Hit the Target: Eight Men who Led The Eighth Air Force to Victory over the Luftwaffe

336 Pages·2016·5.19 MB·English

by  Bill Yenne

NAL Caliber
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Copyright © Bill Yenne, 2015
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Yenne, Bill, 1949– Hit the target: eight men who led the Eighth Air
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:
Force to victory over the Luftwaffe / Bill Yenne.
pages cm.
Wartime service of Tooey Spaatz, Ira Eaker, Jimmy Doolittle, Curtis LeMay, Hub Zemke, Maynard
“Snuffy” Smith, Bob Morgan, and Rosie Rosenthal.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-69815501-5
1. United States. Army Air Forces. Air Force, 8th—Biography. 2. United States. Army Air Forces. Air
Force, 8th—Officers—Biography. 3. United States. Army Air Forces. Air Force, 8th—Aerial gunners—
Biography. 4. Air pilots, Military—United States—Biography. 5. Leadership—United States—History—
20th century. 6. World War, 1939–1945—Aerial operations, American. 7. World War, 1939–1945—
Campaigns—Western Front. I. Title. II. Title: Eight men who led the Eighth Air Force to victory over the
Luftwaffe.
D790.228th .Y46 2015
940.54'49730922—dc23 2015001506
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the
time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for
changes that occur after publication. Further, publisher does not have any control over and does not assume
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Version_1
EIGHT OF THE EIGHTH
Carl Andrew “Tooey” Spaatz
(1891–1974)
Ira Clarence Eaker
(1896–1987)
James Harold “Jimmy” Doolittle
(1896–1993)
Curtis Emerson LeMay
(1906–1990)
Maynard Harrison “Snuffy” Smith
(1911–1984)
Hubert A. “Hub” Zemke
(1914–1994)
Robert “Rosie” Rosenthal
(1917–2007)
Robert Knight Morgan
(1918–2004)
CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
NOTE ON ORGANIZATION
INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1 SPAATZ, EAKER, AND DOOLITTLE
CHAPTER 2 MAKING THEIR WAY
CHAPTER 3 COMING OF AGE IN A NATION AT WAR
CHAPTER 4 LEMAY, SMITH, AND ZEMKE
CHAPTER 5 ROSENTHAL AND MORGAN
CHAPTER 6 AT THE THRESHOLD OF POSTWAR AVIATION
CHAPTER 7 INTO AVIATION’S GOLDEN AGE
CHAPTER 8 PUSHING ENVELOPES
CHAPTER 9 COMING OF AGE WITH THE AIR CORPS
CHAPTER 10 OUTSIDE THE AIR CORPS
CHAPTER 11 CLOUDS OF WAR
CHAPTER 12 YOUNG MEN ON THE EVE OF WAR
CHAPTER 13 THE VIEW FROM ACROSS THE POND
CHAPTER 14 AMERICA AT WAR
CHAPTER 15 THE BIRTH OF THE EIGHTH AIR FORCE
CHAPTER 16 THE AMERICAN WHIRLWIND
CHAPTER 17 GROWING PAINS
CHAPTER 18 GETTING OVERSEAS
CHAPTER 19 THE TWELFTH AND TORCH
CHAPTER 20 INTO FLAK CITY
CHAPTER 21 VICTORY AT CASABLANCA
CHAPTER 22 LEARNING CURVES
CHAPTER 23 PLAYING THE ODDS
CHAPTER 24 A STAR IS BORN
CHAPTER 25 THE BALLAD OF SNUFFY SMITH
CHAPTER 26 FOCUSING THE AIR CAMPAIGN
CHAPTER 27 REGENSBURG AND SCHWEINFURT
CHAPTER 28 ON POINTBLANK’S FRONT LINE
CHAPTER 29 THE TRIALS OF SIR IRA
CHAPTER 30 SHAKE-UP
CHAPTER 31 HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
CHAPTER 32 CALCULATED RISKS
CHAPTER 33 SMALL BATTLES WON AND LOST
CHAPTER 34 OVERLORD
CHAPTER 35 SUPERFORTRESS
CHAPTER 36 LIFE AFTER THE EIGHTH
CHAPTER 37 RIDING THE MOMENTUM
CHAPTER 38 OUT OF THE FRYING PAN, INTO THE UNKNOWN
CHAPTER 39 THE END SEEMED NEAR
CHAPTER 40 ROSIE’S LAST MISSION
CHAPTER 41 LEMAY IN THE PACIFIC
CHAPTER 42 FROM CANNES TO BERLIN
CHAPTER 43 SETTING SUN
CHAPTER 44 THE POSTWAR AIR FORCE
CHAPTER 45 A JOKER AMONG KINGS
CHAPTER 46 RETIREMENT YEARS
CHAPTER 47 COLD WARRIORS
CHAPTER 48 LAST FOLDED WINGS
PHOTOS
SELECTED ACRONYMS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
NOTE ON ORGANIZATION
T
he Eighth Air Force was one of 16 numbered air forces that comprised the
US Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II. Numbered air forces
were composed of “commands,” defined by function and typically designated
with a Roman numeral that was the same number as that of the air force. The
Eighth was composed of the VIII Bomber Command and the VIII Fighter
Command—long-range heavy bombers and the fighters to escort them—as well
as the VIII Air Force Base Command to manage its base infrastructure. The VIII
Air Support Command was added to operate medium bombers in a tactical role,
but was later peeled off to form the nucleus of the Ninth Air Force.
Within the USAAF table of organization, the “group” was the basic building
block, and was contained within the commands. Groups initially contained three
squadrons, although larger organizations, such as the Eighth Air Force, later
added a fourth squadron to many groups. As the numbers of groups increased in
1943–1944, “wings” were activated to contain multiple groups, and “divisions”
were later activated to contain multiple wings. Both wings and divisions were
technically contained within commands, although, beginning in 1944, those
within the Eighth Air Force answered directly to the Eighth Air Force
headquarters.