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Wings, air forces & commands · from 1942

Eighth Air Force

Numbered air force of the United States Air Force.

History

The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces Strategic – Global Strike, one of the air components of United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). The Eighth Air Force includes the heart of America's heavy bomber force: the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, the Rockwell B-1 Lancer supersonic bomber, and the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress heavy bomber aircraft.

VIII Bomber Command of the United States Army Air Forces was established early in 1942. The first combat units arrived in the United Kingdom in June and combat operations began in July with first heavy bomber operations in August. Its bomber units were deployed in the UK, chiefly around East Anglia. From June 1943 it was the daylight bombing part of the Combined Bomber Offensive against Germany.

VIII Bomber Command was redesignated as Eighth Air Force on 22 February 1944. The Eighth Army Air Force (8 AAF) was a United States Army Air Forces combat air force in the European theater of World War II (1939/41–1945), engaging in operations primarily in the Northern Europe area of responsibility; carrying out strategic bombing of enemy targets in France, the Low Countries, and Germany; and engaging in air-to-air fighter combat against enemy aircraft until the German capitulation in May 1945. It was the largest of the deployed combat Army Air Forces in numbers of personnel, aircraft, and equipment.

Text from Wikipedia: Eighth Air Force, CC BY-SA 4.0, lightly trimmed.

Wars and campaigns

World War II

From Wikidata (CC0).

Key dates

  1. 1944
    General Carl Spaatz returned to England to command the USSTAF. Major General Jimmy Doolittle relinquished command of the Fifteenth Air Force to Major General Nathan F. Twining and on January 6, 1944, took over command of the Eighth Air Force from Lieutenant General Ira C. Eaker at RAF Daws Hill.
  2. 1944
    One notable Eighth Air Force casualty was Brigadier General Arthur W. Vanaman, Chief of Intelligence, who was captured by the Germans in northern France on 27 June 1944, becoming the highest-ranked American POW captured in Europe during the war.
  3. 1945
    The Eighth received its first B-29 Superfortress on 8 August 1945.
  4. 1947
    43d Bombardment Wing established on 3 November 1947. 43d Bomb Group assigned as subordinate unit.
  5. 1947
    Attached to 509th Bombardment Wing, Very Heavy, Walker AFB, New Mexico 17 November 1947
  6. 1951
    For its Korean War service, the 27th Fighter-Escort Wing received the Distinguished Unit Citation, covering the period of 26 January through 21 April 1951, for their actions in Korea.
  7. 1983
    In the 1980s, the Eighth participated in several key operations such as running the tanker task force for Operation Urgent Fury in 1983 and directing all air refueling operations for Operation El Dorado Canyon in 1986 and Operation Just Cause in 1989.
  8. 2008
    Redesignated: Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic – Global Strike) on 3 June 2008.
  9. 2020
    Major General Mark E. Weatherington assumed command of 8th Air Force on 12 June 2020.

Dates and events quoted from the same Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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