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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.
“Churchill”21 pages
T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1 least the enemy had been engaged and blows exchanged, and it did not matter a great deal that the enemy had distinctly the better of the trade. O n 12 July 1942 the 15th Squadron executed another six-plane attack, this time on the Abbeville-Drucat airdrome. Out of well- founded respect for German flak defenses, this second daylight mis- sion was carried out a t medium altitude (8,500 feet) rather than at low level. All aircraft returned without casualties, although two of them suffered some flak damage. During the next few weeks the unit received its own planes, A-~o's,and was engaged mainly in putting the new equipment into operational shape." T h e Heavy Bombers Complete Their Training Meanwhile, during the first two weeks of August, the heavy bomber crews of the 97th Group, now under Col. Frank A. Arm- strong, Jr., were rapidly overcoming the handicaps under which they had begun their training. The training program progressed so well that by the 15th of that month twenty-four crews were declared available for daylight bombing mission^.'^ In addition to an improved grasp of such essentials as gunnery, bombing, navigation, and high- altitude formation flying, these crews were learning their trade in other important respects-how to use oxygen as an aid rather than as something to be feared, how to guard against frostbite in the bitter cold at extreme altitudes, how to evade enemy fighters by skidding, corkscrewing, undulating, and turning into attacks, and how to avoid flak by changes in direction and altitude. Practice missions were con- ducted in co-operation with RAF Fighter Command for the purpose of giving the bomber pilots experience in making exact rendezvous with their fighter escort. These practice operations also revealed a great deal about the performance of the B- I 7 and its equipment under conditions more nearly like those to be expected in combat over northwestern Europe than any yet encountered. Barring some trouble with the gun mechanism a t very high altitudes (the guns tended to become stiff and heavy to operate in extremely low temperatures, and sometimes failed to fire) and except for the fact that the B-17E lacked the firepower straight ahead that characterized its other fields of fire, the Fortress appeared c ~ m b a t - w o r t h y . ~ ~ Large question marks remained, of course, and were not likely to be removed until the bombers were tested in actual combat. Not until 660
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