User manual GAMES PC COMBAT FLIGHT SIMULATOR 3 - UNDERSTANDING THE TACTICAL AIR WAR

Microsoft® Combat Flight Simulator 3.0 Air Force Historical Research Agency Photo UNDERSTANDING THE TACTICAL AIR WAR handbook Subject: CONTENTS Contents o ration Phot rds Administ es and Reco onal Archiv Nati Welcome to the Tactical Air War! ... 1 Air Force Historical Research Ag ency Photo Events and People in the Tactical Air War ................. 7 Key Players in the Tactical Air War: The CFS3 Hall of Fame ............... 21 Acknowledgements...... 30 Recommended Reading... 32 Glossary.............. 36 *** ES MEN AND MACHIN REMEMBER: OUR LOT LIKE LOOK A ON THE GROUND RS. THEI A B-26 MARAUDER FLIES OVE R THE NORMANDY INVASION FLEET. Agency Photo Air Force Historical Research UNDING BY AFTER A PO RAIL CARS S. TER BOMBER ALLIED FIGH Authorized licensees of this game may print (or have printed at their expense) a single copy of this manual for their personal home use in conjunction with the play and use of the game on this CD. Subject: TACTICAL AIR WAR Welcome to the Tactical Air War! So you thought you were going to be a "knight of the air," jousting high in the clean blue sky, far above the clouds and even farther from the mud and squalor of the war on the ground. Instead you find yourself in a fighter bomber, scraping over hostile territory at 200 feet with the terrain rising to meet you. You're flying down the muzzles of massed antiaircraft guns and dodging small arms fire to attack enemy airfields, trains, tanks, trucks, and troops. Performing masthead-level attacks on enemy shipping adds its own thrills and threats. Some of your targets have more and bigger guns than a whole formation of bombers. If enemy fire doesn't get you, the blast and debris from your own low-level bombing and strafing can bring you down. In this kind of war there's more danger and less glory for everyone. Welcome to the tactical air war, pal! "Schlachtfliegerei" Schlacht means slaughter. Schlachtfliegerei means ground attack, the most dangerous and least glamorous part of wartime flying. There is no room here for romantic illusion, no pretense of chivalry; one is down on the deck where the targets (people, vehicles, installations, and fortifications) may be clearly seen. The ground attack pilot is exposed to every bit of flak, every machine gun, every rifle, every pistol. Denied him is the acclaim accorded fighter pilots. The chances of winning fame as a Schlachtflieger are as slim as those of survival.... --From Jay P. Spenser, Focke-Wulf 190: Workhorse of the Luftwaffe "WE TOOK A BIT OF A BEATING ON THE GROUND BUT BOY DID WE DISH IT OUT IN THE AI R." --General Elwood "Pete" Quesada -1- Air Force Historical Research Ag ency Photo Subject: TACTICAL AIR WAR on the tactical air war WHAT REALLY HAPPENED: The lowdown SETTLED BY MID-1943 THE AIR WAR IN EUROPE HAD PILOTS ON BOTH INTO A DEADLY PATTERN FOR FIGHTER EGIC AIR WAR; SIDES. MOST WERE INVOLVED IN THE STRAT THEIR PRIMARY ROLE, ESCORTING OR ATTACKING BOMBERS WAS 0 TO 30,000 AND COMBAT IN THE FRIGID SKIES AT 20,00 FEET WAS THE NORM. OF AS THE POSSIBILITY OF AN ALLIED INVASION THE TACTITHE CONTINENT TOOK ON GROWING CERTAINTY, EMPHASIZED A CAL AIR WAR IN THE WEST HEATED UP AND SUPPORT. THIS DIFFERENT PILOT ROLE--FLYING CLOSE AIR THE DECK FOR A ROLE PUT WOULD-BE HIGH FLYERS DOWN ON ROUND TEAMDIFFERENT KIND OF WARFARE BASED ON AIR-G OF THE ARMY WORK. FIGHTER-BOMBER PILOTS WERE PART T THE ADVANCE TEAM, WITH DIRECT RESPONSIBILITY TO ASSIS KEEPING ENEMY OF FRIENDLY FORCES ON THE GROUND, WHILE BULLETS, BOMBS, TROOPS AND SUPPLY LINES REELING UNDER AND ROCKETS. POWER AS THE GERMAN ARMY HAD ALWAYS VIEWED AIR D. CLOSE AIR SUBORDINATE TO THE FORCES ON THE GROUN ADVANCE OF SUPPORT, USING AIRCRAFT TO ASSIST THE D, WAS A CENTROOPS AND MOBILE FORCES ON THE GROUN E BETWEEN 1939 TRAL PART OF THE BLITZKRIEG ACROSS EUROP OF COMBAT IN AND 1940. IT WAS ALSO A BASIC FEATURE THE WAR IN THE THE CAULDRON OF THE EASTERN FRONT. AS THE ALLIED INVAWEST INTENSIFIED, ESPECIALLY AFTER THE GERMANS SION OF FRANCE COMMENCED IN JUNE 1944, TACTICAL SERPRESSED MORE AND MORE AIRCRAFT INTO IGN AGAINST VICE EVEN AS THE STRATEGIC BOMBING CAMPA FOR HIGH-ALTIGERMANY INCREASED THE LUFTWAFFE'S NEED S HAD TO TUDE INTERCEPTORS. BF 109 AND FW 190 PILOT FLOOD OF STRAFE AND DIVE BOMB TO STOP OR SLOW THE S. JU 88 MEDIUM MEN AND MATERIEL OF THE INVADING ARMIE NG ALTITUDE BOMBERS SWOOPED DOWN FROM NORMAL BOMBI DO THE MOST TO PLACE THEIR ORDNANCE WHERE IT WOULD EVEN THE NEW GOOD: RIGHT IN THE LAPS OF THE ENEMY. CAL AIR WAR. GERMAN JETS SAW SOME SERVICE IN THE TACTI THE THE ALLIES TOOK LONGER TO FULLY EMBRACE COMBAT AIRCRAFT, POTENTIAL OF A TACTICAL ROLE FOR 1943 AND 1945 BUT PERFECTED CLOSE AIR SUPPORT BETWEEN TO THE TACBY ADDING NEW TECHNOLOGICAL VARIATIONS TED BY AIR TICAL THEME. ALLIED PILOTS (BEING DIREC D TO ENEMY GROUND FORCE LIAISON OFFICERS ON THE GROUN ESCORT, TARGETS, FRIENDLY FORMATIONS IN NEED OF A BLITZKRIEG OF OR INCOMING BANDITS) CARRIED OUT IN THE ENEMY THEIR OWN AGAINST ANYTHING THAT MOVED , MUSTANGS, TYPHOONS, SECTOR. THUNDERBOLTS, LIGHTNINGS R DUTY TEMPESTS, AND SPITFIRES FLEW FIGHTER BOMBE WHILE MITCHELL, TO SUPPORT THE WAR ON THE GROUND, FORMIDABLE MARAUDER, AND MOSQUITO BOMBERS ADDED THE AND CANNON TO THE STRAFING POWER OF MULTIPLE GUNS DESTRUCTIVE FORCE OF THEIR BOMBS. LINE FOR BOTH SIDES, DETERMINING THE PRECISE A FLUID AND BETWEEN FRIENDLY AND ENEMY TERRITORY IN CULTIES TACCLOSE-FOUGHT SITUATION ADDED TO THE DIFFI TICAL PILOTS ALREADY FACED. -2- Subject: TACTICAL AIR WAR Altitude is still your friend...but you've got less of it to work with! From a tactical pilot's point of view, you've got one strike against you as soon as you leave your base and head into enemy territory--you're flying close to the deck without the luxury of altitude. Altitude is life to a fighter pilot, providing the high ground from which to attack enemy aircraft, as well as room in which to dive away from attackers. Flying five or six miles above the ground provides plenty of room for maneuvering, attacking, and evading. For a fighter bomber pilot altitude is still your friend, but you've got a lot less of it to work with since most missions are flown at 12,000 feet or lower (usually much lower), right on down to the deck. "The Mission of the Tactical Air Force" MISSIONS--The mission of the tactical air force consists of three phases of operations in the following order of priority: First priority--To gain the necessary degree of air superiority. This will be accomplished by attacks against aircraft in the air and on the ground, and against those enemy installations that he requires for the application of air power. Second priority--To prevent the movement of hostile troops and supplies into the theater of operations or within the theater. Third priority--To participate in the combined effort of the air and ground forces, in the battle area, to gain objectives on the immediate front of the ground forces. --From War Department Field Manual FM 100-20: Command and Employment of Air Power (21 July 1943) USAF Museum Photo Archives DOUGLAS A-20 MEDIUM BOMBER IN LOW-LEVEL ATTACK ON CHERBOURG PENINSULA. A THUND ER PLETE G BOLT CARRIES TH RO GUNS, B UND ATTACK AR E COMSENAL: OMBS, A ND ROCK ETS. -3- ncy Photo ical Research Age Air Force Histor Subject: TACTICAL AIR WAR A few additional worries In addition to reduced altitude and the hail of flak and small arms fire coming up at you as you approach targets on the ground, you have a few additional worries as a fighter-bomber pilot: - Encountering airfield defenses. If you and your buddies swoop down to beat up an enemy airfield, the guy who flies through first is the lucky one, because he might catch the antiaircraft defenses off guard. By the time the rest of you approach the target those gunners are wide awake and filling the air with flak. - Pulling up in time. Diving a heavy, powerful aircraft from low altitude makes for a thrilling pullout, if you're lucky. If you're not both attentive and lucky, you may fixate on the target until it's too late to pull out. - Identifying appropriate targets--now! While you're thinking about the target, the flak, and the need to pull out before you become part of the landscape, you also need to make sure that the target you're attacking belongs to the enemy. Skimming along at low altitude and high speed over a crowded battlefield doesn't give you a lot of time to make vital decisions. Are those enemy troops? Are you sure the squat form of a heavy tank glimpsed through foliage is an appropriate target? You may never know for sure whose cause will profit from the bombs you just dropped. - And finally, getting caught in your own explosions. When you attack surface targets from low altitude you risk getting caught in explosions of your own making. Trains and motorized transport full of fuel and ammo, the volatile contents of fuel and ordnance dumps, and even locomotives with a boiler full of high-pressure steam--all of these targets can blow up in a big way, filling a once empty piece of sky with pinwheeling chunks of shrapnel. Even the roadway beneath enemy vehicles can be hazardous, as bomb blasts can heave hunks of pavement into the same airspace you're occupying. Three Critical Factors for Fighter Bomber Pilots ...strafing passes... bring out three critical factors in a fighter bomber pilot's war.... One, any misjudgment, target fixation, or too-late attempts at aiming corrections will send the airplane into the target, ground, or nearby trees or other obstructions. Two, if the target is a load of ammunition or other explosives, it can--and very likely will--explode right in the pilot's face, sending up a fireball, truck parts, slabs of highway, stillto-explode ammo, and other debris right into the path of the airplane. Three, if a pilot is seriously hit by flak in [a] low-altitude attack, his chances of ever reaching enough altitude to allow a bailout are slim indeed.... --From Bill Colgan, World War II Fighter Bomber Pilot -4- Subject: TACTICAL AIR WAR Another little problem: Enemy fighters While you're concentrating on the enemy below, don't forget the most dangerous and persistent threat any combat pilot faces: enemy fighters attacking from superior altitude. Getting bounced from above while going after ground targets is an ever-present danger, so you and your buddies have got to take turns flying combat air patrol over the target area to keep the opposition busy while the rest of the team beats up targets on the ground. Now this kind of teamwork is what you joined up to do, right? Not quite. You'll be craning your neck and straining your eyes to spot incoming bandits, mixing it up with enemy fighters as you match your skills against skilled adversaries, but remember, this is dogfighting with a difference. Even if you're flying a relatively light and nimble fighter, your plane's ordnance load makes it heavier and less responsive; you can drop like a rock in a dive. Power and gravity combine to eat up altitude in a hurry, and the ground is never very far away. If you're flying one of the heavyweights in your air force's inventory, the ground can reach up and grab you. In a P-47 Thunderbolt or a Do 335 Arrow, or even a big German jet, you've got to juggle the need to get the target in your sights against the need to pull out in time. If you cut it too fine, you can haul back on the stick to point the nose up at what appears to be the last moment and discover that your plane simply won't cooperate. With all its weight and power, it will continue to sink despite your best efforts and "mush" right into the ground. Results You Can See "There were times we could actually see our troops move forward after we had knocked out a German 88 or tank that was holding up the column. We knew we were making a difference." --Veteran fighter bomber pilot Quentin Aanenson "I don't believe in all this divebombing [stuff], it ain't natural." Many new fighter-bomber pilots longed for the classic fighterpilot role they'd read and dreamed about, in which the ground was for the ground-pounders and the sky above the clouds was reserved for dashing aviators. This made for a difficult adjustment: ...fighter pilots were slow to appreciate the value of close-support operations. One flyer aptly summarized the rank-and-file perception of the new task when he said... "I don't believe in all this dive-bombing [stuff], it ain't natural." --Thomas A. Hughes, Over Lord: General Pete Quesada and the Triumph of Tactical Air Power in World War II Agency Photo ical Research Air Force Histor ROYED IV TANK DEST A GERMAN MK TACK. BY AERIAL AT -5- Subject: TACTICAL AIR WAR The payoff: Unique satisfactions So given the catalog of dangers, why would you want to fly close air support missions? Because this job provides some unique satisfactions: - Even if you're a loner--and many fighter pilots are--there's a lot to be said for being part of a team; especially if it's a winning team. Protecting your guys on the ground and helping them to advance by suppressing enemy troops and weapons adds real meaning to your part of the struggle. - There's also a lot to be said instant gratification--and few are as gratifying to a combat seeing a tempting target blow big way. for things pilot as up in a - There's also plenty of encouragement in knowing that your contribution isn't just emotional--all armies understand that close air support plays an important role in making progress on the battlefield and in the theater of operations. Your missions are a significant part of the bigger picture. What you do or fail to do every day can contribute to the larger success or failure of your nation's forces in this war. The "Moral" Effect of Attack from the Air Moral Effect--The moral effect of heavy air attack against land forces can hardly be exaggerated. Not only will air attack lower the morale of the enemy, but the sight of our own aircraft over the battlefield raises the morale of our own troops to a corresponding degree. Seeing enemy aircraft shot down has an encouraging effect.... On the other hand, the constant appearance of unmolested enemy aircraft tends to demoralize troops and disorganize plans. Apprehension of heavy air attack restricts military activity by ...confining troops to areas that afford concealment, and by preventing movement during daylight. Soldiers are naturally quick to react to the general air situation in their neighbourhood.... --Army/Air Operations (British War Office, 26/GS Publications/1127, 1944) - Seeing close-up the effect of your guns, bombs, and rockets on the enemy does a lot for your confidence and your feeling that the results are worth the risks. Flying close air support also provides a sense of personal power and effectiveness that is only tempered by the fact that the "clean blue sky" of high-altitude plane-to-plane combat is replaced by distressing glimpses into the hellish landscape of the war on the ground. - Another plus for the tactical pilot is the knowledge that just being there over the front lines gives a real lift to your guys on the ground, while depressing the spirits of the enemy. Air Force Historical Research Agency Photo A DIRECT A THUNDERBOLT SCORES ON AN AMMUNITION TRUCK. HIT -6- Subject: EVENTS AND PEOPLE Events and People in the Tactical Air War The campaign in CFS3... As a pilot in Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3, you fly in the historical framework of the tactical air war in northwest Europe starting in mid-1943, but there's a significant difference. The skill and perseverance you and your squadron or Staffel bring to each battle can alter the tactical situation and the timeline of the campaign. This open-ended and flexible campaign means you can influence events, alter history, and extend the timeline to add new technology to your arsenal. How you handle these tactical and technological advantages will determine the outcome. Before you take to the sky, it helps to understand what really happened during WWII. This will not only give you something to shoot at--but also something to shoot for. In CFS3, it's 1943, and no one knows what's going to happen, or how the war will turn out--but here's the way it was. ...and what really happened The campaign in northwest Europe during 1943 and 1945 marked a dramatic high point in the events of WWII and the fortunes of the warring nations. It began with the Third Reich in firm control of "Fortress Europa," and ended with Germany--and much of Europe--in ruins. ACES OF THE 354TH "PIONEER MUSTANG" FIGHTER GROUP. -7- Agency Photo ical Research Air Force Histor Subject: EVENTS AND PEOPLE The situation in mid-1943 In mid-1943 there were no dedicated tactical air forces operating in northwest Europe. Of course the tactical role was always part of the Luftwaffe's mandate, but most of its tactical efforts were focused against Russia. The Allied focus was on a strategic goal--using heavy bomber forces, escorted by fighters, to destroy Germany's ability to make war. German day- and nightfighter pilots' first responsibility was to attack the bomber formations that threatened the expanding Reich. All this began to change as planning for the Allied invasion of Europe took shape. It became clear to the Allies that the invasion would never take place without air power. Air power techniques worked out in North Africa and Sicily during 1943 showed how effective tactical air power could be, and plans were put in motion to use this weapon to the fullest. Air power would pave the way for forces on the ground by providing close air support. Pre-invasion activities In 1943 the U.S. Ninth Air Force moved from Italy to England, and the RAF created the Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF). These Allied tactical air forces faced two daunting pre-invasion tasks: - To disrupt the German army's ability to transport reinforcements and supplies by road, rail, or river. - To reduce the Luftwaffe's ability to seriously impede the planned Allied invasion. For its part, the Luftwaffe had to do its best to resist the mounting tide of Allied air and land forces, and to support the German army. Even in reduced circumstances, the Luftwaffe's best efforts remained formidable. BRIDGE AT BULLAY, GERMANY AFTER ATTACK BY THUNDERBOLT FIGHTER BOMBERS. -8- Air Force Historical Research Agency Phot o Subject: EVENTS AND PEOPLE The "Mighty Eighth" goes looking for trouble on the ground Even before tactical air forces were in place, fighter pilots of the strategic U.S. Eighth Air Force (the Mighty Eighth) assigned to escort the heavy bombers into Germany were increasingly freed to roam further afield from their lumbering charges in search of enemy fighters. The idea was to find trouble before trouble found the bombers. To meet this threat, more Luftwaffe fighter pilots were ordered to take on the Allied escorts instead of focusing entirely on the bombers. By January 1944, General Jimmy Doolittle, in charge of the Mighty Eighth, made destroying the German fighter force a top priority. To encourage his fighter pilots, Doolittle offered ace status to those who destroyed five aircraft on the ground. Some pilots who had won aerial victories by outflying their opponents complained that this was the "easy" way to become an ace, but flying into a wall of flak and small-arms fire while attacking an airfield didn't seem so easy to those who tried it. In February, the Eighth Air Force launched its "Big Week" operation with a series of heavy bomber raids against the German aircraft industry coordinated with medium bomber and fighter bomber attacks on Luftwaffe assets in France, Belgium, and Holland. Throughout the spring, German fighter losses in the air and on the ground mounted; more significantly, the Luftwaffe lost half of its irreplaceable veteran pilots before the invasion began. B-26G MARAUDER MEDIUM BOMBERS IN ATTACK FORMATION. -9- Air Force Historical Research Agency Photo Subject: EVENTS AND PEOPLE The tactical air forces join the fray The U.S. Nineth Air Force and the RAF's Second Tactical Air Force soon joined these efforts and, as winter turned to spring, the pre-invasion air campaign intensified. Two Tactical Air Commands of the U.S. Ninth Air Force (IX TAC under General Ellwood "Pete" Quesada and XIX TAC under General O.P. "Opie" Weyland) combined efforts with the British Second Tactical Air Force to smash rail transport, bridges, and airfields. Phase 1: Railways. Sixty days before D-Day (D-60), the Allies' focus fell on rail centers, with fighter bombers (as well as medium and heavy bombers) striking marshaling yards and major rail junctions. The railway phase continued right up to and after the Allied armies fought their way onto the shores of France on June 6. Phase 2: Bridges. At D-46, the Allies began to isolate the German troops that occupied the invasion battlefield from reinforcements and supplies by destroying bridges on the Seine below Paris and on the Loire below Orléans. Both medium bombers and fighter bombers participated in this phase, but the nimble fighter bombers proved to be the best tool to achieve the pinpoint accuracy this task required. Like the rail phase, this bridge-busting duty continued on after the Allied invasion had begun. Phase 3: Airfields. At D-21, the Allies added German airfields within 130 miles of the invasion area to their target list. This phase continued until D-Day. Between these attacks and the demands on German fighter resources resulting from the Allies' strategic bombing campaign, by June 6 the Luftwaffe simply wasn't a factor in Normandy. This situation wouldn't last for long, as the German fighter force wasn't finished yet. Within weeks the Luftwaffe increased its strength in Normandy, flying from small, improvised airstrips to avoid attack by Allied fighter bombers. Soon, the tactical air war would reach its furious height as the American, British, and German armies engaged in their winner-take-all struggle for control of Europe. "If I didn't have air superiority, I wouldn't be here." On June 24, Eisenhower's son John, a recent West Point graduate, rode with his father to view the invasion area. "The roads we traversed were dusty and crowded. Vehicles moved slowly, bumper to bumper. Fresh out of West Point, with all its courses in conventional procedures, I was offended at this jamming up of traffic. It wasn't according to the book. Leaning over Dad's shoulder, I remarked, "You'd never get away with this if you didn't have air supremacy." I received an impatient snort: "If I didn't have air supremacy, I wouldn't be here." --Richard P. Hallion, Air Power Over the Normandy Beaches and Beyond - 10 - Subject: EVENTS AND PEOPLE The invasion: Off the beaches-and into the bocage Once the invasion was under way, the Allied tactical air forces took on their toughest task: direct participation in the land battle. This included attacking enemy forces and providing close air support for friendly troops and armor on the ground. On June 6, 1944, 150,000 Allied troops stormed ashore on the Calvados coast of Normandy. A cloud of Allied aircraft, newly adorned in black and white "invasion stripes" to make their identity clear to nervous gunners on the ground, controlled the air over the beachhead. American and British fighters flew continuously over the invasion area, ending their patrols with attacks on coastal defenses, enemy strong points, bridges, and rail targets. These attacks slowed the arrival of German reinforcements, giving the invading armies additional time to consolidate their toehold on the Continent. Both invading armies made initial progress inland, but they soon ground to a halt as German resistance stiffened. The British were stuck outside Caen, blocked by the armor of Panzer Group West. The Americans punched their way off the beaches, only to find themselves stymied north of Saint-Lô by what General Omar Bradley called "the damndest country I've seen," the Norman hedgerow country, or bocage. This 20-mile swath of small fields - 11 enclosed by towering ancient hedges saw some of the most vicious infantry combat of the war. American troops groped their way into the maze of hedgerows, which the Germans had already infiltrated, and came under attack from three sides in each gloomy enclosure. Every field was like a small fortress with preplanned fields of machine gun, mortar, and artillery fire. With no more than a hundred yards of visibility this determined defense was unnerving. The bocage had been there for a thousand years, but nothing in the Allied planning had addressed fighting through this nightmarish terrain. General Quesada on the Hedgerow Stalemate "We were flabbergasted by the bocage.... Our infantry had become paralyzed. It has never been adequately described how immobilized they were by the sound of small-arms fire among those hedges." --General Elwood Quesada, U.S. IX TAC ACK AND ING WITH BL P-38 LIGHTN ION STRIPES." AS WHITE "INV o Research Agency Phot Air Force Historical Subject: EVENTS AND PEOPLE Ending the impasse Goals set to be attained within days by the Allied command remained out of reach for weeks, and each small gain of ground came at a staggering cost. To end this impasse, the Allies once again turned to air power. Two operations, codenamed GOODWOOD and COBRA, were intended to break the stalemate on the ground by pouring ordnance onto the battlefield from the air. GOODWOOD was designed to help the British break out of the stalemate around Caen and into the open country to the east, where tanks could operate effectively. The operation began on July 18 when 4,500 aircraft from the RAF Bomber Command and the U.S. Eighth and Ninth Air Forces attacked the area held by Panzer Group West. This enormous bombardment, violent enough to flip 60-ton tanks and drive hardened combat veterans into hysteria, allowed the British to force their way onto the Caen-Falaise plain. This forward movement was supported by the tactical air forces, which blasted enemy tanks, suppressed mortar and antitank fire, and delivered ordnance beyond the range of friendly artillery. However, within two days the advance lost its momentum, in part due to this operation's success in achieving its secondary goal of drawing German armor away from the American sector, where Bradley's forces were stuck in the bocage. In the American sector, operation COBRA benefited from the British breakout effort. Devised by General Omar Bradley, COBRA began on July 25 with a massive but botched aerial bombardment that blasted holes in the enemy lines and sent German forces reeling, but also killed or wounded hundreds of U.S. troops. Bradley quickly capitalized on these gaps; his First Army forces attacked across a moonscape of bomb craters in an advance that moved four armored divisions almost 35 miles--all the way from the hedgerows around SaintLô to the open country near Avranches. As the speed of the assault increased, good weather allowed IX Tactical Air Command fighter bombers, under the command of General Elwood "Pete" Quesada, to provide devastating close air support. Guided onto targets by Army Air Force liaison officers riding in command tanks, Thunderbolts and Mustangs littered the roads with the burning wrecks of German vehicles. This air-ground teamwork proved to be a winning combination that would come into its own in the Allied dash across France and into Germany. No Headlines for Tactical Pilots, but High Praise from Omar Bradley ...On June 20, Bradley asked Quesada to thank his pilots for "the fine work they have been doing and the close cooperation they have given the ground troops. Their ability to disrupt the enemy's communications, supply, and movement of troops has been a vital factor in our rapid progress in expanding our beachhead. I realize that their work may not catch the headlines any more than does the work of some of our foot soldiers, but I am sure that I express the feelings of every groundforce commander, from squad leaders to myself as Army Commander, when I extend my congratulations on their very fine work." --Thomas A. Hughes, Over Lord: General Pete Quesada and the Triumph of Tactical Air Power in World War II - 12 - Subject: EVENTS AND PEOPLE The breakout: Air-ground teamwork and the dash across France On August 1, with the momentum of the breakout growing, Bradley activated the Third Army under the command of General George S. Patton. From now on, Weyland's XIX TAC would support the Third Army advance, while Quesada's IX TAC was assigned to aid Bradley and the First Army. Patton's forces raced west from Normandy into Brittany, and then pushed south into the Loire valley before swinging east toward Le Mans. Bradley's First Army also swung to the east to provide added pressure on the Germans. Meanwhile, General Bernard Montgomery coordinated the advance of his British and Canadian forces in a drive south from Caen, catching German General von Kluge's Seventh Army between Allied pincers and effectively encircling it. To support this increasingly rapid movement, the tactical air commands had to revise their priorities and methods. Pre-planned missions didn't work in a fluid and rapidly changing situation-by the time the fighter bombers arrived at their objective, friendly forces might already have taken it. Two types of impromptu missions proved especially effective in this environment: - Flying armed reconnaissance missions, pilots received radioed updates on the current location of the "bomb line" that marked the boundary between friendly and hostile territory. They also reported threats on the ground and hammered enemy troops, tanks, and guns wherever they found them. - At the same time, armored column cover missions coordinated air power with tanks by radio to protect the advance of friendly armor while suppressing enemy resistance. With little air opposition, pilots were often given permission to sweep the roads up to 30 miles ahead of the columns they were assigned to protect, clearing the way for a rapid advance. The result of using these two new types of missions was a far more rapid advance than even the Allies had anticipated, creating a growing threat to all German forces west of the Seine. This threat became reality when the Germans planned a counterattack. The Allies intercepted and decrypted von Kluge's orders and, combining resistance on the ground with air strikes, they stopped the German counterattack at Mortain. On August 15, the Canadian First Army took Falaise, and the Allied armies, converging from the north, south, and west, squeezed the retreating German forces into a "pocket" between Falaise and Argentan. This pocket was less than 15 miles wide and was shrinking rapidly, with the only exit to the east. Armored Column Cover Speeds the Allied Advance Four- and eight-ship flights hovered over the lead elements of armored columns, ready to attack on request, to warn the tanks of hidden opposition, to eliminate delaying actions. These flights never returned to base until new flights came to relieve them. With this airplane cover always present...obstacles, which might have taken hours to surmount, were eliminated in a few minutes. --Air-Ground Teamwork on the Western Front (published by Headquarters, Army Air Forces, Washington, D.C.) - 13 - Subject: EVENTS AND PEOPLE The Falaise "pocket": Tac air in all its glory and horror The next four days demonstrated the full and terrible potential of tactical air power. As more and more German troops and armor were crowded into the shrinking pocket, British and U.S. fighter bombers reduced the milling men and vehicles to a bloody, burning shambles. Rocket-firing Typhoons and strafing Spitfires, in coordination with Allied infantry and armor, relentlessly pounded the packed enemy columns. U.S. Ninth Air Force pilots flew deep interdiction missions against enemy road, rail, and bridge targets, as well as aggressive sweeps to maintain air superiority, swatting down Luftwaffe fighters before they could get into the air. Allied tactical pilots stayed on the job as long as the daylight lasted, flying as many as five or six missions a day, stopping only to refuel and re-arm. The air over the Falaise pocket was so crowded with aircraft that coordination became an issue, and midair collisions took a toll among pilots focused on destroying the enemy. As the Allied advance gained momentum and the carnage reached a crescendo, one Allied air objective changed significantly. Instead of destroying bridges and routes by which German forces and supplies could enter the area, bridges were to be left intact for the pursuing Allied ground forces; the goal now was - 14 to prevent the Germans from escaping and reforming the remnants of the Seventh Army to fight another day. Thus bottled up, 10,000 German soldiers died along a road that came to be called the le Couloir de la Mort-the "Corridor of Death." Another 50,000 were taken prisoner. And the remnant of von Kluge's army--perhaps 20,000 men-managed to escape to the east only after abandoning almost all their vehicles and heavy weapons. Some fighter bomber pilots who swooped down to strike the fleeing enemy were shocked by the devastation and carnage. What they found was a hellish scene beneath a blackened sky full of the smoke and stench of the battlefield. The piled corpses of men and horses, the shattered and burning remnants of soft-skinned and armored vehicles, and a litter of abandoned equipment were all that remained along the cratered roads near Falaise. For those who had wondered about the effectiveness of tactical air power, Falaise was a gruesome revelation. Even for those who had counted on its effectiveness, the results, while beneficial to the Allied cause, were disturbing. Falaise: A Scene from Dante--or Hieronymous Bosch "The battlefield at Falaise was unquestionably one of the greatest "killing grounds" of the war. I encountered scenes which could be described only by Dante." --Allied Supreme Commander Dwight Eisenhower *** Perhaps the twisted allegories of Hieronymous Bosch would have been more fitting a choice, for Dante, at least, offered hope. --Air Force Historian Richard P. Hallion, Air Power Over the Normandy Beaches and Beyond Subject: EVENTS AND PEOPLE The race toward the Rhine As the remnants of the shattered Seventh Army fled eastward, additional German forces in Normandy swelled the retreat. However, like all major German retreats of the war, this was an organized and disciplined process. Despite hot pursuit by the Allied armies and continuing harassment by the tactical air forces, 240,000 Germans got across the Seine in the last dozen days of August and streamed toward Belgium, Luxembourg--and Germany. Patton's army began its pursuit on August 21 by crossing the Seine, and in the next ten days pushed almost 200 miles eastward to the river Meuse. Other British and U.S. forces liberated Paris on August 25 and pushed on into Belgium and Luxembourg. Seeking an opportunity to counterattack, the Germans deployed troops near the mouth of the river Scheldt, denying the Allies use of the vital port of Antwerp. This move was part of a plan (called "Autumn Mist") to drive an armored wedge through the Ardennes forest and across the Meuse to Antwerp, separating the British in the north from the Americans in the south. The resulting struggle, which began with an assault that bulged and almost broke the Allied lines, is better known as the Battle of the Bulge. The Battle of the Bulge Like many major actions of the Second World War, the outcome of the Battle of the Bulge was decided by air power. When the Germans began their last major offensive of the war on December 16, the dense, heavy cloud cover over the battle zone made lowlevel fighter bomber patrols difficult to impossible, temporarily negating Allied air superiority, but also limiting the effectiveness of the German tactical aircraft assembled to assist the offensive. For this fight all Allied tactical air power--including the U.S. Nineth Air Force's IX and XIX Tactical Air Commands and the British Second Tactical Air Force--was concentrated under the command of RAF Air Marshal Arthur Coningham, who in turn assigned General "Pete" Quesada of the U.S. IX TAC to control air power on the north side of the bulge, while the British 2TAF focused on the south side. There were three Allied air priorities: - To achieve and maintain air superiority over the battlefield. - To cooperate with ground forces in the destruction of enemy weapons and transport. - To interdict enemy supplies by attacking road, rail, and communication centers. Jack Stafford Follows Orders on His First Mission "Ready for your first show, Staff?" asked Woe Wilson. "Keep up with me. I'll be busy enough without looking after you--just watch my arse." We took off for the French coast. Woe watched the heading--I watched Woe's tail. When we returned the intelligence officer asked if we had encountered much flak. "Yes, quite a bit," said Woe. "Dieppe was the heaviest but they hosed us a bit from all the other ports." I stood there, my mouth open. "Flak! What bloody flak?" Good-natured laughter rocked the room. Woe said, "He was watching my arse and doing it well." Just then a ground staff man approached with a jagged piece of steel in his hand. "This was just removed from your aircraft's spinner, Staff." --Veteran fighter pilot and CFS3 historical advisor Jack Stafford - 15 - Subject: EVENTS AND PEOPLE Strict radio silence had kept the Germans' plans from being intercepted, and the surprise was complete when 24 Wehrmacht divisions crashed through the Allied lines. Twenty-four hundred tactical aircraft had been assembled to support this thrust, and a 60-milewide breech in the Allied line quickly became the westward "bulge" that gave this battle its name. For three days the Allied air forces fought the Luftwaffe above the cloud cover, keeping the German fighters from carrying out their close-support duties beneath the overcast and claiming 136 victories in the process. The Luftwaffe pilots were hampered not only by bad weather, but also by inadequate training and lack of experience in tactical air support, since by this stage of the war their leadership understandably emphasized air-to-air combat skills to counter the tactical bombing campaign that was reducing German cities to rubble. The Battle of the Bulge took place over some of the roughest terrain in Europe, during the hardest winter in memory. The weather soon deteriorated to the point that, for the four days between December 19th and the 22nd, Allied and German aircraft alike could hardly get off the ground. Once again, the opposing air forces were fighting on equally unfavorable terms. To restrict enemy supplies and slow the German advance, Eisenhower's strategy required U.S. forces to take and hold the crossroads at Saint Vith and Bastogne, an already perilous task that became practically impossible without tactical air support. The "bulge" soon grew to its maximum depth, extending about 50 miles west of what had been the American lines. U.S. forces soon evacuated Saint Vith, but the 101st Airborne Division hung on at Bastogne. U.S. SOLDIERS GET SOME CHOW IN THE WINTER LANDSCAPE OF THE "BATTLE OF THE BULGE." - 16 - ds Administration Photo National Archives and Recor Subject: EVENTS AND PEOPLE Patton's "weather prayer" pays off Chafing at the uncooperative weather that made life miserable for infantryman and airman alike, General George Patton ordered the Third Army chaplain to devise a "weather prayer" to be published throughout the Third Army by December 14, two days before the Battle of the Bulge began: "Almighty and most merciful God, we humbly beseech thee, of thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon thee that, armed with thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies, and establish thy justice among men and nations. Amen." timed airfield attacks to coincide with the return of fighters low on fuel and ammunition. Now Allied medium bombers joined in to cut off rail transport into the area, while U.S. and British fighter bombers pursued enemy tank columns down increasingly narrow roads. Once they hit the lead tank, the immobilized column could be destroyed in detail, a scene played out over and over again. German troop concentrations suffered the same fate as the tank columns. Thunderbolts bombed enemy positions just a few hundred yards from friendly forces. German road and rail traffic fell under the same hammer blows. By Christmas Eve, the German advance ground to a halt. On Christmas day, the Allies counterattacked, Patton relieved the 101st Airborne in Bastogne, and Montgomery's forces attacked from the north to cut off a German retreat. Allied tactical aircraft ruled the skies over the battlefield, but they would soon face the Luftwaffe in a decisive air battle. The Tactical Air War from Two Points of View "We took a bit of a beating on the ground but boy did we dish it out in the air." --General "Pete" Quesada, IX TAC after the Battle of the Bulge *** "The Third Reich received its death blow in the Ardennes offensive.... The American fighter bomber destroyed us." --General der Jagdflieger Adolf Galland This higher version of "air-ground teamwork" apparently did the trick, and on December 23 the murky weather that had hung over the Ardennes broke, unleashing Allied air and ground forces and dooming the last major German offensive of the war to failure. With massive numbers of American and British fighter bombers filling the sky and blasting ground targets at will, the Luftwaffe could no longer affect the situation on the ground. Even returning from a mission was dangerous for German pilots, as their Allied counterparts - 17 - Subject: EVENTS AND PEOPLE The Luftwaffe's last gamble: Operation Bodenplatte With their final ground offensive collapsing under the intolerable pressure of Allied tactical air power, the Luftwaffe planned an all-out air assault on 27 Allied airbases in Belgium, Holland, and France. The goal of Operation Bodenplatte ("Baseplate") was to break the air supremacy of the Allied fighter force and allow the weakened Luftwaffe to focus on the strategic bomber threat. Set for early morning on New Year's Day--January 1, 1945--it was a desperate gamble that would cost the Luftwaffe dearly. Poor planning, inadequate briefings, a lack of experienced pilots, and poor coordination with flak gunners on the ground cost the Luftwaffe a third of the 900 aircraft it threw into this large-scale surprise attack. More significantly, over 200 pilots, including almost 80 experienced leaders and commanders, never lived to see more than the first day of 1945. About a third of the aircraft lost fell to "friendly" antiaircraft gunners, some of whom remained uninformed about the flight schedule. In other cases, bad weather delayed takeoff, putting pilots in the air over batteries that had expected them earlier. The one thing Bodenplatte pilots had going for them was surprise. The last thing the Allies expected was a massive attack by an air force they - 18 knew was on the ropes, least of all on New Year's morning. Some Allied airfields suffered extremely heavy damage, while others were visited ineffectually by very small numbers of fighter bombers. It took awhile for the Allied air forces to react, but they were soon flying multiple sorties to blunt or entirely stave off the low-level attacks. By the end of the day nearly 500 Allied aircraft had been destroyed, almost all of them on the ground, with the heaviest damage falling in the British sector. This was a weighty blow, but all of these wrecked aircraft were replaced within a couple of weeks, while German losses, especially in pilots, were irreplaceable. Now the full weight of the Allied tactical air forces fell on the German army, making it impossible to move troops or supplies on the ground without drawing the unwelcome attentions of freeroaming fighter bombers with their guns, bombs, and rockets. WRECKED THUNDERBOLT ON U.S. AIRFIELD AT METZ, FRANCE AFTER GERMAN ATTACK, JANUARY 1, 1945. arch Agency Photo Air Force Historical Rese