Photo By John Hughel | A large force of 8th Air Force heavy bombers and escorting fighters attack the ball...... read more read more
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PORTLAND, Oregon - The legacy of sending Oregon Airmen into battle dates back to early 1941 with the formation of the 123rd Observation Squadron as the nation prepared to enter World War II. Currently, the Oregon Air National Guard is uniquely entrusted by the U.S. Air Force with two vital F-15 Eagle Fighter Wings: the 142nd, charged with the aerospace control alert mission of the Pacific Northwest; and the 173rd, entrusted to prepare and train combat pilots as the only F-15 Eagle flight school in the nation.
Maintaining Air Superiority, both domestically and strategically in the broader global reach, is sacrosanct for the U.S. Air Force in safeguarding the nation. It has been earned and sharpened over time, yet in the skies over Europe during the late summer and early autumn of 1943, it was in serious jeopardy of failure over the Third Reich. It was in those tenuous days that the early history of American flying men was forged, ‘when the world hung in the hands of young men’ in their B-17 Flying Fortresses.
In reflecting back 75 years, to that pivotal second week of October 1943, a “most critical point” for the U.S. Air Forces during WWII, serious lessons were profoundly absorbed. In the culmination of seven days of intense Allied bombing in Germany, on October 14, more than 3,000 Airmen took part in Mission 115; the Second Raid over Schweinfurt. The intended mission was to destroy vital industrial manufacturing targets essential to keep the German war machine operational.
The Mighty 8th Air Force
The Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) by the Allied forces of the United States, United Kingdom and Canada was intended to destroy and hinder the German manufacturing and aircraft production. The Operation Pointblank order of June 14, 1943, instructed the U.S. Eighth Air Force and Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command to target specific factories, primarily to take place during daylight raids as a means to clear obstacles for the eventual invasion of Northwest Europe. On August 17, 1943, the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission was the first major targeted attack aimed at demolishing the German military aircraft industry.
Preparation for these types operations routinely began in the early morning hours as Airmen were up hours before sunrise. Operational, intelligence, and weather conditions briefings normally were completed before 6:00 a.m., to include a full breakfast meal for all crewmembers. When it came time to dress for the extremely high altitude conditions, the 10-member crews needed heavy flying gear and boots that went over their normal uniform. This included electrically heated suits, gloves and shoes, as well as oxygen bottles, earphones and leather helmets for the crew to perform their aerial mission in temperatures often 30 degrees below zero. In case of emergency, each man carried individually fitted parachutes. Of note, the average age of a bomber crewmember of the Mighty 8th was only about 22 years of age.
With the lead up to Mission 115, the U.S. 8th Air Force Bomber Command began a three-day engagement beginning on October 8 against multiple cities and targets over Germany. In total, nearly 1,000 heavy bombers were launched into combat, with 88 aircraft lost and nearly 900 men with them. Staggering, almost unprecedented numbers, yet commanders kept plans in check for the second shot at the Schweinfurt ball bearing factories.
For the second raid on Schweinfurt, the U.S. Army 8th Air Force assembled 1st Division Bomb Groups (BG) from the 91st, 92nd, 303rd, 305th, 306th, 351st, 379th, 381st and the 384th. The 3rd Division Groups included the 94th, 95th, 10oth, 385th, 388th and 390th. The B-17’s would have P-47 Thunderbolt fighter escorts over the English Channel and into France. The remaining part of the mission would require steady formation, group integrity and adequate ammunition to engage the Luftwaffe without fighter support.
The combined force of 291 B-17’s took part in the mission: yet regretfully by day’s end, over 600 Airmen were killed or captured, as 60 Flying Fortresses were lost during the single-day raid, forever marking the day’s mission as “Black Thursday.”
In his book titled, “Black Thursday,” author Martin Caidin described the impact on U.S. Air Superiority due to the staggering losses of the raid. “The Strategic Bombing Survey reported that the consequences of our heavy losses of bombers in the second Schweinfurt raid were ominous. In one raid, the U.S. Eighth Air Force had temporarily lost its air superiority over all German targets.”
Among the American units who paid the heaviest price was the 305th Bomb Group, losing over 130 men, 36 which were killed; and the 306th Bomb Group, stationed at Thurleigh Airdrome, losing 100 men, 35 died on the mission or of their wounds and 65 were captured to become Prisoners of War (POW). One of the 306th BG POWs was my uncle, 2nd Lt. Edward B. Hughel.
For the crewmembers aboard aircraft 42-30811, assigned to the 306th Bomb Group, 369th Bomb Squadron, they endured the first wave of attacks from Luftwaffe fighters as they entered Germany. The B-17, piloted by 1st Lt. Ralph Peters and co-pilot 2nd Lt. Hughel, came under heavy attack again prior to the targeted bombing run.
In his account of the Schweinfurt mission after the war, Lt. Hughel, flying his fifth combat mission, reported that; “We took rocket hits which resulted in damage to the left wing, severe enough to Salvo the bomb load in order to keep up with the formation.” After taking more damage from FLAK on the bombing run, aircraft commander Peters gave ‘the bail out order,’ as all 10 crewmen aboard 42-30811 parachuted into enemy territory and all were captured almost immediately. Miraculously, all 10 men aboard the B-17 not only survived the attack on their aircraft, but the parachute jump as well, and became POW’s.
For most of the men, the frenzied transition from their trainee phase to combat bomber crewmembers had been a blur, having only recently completed their final B-17 training in Pendleton, Oregon, in late August 1943. Now as POWs, they had somehow beaten the long odds of survival, as less than 20 percent of Airmen outlived the destruction of their aircraft and the forced parachute jumps into hostile hands during these massive raids.
Throughout airfields in England that day, the sense of despair began to sink in as many damaged Flying Fortresses hobbled home, yet many others were long overdue, never to return.
As Caidin described in “Black Thursday,” the scene at the Thurleigh Airdrome late that day was one of devastation. “The feeling of crushing disaster overwhelmed the men on the ground. The 306th Group has lost ten bombers - 100 men are never coming back. Fifteen four-engine B-17 bombers had gone on to raid - only five returned.”
With the enormous “Black Thursday” losses at nearly 20 percent of the bomber aircraft, the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) discontinued the deep strike CBO strategy into Germany until longer-range fighter escorts could be developed. It would be five months before the P-51 Mustang fighters would be ready to escort the B-17 and B-24 Liberators and the operations renewed in late February of 1944. As the P-38 and P-47’s gave way to the Mustangs, other major changes within the USAAF leadership were also part of the CBO changes.
In early February of 1944, Maj. Gen. Jimmy Doolittle took command of the 8th Air Force, applying policy changes and requiring fighter escorts with bombers at all times. Doolittle, the well-known leader who led the first strike over Japan, on April 18, 1942, brought the experienced conviction the 8th Air Force badly needed after “Black Thursday” losses. By the spring of 1944, P-51’s were clearing the skies of Luftwaffe fighters, thus allowing bomber combat formations back over targets vital to reestablishing air supremacy prior to the Operation Overlord (D-Day) landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944.
There had been meticulously analyzed and countless deliberations over the impact to the Third Reich’s war manufacturing by the 8th Air Force during the Mission 115 bombing campaign. It was widely known by both sides that the five-months bombing gap after “Black Thursday” offered Germany a break to move ball bearing factories to other parts of the country. Though the pause gave the German military time to move and decentralize production facilities. The advantage for the USAAF and the RAF allowed a needed replenished of aircraft, and ultimately rejuvenating air superiority to position the Allied Forces in advance of Operation Overlord, and eventually concluded the war in Europe by the late spring of 1945, culminating to ‘Victory in Europe’ on May 8, 1945.
The Legacy Beyond “Black Thursday”
At the conclusion of WWII in Europe, when the guns, tanks and planes finally drew quiet, the stark reality of the devastation immediately became clear. In the final weeks of the war, POW and concentration camps, as well as other forced labor facilities were uncovered and liberated by advancing Allied forces. This included the thousands of American and RAF aircrew that had been shot down during the limitless air battles over Germany.
In the closing months of the war, with Allied advances from the west and east, many of these camps were forced to move in fear of the approaching armies. On January 27, 1945, Stalag Luft III, (near Sagan, Poland), had more than 11,000 POWs, primarily USAAF and RAF officers captured when their planes had been shot down. With the approaching Soviet Army less than 15 miles east from the camp, the entire POW population was evacuated and force-marched in sub-freezing temperatures. A majority of the POWs arrived at Bad Muskau for a brief rest after a 34-mile march, only forced to renew the march another 16 miles to Sprembreg, Germany.
In his book, “Kriegie,” author and Stalag Luft III POW, Kenneth Simmons, vividly describes the chaos and anxiety as reports of the advancing Soviet Army came into the camp. “We were briefed that the Russians are very near at hand, and the Germans are scared to death. They have been told that we are their only chance of survival and that we must be held as hostages.”
After his capture on “Black Thursday,” Lt. Hughel had been a prisoner at Stalag Luft III and was one of the many thousands of U.S. Army Air Force POW’s that had survived the long months in captivity and the undernourishment conditions in the camp. Now, facing the bitter cold conditions, he was among a group of prisoners at Stalag III (from the West and Central compounds) that were sent by train to Moosburg, on January 31, 1945, after five days of the march. The remaining POW’s (North, South and East compounds) had been diverted at Sprembreg to Stalag XIII-D in Nurnberg. By the time the main group of American prisons from Stalag III finally arrived on February 10 at Stalag VII-A, it had taken 13 harrowing days, a nearly 500-mile excursion across Germany due to snowstorms, multiple forced delays and the time-consuming cattle train transfer process. Throughout the ordeal men also risked being shot by German guards and S.S. officers if they fell out of the march or tried to escape at any point. Faith, determination and camaraderie held the men together, pushing them past illness and exhaustion.
In “Kriegie”, Simmons described their arrival at Stalag Luft VII-A, “Over 3,000 men were sick with infected stomachs, dysentery, colds, and pneumonia. All of us were weakened from the effects of malnutrition and mental and physical exhaustion.”
In the years after the war, Lt. Hughel attributed part of his survival during that harsh 50-mile forced march to a pair of shoes and other care package items from the American Red Cross at Stalag Luft III prior to evacuation. While most men were able to survive the march and arrive at Stalag Luft VII-A, others were not as lucky as the unforgiving freezing conditions took the lives of numerous POW's.
By mid-April 1945, the Stalag VII-A prison camp, built to hold 14,000 now had over 130,000 prisoners as barracks built to hold 100 men now held as many as 300, all confined in one building. Fortunately, on April 29, the U.S. 14th Armored Division liberated the camp and Third U.S. Army commander, Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., personally greeting the men after one last confrontation in Moosburg. For the many thousands of men who had survived the horrors of combat, a forced winter march, and a horrendous lingering imprisonment while anticipating liberation, their war was finally over. Within days of the camp's liberation on May 8, 1945, the Allied forced accepted Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces.
As Lt. Edward Hughel, returned to the United States he was triumphantly welcomed home by his wife Vivian, his young son Craig, who was born during his captivity, as well as his parents, siblings and other family members and friends who had been awaited his homecoming after his 19 months as a POW. He was officially released from military duty in December 1945, returning to Anderson, Indiana, and like millions of other WWII veterans; began to rebuild their lives after securing the freedoms they sacrificed so much for.
The gallant actions of these men resulted in 17 Medals of Honor being bestowed on Airmen of the U.S. Army Eighth Air Force during the course of the American air war over Europe from 1942-1945. However, the liberation of Europe came at a heavy price as these harrowing aviation battles caused more than 47,000 causalities and claimed the lives of more than 26,000 Airmen.
In later years, the heroic accounts of these men and battles were recounted in hundreds of books, films and historical artifacts. Most notably, the 1949 film, “Twelve O’Clock High,” starring Gregory Peck, based on the novel by Beirne Lay and Sy Barlett, which chronicled the fictionist ‘918th Bomb Group’ based on the real 306th Bomb Group stationed at Thurleigh Airdrome. The hallowed second raid of over Schweinfurt was retold in the fictionalized “Hambrucken raid.” It eventually won two Academy Awards and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for its "culturally, historically and aesthetically significance.”
Not to be outdone on the silver screen, “The Great Escape,” released in 1963, based on Paul Brickhill’s book of the same name (released in 1950), starred an all-star cast, to include Steve McQueen and Richard Attenborough, which recounted the story of the 77 Allied POWs that escaped Stalag Luft III in March of 1944. It was nominated for one Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture.
Air superiority today
The second raid on Schweinfurt so intensely described in, “Black Thursday,” by author Martin Caidin, was characterized as, “The most violent, savagely fought, and bloodiest of all the battles in the titanic aerial conflict waged in the high arena over Germany (during WWII).”
In the 75 years since Mission 115 on October 14, 1943, the U.S. Army Air Force became the fourth U.S. military branch on September 18, 1947, with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947. Today, air and space superiority remains a core posture for the U.S. Air Force and to further provide: global vigilance, global reach and global power.
In the height of WWII, more than 2.4 million men and women filled the ranks of the USAAF. Though the numbers are fewer today, to maintain a ‘No Fail Mission,’ the U.S. Air Force relies on nearly 320,000 active duty Airmen, 70,000 Reservists, 106,000 Air Guardsmen and more than 140,000 civil full-time employees.
The Oregon Air National Guard Airmen and their F-15 Eagles, who today guard the Pacific Northwest, honor and continue the U.S. Air Force legacy of valor, whether it is here on the home station’s 24/7 alert mission, supporting global overseas contingency operations, or such recent deployments as supporting NATO partners back in the European theater during Operation Atlantic Resolve in 2015 and 2018.
Epilogue
The lasting lessons for the U.S. Air Force, from those horrific aerial battles over Germany, to conflicts over “MIG Alley” in Korea, Operation Desert Storm, and current operations today, echo the same challenge: maintaining Air Superiority in all or any combat condition and preparing the best-trained Airmen for that mission. Air Superiority is not an ‘American birthright’ nor an entitlement. It has to be earned and maintained by every generation of Airmen and the need to constantly improve the aircraft to ensure lasting peace. To honor the past achievements and the Airmen of the U.S. Eighth Army Air Force, now 75 years later, is to preserve the security they achieved and the peace that has prevailed in Europe ever since.
Finally to remember the crewmembers who flew the harrowing missions and specifically, to the Ralph Peters’ crew aboard 42-30811, who survived the second Schweinfurt raid, their capture and the hardships in POW camps: A salute to their courage and legacy. They included: Lieutenants Ralph Peters, pilot; Edward Hughel, co-pilot; Dan Peterson, navigator; James Vaughter, bombardier; Staff Sergeants Raymond Grimm, flight engineer/top turret gunner, and Manford John, radio operator; and Sergeants Dick Kern, ball turret gunner, and Blair Steed, waist gunner; Sergeant Daniel Piedmont, waist gunner, and Pierre Noisat, Jr., tail gunner.
Their story was one of service and sacrifice. A reflection of the “Airmen’s Creed,” where each of us can be faithful to ‘A Proud Heritage, A Tradition of Honor, and a Legacy of Valor.’
| Date Taken: | 10.12.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 10.12.2018 19:42 |
| Story ID: | 296259 |
| Location: | PORTLAND, OR, US |
| Web Views: | 3,188 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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