one USAAF
General as 'the greatest striking force the world has ever known'. They
occuped no less than 67 airfields in East Anglia, Cambridgeshire,
Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire, and added
a huge offensive capability to the RAF's Bomber Command. A close working
relationship soon formed between the Eighth's Brigadier General Ira C.
Eaker and his British opposite number Air Chief Marshall Arthur T.
Harris. The Americans were dedicated to high-altitude precision bombing
in close formation and in daylight. The RAF, who had been bombing
Germany at night since 1940, were joined by the Eighth in July 1943 to
provide a round-the-clock bombardment. This book tells the story of the
Mighty Eighth during three years of bitter fighting in the smoke-filled
skies above Germany and Occupied Europe. It was a harsh, harrowing,
costly battle, with 26000 American airmen killed, 1,900 seriously
injured and 6,300 aircraft destroyed. Their missions included the
bombing of U-boat bases, oil refineries, railway marshalling yards,
airfields in France, Holland and Belgium, and general industrial targets
throughout the length and breadth of Germany. On D-Day, their task was
to destroy Normandy beach defences as the Allied troops stored ashore.
Fifty or so memorials, dotted about England remain to tell the story of
this mighty war machine which made such an enormous contribution to
gaining peace in Europe. In May 1942, five months after the bombing of
Pearl Harbor, the first aircraft and crews of the newly-formed Eighth US
Army Air Force arrived in England. Over the next two years their numbers
swelled to a massive and powerful force of bombers and fighters
described by one USAAF General as 'the greatest striking force the world
has ever known'. They occuped no less than 67 airfields in East Anglia,
Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Oxfordshire and
Hertfordshire, and added a huge offensive capability to the RAF's Bomber
Command. A close working relationship soon formed between the Eighth's
Brigadier General Ira C. Eaker and his British opposite number Air Chief
Marshall Arthur T. Harris. The Americans were dedicated to high-altitude
precision bombing in close formation and in daylight. The RAF, who had
been bombing Germany at night since 1940, were joined by the Eighth in
July 1943 to provide a round-the-clock bombardment. This book tells the
story of the Mighty Eighth during three years of bitter fighting in the
smoke-filled skies above Germany and Occupied Europe. It was a harsh,
harrowing, costly battle, with 26000 American airmen killed, 1,900
seriously injured and 6,300 aircraft destroyed. Their missions included
the bombing of U-boat bases, oil refineries, railway marshalling yards,
airfields in France, Holland and Belgium, and general industrial targets
throughout the length and breadth of Germany. On D-Day, their task was
to destroy Normandy beach defences as the Allied troops stored ashore.
Fifty or so memorials, dotted about England remain to tell the story of
this mighty war machine which made such an enormous contribution to
gaining peace in Europe.
