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This is Volume One of The Army Air Forces in World War II, titled Plans and Early Operations, January 1939 to August 1942, edited by Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate. The University of Chicago Press first published it in 1948, and the Office of Air Force History reprinted it in 1983. The front matter explains how the AAF historical program was set up during the war. The index covers Pacific, Atlantic and European operations, and nothing in the text concerns unidentified aerial phenomena.
“The Invaders”15 pages
A I R W A R , 1 9 3 9 - 4 1 aircraft a month. For their bombing of England the Germans used four main types of bombers: the Junkers 87, the Junkers 88, several models of the Heinkel I I I , and the Dornier 17 (sometimes known as the Dornier 2 I 5 ) , with fighter escort usually by Messerschmitt 109's and I 10's. T h e entire strength of the Luftwaffe was not thrown into the campaign at once. Qn 8 August the attacks began on a moderate scale, and during the next ten days mass formations of German bombers, accompanied by similar formations of fighters, made day- light assaults on shipping and southern ports. T h e effective opposition of Hurricanes and Spitfires, assisted by ground defenses, caused the Germans to call a brief halt after 1 8 August, on which day they sustained losses of seventy-one planes destroyed and twenty-three damaged. For the period extending from 8 August to 2 3 August total Luftwaffe losses were 403 destroyed and 1 2 7 damaged." In contrast the RAF announced the loss of I 5 3 planes. In the second phase of the campaign, from 24 August through 6 September, the Luftwaffe revised its tactics. Bomber formations were reduced in size, while fighter escorts were increased. T h e attacks were directed mainly against airdromes and aircraft factories instead of shipping and harbors in an apparent attempt to knock out the RAF. As in the first phase, German losses were so heavy that the direction of the assault was again changed. T h e third phase, from 7 September to I October, saw the peak of the German air effort, which was directed toward industrial areas in general and London in particular. By the end of September the RAF had asserred its control of the air over rhe British Isles. During the third phase the British destroyed 435 planes and damaged 161, and total German losses since 10 July now amounted to 1,408 planes destroyed. Unable to sustain such losses, the Germans instituted still further changes in their tactics. Nearly all the so-called long-range bombers were withdrawn, while fighters and fighter-bombers continued the campaign with a decreasing number of daylight attacks and an increasing number of attacks at night. London was still the principal target, and the British suffered heavy casualties and extensive material damage, particularly during the night assaults when their fighter protection was not so effective as it was during the hours of daylight. Nevertheless, the Luftwaffe * These are the revised figures, based on German records, announced in May 1947 by Mr. Philip Noel-Baker, British Secretary of State for Air (See Flight and Aircraft Engineer [London], 22 May 1947, p. 482, for complete table.) 95
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