The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 1 (archived PDF)

T H E E I G H T H A I R F O R C E
remedied in the theater.28 To increase the number of officers ex-
perienced in the ways of the Army, commissions were also issued to
noncommissioned officers of the Regular Army, some of whom came
to hold highly responsible staff positions in the Eighth. Action taken
during May and June also helped to fill shortages of enlisted per-
sonnel, but many units were brought up to strength only at the port
of embarkation and on the very eve of departure. T h e story with
reference to shortages of equipment is similar. Substantial progress
was made toward a solution of the problem, but some units went
overseas without full equipment-a not unusual event in the hectic
days of 1942."
A major preoccupation at all levels of the Eighth during the spring
was training. In the operational training units (OTU) of the Second
and Third Air Forces, intensive effort marked the preparation of
planes and crews for projected movement across the Atlantic. Orders
directed that particular attention be paid the problems of rendezvous
between bombers and fighters, for Generals Arnold and Spaatz already
had established the policy that fighters of the Eighth Air Force would
be used primarily for escort of its bomber^.^' Ground crews received
their training on the job mainly, though some individuals were sent
to technical schools for special training.31
Preparations for the movement of the Eighth to Britain included
an early dispatch of advance echelons of the several headquarters. A
total of 39 officers and 348 enlisted men, representing Eighth Air
Force headquarters and the bomber, fighter, and service commands,
reached England early in May to join the so-called Bomber Command
Shadow Staff under General Eaker.32Other officers, individually and
in groups, followed during May and June to undertake particular
tasks connected with the establishment of the Eighth Air Force in
the United Kingdom. In the unavoidable haste of these first days,
confusion and embarrassment resulted from the occasional failure
of individuals to understand and follow newly established channels
for communication between the British and thc A m e r i c a n ~ , ~ ~but the
emphasis belongs elsewhere. By the end of May, plans and prepara-
tions in England and the United States had reached a point that per-
mitted a beginning to be made in the overseas movement of the
Eighth. Indeed, the first large body of its troops was already on
the way.
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