Trent Telenko

Big Week, Day 5, Feb 24, 1944, Plus 75 Years

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Today marks the 75th Anniversary of the fifth day of  Operation Argument  otherwise known as BIG WEEK.   On Thursday, February 24, 1944 the 8th Air Force returned to major operations in the battle for air superiority before the Normandy invasion scheduled for June 1944.    The 8th Air Force’s emphasis includes revisiting  Schweinfurt.
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The 15th Air Force attacks Steyer again this day.
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The RAF Bomber Command flies an area bombing raid on  Schweinfurt with indifferent results.
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Day Five of “Big Week” Combat Results (Slide 1) from “Coming of Aerial Armageddon” by Dr. John Curatola
Day Five of “Big Week” Combat Results (Slide 2) from “Coming of Aerial Armageddon” by Dr. John Curatola
Other ETO Strategic Operations
Missions 237, 238 and 239 are flown against targets in France; 7 B-17s are lost. Heavy clouds cause over half the bombers dispatched to return without bombing.
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Mission 237: 49 of 81 B-24s hit the Ecalles sur Buchy V-weapon sites; 1 B-24 is damaged. Escort is provided by 61 P-47s
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Mission 238: 258 B-17s are dispatched against V-weapon sites in the Pas de Calais; 109 hit the primary target, 10 hit a road junction E of Yerville, 7 hit a rail siding SW of Abbeville and 6 hit targets of opportunity; 7 B-17s are lost and 75 damaged; casualties are 5 WIA and 63 MIA. Escort is provided by 81 P-38s, 94 P-47s and 22 P-51s; 1 P-38 is damaged beyond repair; the P-51s claim a single German aircraft on the ground.
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Mission 239: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 250 bundles of leaflets[clarification needed] on Amiens, Rennes, Paris, Rouen and Le Mans, France at 20232055 hours without loss.
RAF Bomber Command in Operation Argument
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Bomber Command directly contributed to the attacks on the aircraft industry in Schweinfurt. Some 734 bombers were dispatched on the night of 24/25 February, and 695 struck the target.[1]  Of the bombs dropped, 298 hit within three miles and 22 hit inside the target area. Little damage was done.

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For extensive background, see this Wikipedia article, where the passage above came from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Week

The 56th Fighter Group’s Private War with the USAAF Bomber Generals
The highest scoring 8th Air Force Fighter Group in World War 2,   in terms of strictly air-to-air kills, was the P-47 armed 56th Fighter Group.   Led by  Colonel Hubert “Hub” Zemke (March 14, 1914 August 30, 1994)   it fought a war with the Bomber Generals running 8th Air Force as well as the the Luftwaffe.
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See:
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In July, when a bomber  group  took over Horsham Saint Faith, Zemke’s men relocated to a half-built base at Halesworth Suffolk. Upset with the second-rate treatment his command seemed to be experiencing, Zemke joined a  group  of Eighth Air Force bomber commanders in a gripe session. The 4th Bomb Wing’s Colonel Curtis LeMay (chief of the postwar Strategic Air Command) complained that the only  fighters  he had seen so far ‘all had black and white crosses on them,’ but declared his bombers would carry on ‘with or without  fighter  escort.’

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Later, in the officers’ club, another bomber general stated he ‘wouldn’t pay a dime a dozen for any  fighter  pilots.’ Zemke hurled his pocket change at the man’s feet:

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‘Here, General, this is all I have handy at the moment,’ he responded. ‘Any time you have a couple dozen  fighter  pilots handy send them my way. We can sure use them.’ Then he jumped in his Jug and buzzed the place.

Big Week, Day 4 Feb 23, 1944, Plus 75 Years

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Today marks the 75th Anniversary of the fourth day of  Operation Argument  otherwise known as BIG WEEK.   On Wednesday, February 23, 1944 the 15th Air Force went after the Luftwaffe in the skies over Germany — with the 8th Air Force operations grounded by fog — in the battle for air superiority before the Normandy invasion scheduled for June 1944.

Like the previous day, the 15th Air Force lacked fighter escorts.

 

Day Four of “Big Week” Combat Results from “Coming of Aerial Armageddon” by Dr. John Curatola

ETO Strategic Operations

Mission 232: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 250 bundles of leaflets on Rennes, Le Mans, Chartres, Lille and Orleans, France at 21:3622:32 hours without loss.

MTO Strategic Operations

B-24s bomb the industrial complex at Steyr, Austria. Other heavy bombers are forced to abort because of bad weather; the bombers and escorting fighters claim 30+ aircraft shot down.

For extensive background, see this Wikipedia article, where the passage above came from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Week

 

From the Pre-War “Conveyor-Protector” to Long Range Escort Fighters

One of the most troubling parts of the US Army Air Force “P-51 Narrative” that the “Bomber Generals” pushed   after “Big Week” was that the USAAF had learned nothing from the 1940 “Battle of Britain” about the need for fighter escorts.

It turns out that the US Army Air Corps had not missed that obvious point at all.   They utterly got that point.   In fact, tab #4 for the AAF’s first Air War Plan (AWPD-1) written in August 1941 called for specialized escort fighters.    See this link from Ryan Crierie’s   web site —

http://alternatewars.com/WW2/VictoryPlan/Air_Force_Requirements.htm

What they did with that insight was utterly squandered by the factional politics of the “Bomber Mafia” between 1940 and the failure of the  second Schweinfurt raid   on 14 October 1943.

The need to avoid accountability for that failure — like hiding the real range of the P-47D with 150 gallon drop tanks after “Big Week” — was why this institutional lie was told.   The motive being to preserve the reputations of General H. H, “Hap” Arnold and a lot of Bomber Generals who founded the independent US Air Force.

And like any other claims of conspiracy in high places, great claims require great big heaping piles of evidence that they are true. In July 2017 my research partner found  the official memorandum chain that constitutes that  great big heaping piles of evidence. (See appendices  one thru four at the end of this post)

This is how Ryan described this  official memorandum chain to me:

 I found a memorandum chain in a folder today at NARA titled  unconventional  escort  fighters“, which was full of stuff like the XP-85 Goblin parasite, and a few gems like early consideration of the Northrop XP-79 as a parasite  fighter, but at the end of the folder was some stuff circa  September 1941  on Long Range Bomber Escort.

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Basically, blah blah, European war experience shows the need for longer range  fighters; and it suggested a bunch of studies be done on various heavy bombardment aircraft to turn them into convoy escorts — the beginning of the XB-40/XB-41 program — and they suggested that the B-29 and B-32 be studied as convoy escorts.
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They also suggested studying aircraft like the XP-67, XP-58, and XA-26 with an interest towards making a  fighter  with extreme range.

You all can go read the memo chain below, but a short form is as follows —

Read more

Big Week Day 3, Feb 22, 1944, Plus 75 Years

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Today marks the 75th Anniversary of the third day of  Operation Argument  otherwise known as BIG WEEK.   On Tuesday, February 22, 1944 the 15th Air Force went after the Luftwaffe in the skies over Germany — with the 8th Air Force operations being heavily disrupted by fog — in the battle for air superiority before the Normandy invasion scheduled for June 1944.

The idea for Operation Argument was  to force the Luftwaffe fighter force to fight by attacking targets they had to defend — the German aircraft industry — with fighter escorted bombers.

The 15th Air Force attacked without fighter escorts.

Oops.

These were the results of the 3rd day of combat —

 

Day Three of “Big Week” combat results from “Coming of Aerial Armageddon” by Dr. John Curatola

ETO Strategic Operations

Mission 230: “Big Week” continues with 799 aircraft dispatched against German aviation and Luftwaffe airfields; 41 bombers and 11 fighters are lost.

 

  1. 289 B-17s are dispatched against aviation industry targets at  Aschersleben  (34 bomb),  Bernburg  (47 bomb) and  Halberstadt  (18 bomb) in conjunction with a Fifteenth Air Force raid on  Regensburg, Germany; 32 hit  Bünde, 19 hit  Wernigerode, 15 hit Magdeburg, 9 hit Marburg and 7 hit other targets of opportunity; they claim 32-18-17 Luftwaffe aircraft; 38 B-17s are lost, 4 damaged beyond repair and 141 damaged; casualties are 35 KIA, 30 WIA and 367 MIA.
  2. 333 B-17s are dispatched to Schweinfurt but severe weather prevents aircraft from forming properly and they are forced to abandon the mission prior to crossing the enemy coast; 2 B-17s are damaged.
  3. 177 B-24s are dispatched but they are recalled when 100 miles (160  km) inland; since they were over Germany, they sought targets of opportunity but strong winds drove the bombers over The Netherlands and their bombs hit Enschede, Arnhem, Nijmegen and Deventer; they claim 2-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft; 3 B-24s are lost and 3 damaged; casualties are 30 MIA. About 900 civilians were killed, mainly in the  bombing of Nijmegen. In 1984, the book  De Fatale Aanval  (“The Fatal Attack”), was written about this by eyewitness Alphons Brinkhuis, who was a 10-year-old boy at Enschede when it happened.

 

These missions are escorted by 67 P-38s, 535 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47s, and 57 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; the P-38s claim 1 Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed, 1 P-38 is damaged beyond repair and 6 are damaged; the P-47s claim 39-6-15[clarification needed]  Luftwaffe aircraft, 8 P-47s are lost and 12 damaged, 8 pilots are MIA; the P-51s claim 19-1-10 Luftwaffe aircraft, 3 P-51s are lost and 3 damaged, 3 pilots are MIA.

 

MTO Strategic Operations

 

B-17s attack Petershausen marshaling yard and Regensburg aircraft factory in Germany and the air depot at Zagreb, Yugoslavia; a large force of B-24s hits Regensburg aircraft plants about the same time as the B-17 attack; other B-24s pound the town of Sibenik and the harbor at Zara, Yugoslavia; they claim 40 Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed; 13 bombers are lost.

For extensive background, see this Wikipedia article, where the passage above came from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Week

Exposing the Bomber General Lies in the “P-51 Narrative”

For all the good that the P-47 Thunderbolt did in Europe’s strategic bombing offensive,   it has been written out of the victory narrative for a lot of political reasons.   Political reasons starting with answering for the 26,000 men who died in the 8th Air Force in WW2 because of the flawed doctrines of the the USAAF Bomber Generals.   A number of combat deaths that is larger than the entire US Marine Corps in World War 2 from Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima.

I’ve written expansively on how these flawed doctrines affected the development of   auxiliary drop tank technology, the escort fighters that used them and the bomber escort doctrine that knit them together over the years on Chicagoboyz,   See these posts:

History Friday — MacArthur’s Fighter Drop Tanks
Posted by Trent Telenko on July 12th, 2013
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/37362.html

 

History Friday: Deconstructing the P-51 Mustang Historical Narrative
Posted by Trent Telenko on September 27th, 2013
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/38801.html

 

History Friday — Revisiting the P-51 Mustang Historical Narrative
Posted by Trent Telenko on December 16th, 2016
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/54434.html

Right now I’m going to show you how Generals Arnold, Spaatz, Anderson and the rest of the “Bomber General Mafia” put the bad mouth on the P-47’s role in obtaining air superiority over Europe.

Read more

BIG WEEK Day Two, February 21, 1944, Plus 75 Years

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Today marks the 75th Anniversary of the second day of  Operation Argument  otherwise known as BIG WEEK.   On  Monday, February 21, 1944 the 8th Air Force went after the Luftwaffe in the skies over Germany for a second day to take air superiority for the Normandy invasion in June 1944.

These were the results of the 2nd day of combat —

Day Two “Big Week” combat results from “Coming of Aerial Armageddon” by Dr. John Curatola

 

Mission 228: 3 areas in Germany are targeted with the loss of 16 bombers and 5 fighters:

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  1. 336 B-17s are dispatched to the Gütersloh, Lippstadt and Werl Airfields; because of thick overcast, 285 hit Achmer, Hopsten, Rheine, Diepholz, Quakenbrück and Bramsche Airfields and the marshaling yards at Coevorden and Lingen; they claim 12-5-8 Luftwaffe aircraft; 8 B-17s are lost, 3 damaged beyond repair and 63 damaged; casualties are 4 KIA, 13 WIA and 75 MIA.
  2. 281 B-17s are dispatched to Diepholz Airfield and Brunswick; 175 hit the primaries and 88 hit Ahlhorn and Vörden Airfields and Hannover; they claim 2-5-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; five B-17s are lost, three damaged beyond repair and 36 damaged; casualties are 20 KIA, 4 WIA and 57 MIA.
  3. 244 B-24s are dispatched to Achmer and Handorf Airfields; 11 hit Achmer Airfield and 203 hit Diepholz, Verden and Hesepe Airfields and Lingen; they claim 5-6-4 Luftwaffe aircraft; 3 B-24s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 6 damaged; casualties are three WIA and 31 MIA.

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Escort for Mission 228 is provided by 69 P-38s, 542 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47s and 68 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; the P-38s claim 0-1-0 Luftwaffe aircraft, 1 P-38 is damaged beyond repair; the P-47s claim 19-3-14 Luftwaffe aircraft, two P-47s are lost, two are damaged beyond repair, three are damaged and two pilots are MIA; the P-51s claim 14-1-4 Luftwaffe aircraft, three P-51s are lost and the pilots are MIA. German losses were 30 Bf 109s and Fw 190s, 24 pilots killed and seven wounded.[12]

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Mission 229: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 250 bundles of leaflets on Rouen, Caen, Paris and Amiens, France at 22152327 hours without loss.

For extensive background, see this Wikipedia article, where the passage above came from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Week

The USAAF Strategy of Big Week

Operation Argument  marked a massive strategic change in how the Bomber Generals fought the air war.   Previously the idea was that large formations of self-escorting heavy bomber would strike the key parts of the German “industrial web” with “precision bombing” and collapse it’s economy.   This “win air superiority through industrial collapse” theory quite literally went down in flames on   14 October 1943 when the second Schweinfurt raid lost 60 bombers, while failing to destroy the German ball bearing industry.

Big Week abandoned this pre-war doctrine.   Generals Carl Spaatz and Fred Anderson, respectively commander and chief of operations of United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe, and William Kepner, Eighth Air Force fighter commander decided to fight a different war, a war of attrition, aimed at the German fighter force.   The heavy bombers were sent against the German aviation industry, not because they could destroy it — it would be great if they did — but because it was a target that the Luftwaffe had to defend.

Rather than being the single and only war winning super-weapon, the Heavy bomber was demoted to the role of a staked goat.   The bomber streams of B-17 and B-24 were bait for the Luftwaffe fighter force to come up into the guns of   American escort fighters.

Read more

BIG WEEK, Plus 75 Years

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Today marks the 75th Anniversary of  Operation Argument  otherwise known as BIG WEEK.   When on Sunday, February 20, 1944 the 8th Air Force went after the Luftwaffe in the skies over Germany to take air superiority for the Normandy invasion in June 1944.

These were the results of the 1st day of combat —

 

Day One “Big Week” combat results from “Coming of Aerial Armageddon” by Dr. John Curatola

Mission 226: The Eighth Air Force begins “Big Week” attacks on German aircraft plants and airfields. For the first time, over 1,000 bombers are dispatched; 21 bombers and 4 fighters are lost hitting three areas in Germany:

 

  1. 417  B-17s  are dispatched to Leipzig-Mockau Airfield, and aviation industry targets at Heiterblick and Abtnaundorf; 239 hit the primary targets, 37 hit Bernburg (Junkers), 44 hit Oschersleben (AGO, prime Fw 190A subcontractor) and 20 hit other targets of opportunity; they claim 14-5-6 Luftwaffe aircraft; seven B-17s are lost, one damaged beyond repair and 161 damaged; casualties are 7 KIA, 17 WIA and 72 MIA.
  2. 314 B-17s are dispatched to the Tutow Airfield; 105 hit the primary and immediate area, 76 hit Rostock (Heinkel) and 115 hit other  targets of opportunity; they claim 15-15-10 Luftwaffe aircraft; 6 B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 37 damaged; casualties are 3 KIA and 60 MIA.
  3. 272  B-24s  are dispatched to aviation industry targets at Brunswick, Wilhelmtor and Neupetritor; 76 hit the primary, 87 hit Gotha, 13 hit Oschersleben, 58 hit Helmstedt and 10 hit other targets of opportunity; they claim 36-13-13 Luftwaffe aircraft; 8 B-24s are lost, 3 damaged beyond repair and 37 damaged; casualties are 10 KIA, 10 WIA and 77 MIA.

 

Missions one and three above are escorted by 94  P-38  Lightnings, 668 Eighth and Ninth Air Force  P-47  Thunderbolts and 73 Eighth and Ninth Air Force  P-51  Mustangs; they claim 61-7-37 Luftwaffe aircraft; one P-38 Lightning, two P-47 Thunderbolts and one P-51 Mustang are lost, two P-47 Thunderbolts are damaged beyond repair and 4 other aircraft are damaged; casualties are 4 MIA. German losses amount to 10  Messerschmitt Bf 110s  destroyed and three damaged with 10 killed and seven wounded. Total losses included 74 Bf 110s,  Fw 190s  and  Bf 109s  and a further 29 damaged.[11]

For extensive background, see this Wikipedia article, where the passage above came from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Week

For a really engaging lecture on “Big Week”, watch  Dr. John Curatola’s video here:

I’ll be posting more in this series including other lectures and background on how Operation Argument came to pass and its results.

 

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